The Landscape Toolbox Multi-scale Information Framework
Level 1 Users are users with little GIS and remote sensing experience or access to specialized GIS or remote sensing software or hardware. Level 1 users will mostly interact with Toolbox-generated products and web applications and may work with level-2 or level-3 users to use other Toolbox tools for their management information needs.
Level 2 Users have an understanding of GIS and rangeland monitoring data and have experience with GIS software. Level 2 users can do some minor data creation (e.g., creating layers to define new management scenarios) or edit existing layers (e.g., correcting and updating polygons in the vegetation maps). They will use Toolbox tools and products to aid analyses for their management questions and may also run new scenarios based on existing state and transition models and vegetation maps. These users may provide outputs to level 1 users but may also require assistance from level 3 users to set up datasets for some tools.
Level 3 Users have a highly-developed skill set for manipulating and analyzing GIS, remote sensing, and assessment/monitoring data. They will have access to specialized software and hardware for creating new data layers (e.g., creating image objects from new imagery) and would set up the data layers that level 1 and 2 users would have access to. These users could also lead the process of creating new state and transition models or vegetation maps for new areas. Use of Landscape Toolbox tools in major planning efforts (e.g. RMP) would rely heavily on level 3 users.Integrating tools and information across scales
The Landscape Toolbox is built around an information framework for rangelands that allows the right scales for analysis to be determined and different pieces of information to be brought together, organized and applied at the appropriate scales to answer specific management questions. An information framework is a collection of methods, technologies, databases, knowledge and data that is used to answer a set of questions. More than a document of theories, this multi-scale framework is the backbone of the Toolbox and enables efficient coordination of different methods and technologies. The first step is defining ecologically-meaningful scales in a landscape using a powerful new technique, object-based image analysis, to define the different scales of patterns in a landscape. Next comes describing the processes that created those patterns and scales via ecological state-and-transition models. Rangeland data and knowledge can then be organized by scale, making it clear what information is needed to answer a question, and pointing out the best mix of available field and GIS/remote-sensing methods and technologies to answer the question. This approach provides flexibility when working with multiple objectives or responding to new questions as they arise because it is focused on what combinations of techniques can fill information needs and is not reliant on a small subset of methods. This approach also allows new technologies to be adopted more rapidly by fitting them into the framework based on information they provide.
Download the multi-scale framework document below for a more detailed description of the framework and how it can be applied in rangeland management.
Case Studies
The Landscape Toolbox project was developed around a series of case studies that implemented different aspects of the multi-scale framework. Visit our Case Studies page for more information.