COMPUTER VISUALIZATION OF FOREST COVER CHANGE: HUMAN IMPACTS IN NORTHEASTERN KANSAS AND NATURAL DISTURBANCE IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

ABSTRACT The merging of remote sensing, GIS and visualization techniques was applied to demonstrate the potential for realistic computer visualizations depicting the dynamic nature of forested environments. Scientific visualizations can aid in environmental and forest management decision making as a support tool and in landscape ecology to relay the findings of studies. While visualization software and methods have already been developed to recreate natural landscapes, little has been done to investigate the potential for illustrating land cover change through temporal data acquired from the real world. High resolution imagery and aerial photography in conjunction with object oriented image analysis as well as pre-existing land cover datasets were used in the placement of trees and other vegetation in the visualized landscape, providing an accurate representation of reality at various points in time. 3D Nature's Visual Nature Studio was used to construct a variety of realistic stills and animations depicting forest cover change in two distinct settings. Visualizations from Yellowstone National Park focused on the dramatic natural impact of the 1988 fire upon a lodgepole pine forest. In Kansas, visualization techniques were used to explore the continuous human-land interactions between 1941 and 2002 impacting the eastern deciduous forest and tallgrass prairie ecotone. The resulting visualizations demonstrate which techniques and scales are most appropriate for visualizing and exploring change in forested environments. These products provide the means for users, from researchers to resource managers and the public, to demonstrate concepts and develop new hypothesis in these two environments