Geospatial Modelling Environment (GME)

written by Grant Hamilton

Basic Information
Name: Geospatial Modelling Environment
Acronym: GME
Author/Owner/Steward: Hawthorne Beyer
Type: Standalone Program
Platform: Standalone Windows Program (requires ArcGIS 10.0 or 10.1 and R statistics program)
Download Link: http://www.spatialecology.com/gme/gmedownload.htm

Description

Geospatial Modelling Environment (GME) is a suite of spatial analysis tools for use with ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1. It is an open source, free standalone program with a GUI and a command line for scripting. Recursive processes can be scripted by separating commands with a semicolon. GME introduces the ability to incorporate both personal and file geodatabases as data sources and allows for batch processing.

The installation of R, a free open source statistical analysis program is required to for some analytical, statistical and graphing functionality in GME.

GME replaces Hawth’s Tools, which is compatible with ArcGIS 9.x (it is only recommended for use with ArcGIS 9.2). Limitations of GME include the need for typing command lines for many tools in GME and R for certain functions. GME functions are not currently available as tools or add-ons in ArcMap. GME is still in the beta stage.

GME’s Tools

A selection of GME’s tools follows:

Analysis Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Intersect Point Tool isectpntrst Intersect points with a raster layer and writes the cell value of the cell containing each point to the attribute table of the point data source
Distance Between Points (Within Layer) pointdistances Calculates distances between points, either among points within a point data source, or among points between two point data sources
Distance Between Points (Betw. Layer) pointdistances Calculates distances between points, either among points within a point data source, or among points between two point data sources
Count Points In Polygons countpntsinpolys Counts the number of points that overlap each polygon, and writes the result to a field in the polygon attribute table
Polygon In Polygon Analysis isectpolypoly Generate summary statistics for one polygon dataset based on another polygon dataset
Sum Line Lengths in Polygons sumlinelengthsinpolys Sums the lengths of the portions of all lines that intersect each polygon
Line Raster Intersection Statistics isectlinerst Creates a statistical or frequency summary of raster data along a line (polyline) based on a raster layer
Enumerate Intersecting Features listintersectingfeatures For each feature in an input layer this tool creates a list of other features (in the same layer or a different layer) that intersect it
Line Metrics Functionality not currently available N/A

Sampling Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Create Random Selection r.sample Creates a random or stratified random sample of records in a feature table
Random Selection Within Subsetsr.sample For each subset of the data (defined here as a collection of features sharing a unique identifier), the tool will generate a random selection of the features
Generate Random Points genrandompnts Generates a sample of random points, with several optional constraint parameters
Generate Regular Points genvecgrid Generates a vector grid (a series of regularly sized and spaced square/rectangular polygons)
Conditional Point Sampling Tool gencondrandompnts Generates a sample of random points around each input point, designed for a conditional logistic regression (case controlled) style of analysis
Create Vector Grid (lines/polygons) genvecgrid Generates a vector grid (a series of regularly sized and spaced square/rectangular polygons)
Create Sample Shapes (various shapes) genshapes Generates shapes (polygons) centred on a set of input points, currently supported shapes are: circles, diamonds, hexagons, squares, triangles (equilateral), rectangles and ellipses
Generare Random 3D Points Functionality not currently available N/A

Animal Movements Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Create Minimum Convex Polygons genmcp Generates minimum convex polygons (MCP’s) based on a set if input points
Calculate Movement Parameters movement.pathmetrics Calculates movement paths metrics (turn angles, step lengths, bearings, time intervals) for a point time series dataset
Convert Locations To Paths convert.pointstolines Converts points to lines (polylines)
Convert Paths to Points convert.linestopoints Converts lines (polylines) to points by extracting the vertices of the polylines
CRW Simulation I movement.simplecrw A simple correlated random walk movement path simulator, drawing from statistical or empirical distributions, with a home range boundary constraint option
CRW Simulation II movement.simplecrw A simple correlated random walk movement path simulator, drawing from statistical or empirical distributions, with a home range boundary constraint option

Kernel Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Fixed Kernel Density Estimator kde Calculates kernel density estimates based on a set of input points
Batch Fixed Kernel Density Estimator kde Calculates kernel density estimates based on a set of input points
Percent Volume Contour isopleth Generates isopleth lines based on a raster representing a probability surface

Raster Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Clip Raster clipraster Clips an input raster using a reference data source to define the clip boundary or using user defined coordinates defining a clip rectangle
Clip Raster By Polygons cliprasterbypolys Clips an input raster to each polygon in a polygon data source resulting in one new raster per polygon
Landscape Characterization (fast) neighbourhoodstatistics Calculates summary statistics in a circular roving window based on raster data
Extract Raster Edge extractedge Creates lines along the boundary between two pixels that have different values
Thematic Raster Summary (by polygon) isectpolyrst Creates summaries for each polygon based on the values in a raster layer
Zonal Statistics ++ (by polygon) isectpolyrst Creates summaries for each polygon based on the values in a raster layer
Spatial Replace Tool Functionality not currently available N/A
Maximum Grid Separation Tool Functionality not currently available N/A
Cellular Automata (1D x Time) Functionality not currently available N/A
Grid Spread (Cellular Automata) simulation.gridspread Simulates the spread of an agent (e.g. fire) triggered by random events (e.g. lightening) on a raster landscape in discrete time (a cellular automata model)
Raster Pixel Type Conversion Functionality not currently available N/A

Vector Editing Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
Create Buffers (Retain Attributes) buffer Buffers features using a constant or field based buffer distances, and optionally copies attributes
Vector Rotation and Shifting Tool shiftrotate Shifts and/or rotates vector features and writes the result to a new output data source
Snap Points To Lines Tool snappoints Snaps a set of input point points to the features in a vector layer (containing points, lines or polygons) and writes the result to a new point dataset
Intersect Lines (Make Points) isectfeatures Calculates intersections between geometries (points, lines or polygons)
Split Vector Layer By Unique Value Field splitdataset Splits a vector dataset into several separate datasets based on an ID value in one of the attribute fields

Specialist Tools

Hawthe’s Tools Name GME Command Description
River Sample Extraction Functionality not currently available N/A
Point Redistribution Tool Functionality not currently available N/A
PLSS Point Finder Functionality not currently available N/A
Julian Day Lookup julian Returns the Julian day for a specified date

Contact Information

Contact Name: Hawthorne Beyer
Contact Email: hawthorne@spatialecology.com
URL: http://www.spatialecology.com/gme/

References

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