Landscape editing with knowledge-based measure deductions for ecological planning

Abstract

The approach presented suggests a new way of supporting planning processes. Planners from various disciplines can test and discuss planning scenarios at a workbench, where a virtual landscape is visualized in a 3-D real-time environment. With the defined paradigm of ‘landscape editing’, planners can model and manipulate virtual landscapes intuitively. They transform, add, move and delete by direct manipulation of geo-objects. With the help of such a human- computer interface, planners can specify planning scenarios visually and cooperatively. As soon as a planning scenario finds consensus, the system analyzes the modified model, detects the changes, and deduces measures to be carried out to achieve the specified objectives in the real world. To perform this last step, an interdisciplinary knowledge base has to be set up. Through the use of expert knowledge, planning processes become more transparent and understandable.