MUSA Lunch Speaker: Modeling Dynamic Landscapes in Open Source GIS

Helena Mitasova, Associate Professor of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Director of the Open Source Geospatial Research and Education Laboratory at the Center for Earth Observation, North Carolina State University

Dr. Mitazova’s presentation introduced a new generation of visualization and analytics tools for open source GRASS GIS, designed for 3D multi-temporal data acquired by laser scanning. Several case studies will illustrate the methods and tools with special focus on dynamic coastal landscapes. The talk will also included a discussion of Tangible Geospatial Modeling System (TanGeoMS). It couples a laser scanner, projector, and a flexible physical 3D model with GRASS GIS to support landscape design. The physical model can be manually modified to create various land management scenarios by adding ponds, dams, buildings or changing roughness of the surface.

The modified model is then scanned and used as input for GIS-based analysis and simulation with the results projected back onto the surface of the model. The presented research is an example of activities in the newly established Open Source Geospatial Research and Education Lab (OSGeoREL) - the first North American laboratory in the worldwide OSGeo REL network.

Dr. Helena Mitasova is Associate Professor at the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and at the Geospatial Science and Technology Program, North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She has been a member of the GRASS GIS development team since 1991 and she received Sol Katz award for exceptional Open Source Geospatial Community Service in 2010. She has published more than 80 papers on geospatial modeling, terrain analysis, and visualization and co-authored the first book on GRASS GIS, now in its third edition. Her current research focus is on lidar data time series and tangible modeling environments. She received her PhD from Slovak Technical University, Bratislava, Slovakia.