Exercise 06 - Land use and sustainability in Brazil

8/2/2019 Exercise 06 - Land use and sustainability in Brazil

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Exercise6

Analyzing land use

and sustainability inBrazil

In this exercise, you will use a public domain spatial

data portal from a national government agency to

assess the spatial pattern of land use and

deforestation in Rondnia, Brazil.

You will combine the data with Landsat imagery

from an international portal to more fully

understand the situation from a temporal and

geographic perspective.

Some of the data you will

interrogate to investigate land

use in Brazil

Exercises for The GIS Guide to Public Domain Data


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Context

Approximately 30 percent of the worlds tropical

forests lie within the country of Brazil. These forests

are one of the worlds great natural resources and help

to regulate the global carbon cycle, climate, as well as

provide habitat for thousands of animals, plants, and

native human populations.

Due to growing population and demand for land and

other natural resources, the Brazilian rainforest, like

other major ecoregions of the world, faces

development pressure. Indeed, the deforestation

resulting from the spread of agriculture and conversion

of forest areas to urban use has been one of the most

widely discussed and publicized land use change

phenomena of recent times.

The estimated average deforestation rate from 1978

to 1988 alone was 15,000 square kilometers per year.

Systematic deforestation begins as roadways are built,

and fans out from there to create a pattern that looks

like a feather, or a fishbone.

As the pattern of land use change at both the regionaland local levels is geographic in nature, GIS is a

suitable tool to help understand the impacts of

deforestation and to plan for the future.


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Problem

After reading for years about development and

deforestation in Brazil, you decide to use your new-

found GIS skills to investigate the situation for yourself

and look at the problem spatially. Your goal is assess

the pattern and reasons for development in one of the

most widely known part of the rainforest, the state of

Rondnia, Brazil.

You will consider the following in your assessment of

land use and deforestation in Rondnia:

Vegetation

Biomes

General land characteristics, including

transportation and physical features

Soils

Potential agriculture

Administrative political divisions


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ResourcesSkills Required

Downloading and formatting data from a

federal national public domain data source and

an international data source for use in a GIS

Downloading and formatting Landsat satellite

imagery data for use in a GIS

Analyzing spatial data in a problem-solving

environment

Integrating multiple sources into GIS-based

analysis

TIME

This exercise contains fifty-two questions and will

require two to four hours to complete.

SOFTWARE

ArcGIS 10.0 or later, from Esri.


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Work package 1: Managing and accessing your data Steps 1 - 6

Create a folder on your computer or network to store data. Make sure the folder

has a descriptive name (so you can easily recall its contents) and choose a name

without spaces to avoid problems in ArcGIS.

1) Access IBGE Access the Brazil Institute for Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro deGeografia e Estatistca [IBGE]) site at http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/ . If you prefer

to examine the front page in English, see http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/.

1.1) What is the IBGE?

1.2) Which government agencies in the United States serve similar

functions to the IBGE?

2) Locate

Rondnia

On the left side, under Database, select Estadoes@ (States@). On the viewer that

will appear (http://www.ibge.gov.br/estadosat/). Using your mouse, hover over

the various states until you find RORondnia.

States in Brazil as shown

on the IBGE data portal.
http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/http://www.ibge.gov.br/estadosat/http://www.ibge.gov.br/estadosat/http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/


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Click Rondnia to access statistics for this state.

2.1) In what part of Brazil is Rondnia located?2) Locate

Rondnia (contd.)

IBGE portal.

2.2)What is the 2010 estimated population for Rondnia?

Now that you know where this state is, you are ready to retrieve the data you

need for the study.

3) Select

Interactive Maps

Return to the main IBGE page, and under Channels, Database, select Mapas

(Interactive Maps) as follows:


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Click Rondnia to access statistics for this state.4) Select

Generalized Map

of Brazil

Choosing an interactive map.


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The interactive map that appears after you select OK should look similar to the

following:

4) Select

Generalized Map

of Brazil (contd.)

Generalized map of Brazil on the IBGE website.

Create a separate folder for each of the zip files, named biomes, general,

agric_potential, soils, territories, and vegetation (or similar names that you will be

able to keep organized).

Note: You may have to enable your browser to allow pop-ups from this site.


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Select and download the six categories of spatial data, one at a time. Download

each dataset into its appropriate folder. For each of the six sets, you will need to

first select the desired theme in the pull down menu in the upper right under Ver

mapa.

5) Download data

Selecting the required datasets.


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[1] Vegetation (Mapa de vegetacao).

[2] Biomes (Mapa de biomas).

[3] General Characteristics (Mapa de caracterizacao geral do Brasil)make certain

that you have checked (on the left side, in the list of map layers) all of the

Transportes (transportation), the Outros (Other), the Imagem, and the Meio Fisico

(Physical Environment) so that when you extract, you obtain all of the following

layers:

5) Download data

(contd.)

List of datasets to extract.

[4] Soils (Mapa de solos).

[5] Potential Agriculture (Mapa de potencial Agricola).

[6] Territorial Divisions (Mapa de Divisoes Territoriais). Select all of the 2005 layers,

as shown next:


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5) Download data

(contd.)

Selecting the 2005 layers for the

Territorial Divisions.

For each layer required, select the extract (Extrair) button:


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5) Download data

(contd.)

Extracting selected layers.

Select Extract (Extrair). After a short time, you will see a download screen, as

shown next.

Downloading the Rondonia data.

Select Download and save your file to a folder on your computer.


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6) Extract data Unzip each zip file into its appropriate folder.

Data category Shapefiles stored locally after downloading and unzipping

Biomes Bioma, ufVegetation Veg, agua, capital, uf

General bacia, hidro, ferrovia, rodovia, extremos, culminantes, porto,

usina, aerop_inter, capital, uf

Soils Solos, capital, uf

Agricultural Potential Potencial, agua, capital, uf

Territories 0, 1, 2, 3

6.1)Which shapefiles are duplicated among the different themes andfolders?

End of work package


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Work package 2: Analyzing your data Steps 7 - 12

7) Add data to

ArcMap

Start ArcMap and a new empty map. Under the general folder, add all layers.

Set the coordinate system of the data frame to the WGS 1984 (under Data Frame

Properties, Predefined, Geographic Coordinate Systems, World).

7.1) Do the datasets have a projection attached to them?

8) Set coordinate

system8.1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of this coordinate

system for analysis?

8.2) What is the east-west distance in kilometers across Brazil at itswidest point?

8.3) Can you determine the difference between the Culminantes and

Extremos layers?

8.4) Can you determine the difference between the Ferrovia and Rodovia

layers?

8.5) What is the relationship between the layers bacia and hidro?

Map the UF layer as unique values on the names of the states.9) Name the

states 9.1) What is the field that names each state?


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Work package 2: Analyzing your data Steps 7 - 12

10) Add biome

data

Under the biomes folder, add the layer bioma. Map the biome types as unique

value.

Save your map document.

The Amazonian rainforest isnt the only biome under pressure from human use in

Brazil. In fact, according to one source, 35 percent of the cerrado (savannah)

biome (695,000 km2) has been converted to agriculture, cities, or grazing,

compared to 13 percent of the area of the rainforest biome, and only 1 to 6percent of the cerrado is under protected status.

Chief land pressures are for soya, maize, rice, wheat, cattle, charcoal production

for the steel industry, and urbanization.

10.1) What biome type occupies a tiny portion of east-southeastern

Rondnia? What biome type occupies most of the rest of Rondnia?

11) Save

Under the territories folder, add the shapefiles 0, 1, 2, and 3.12) Add shapefiles

12.1) Which of these four map layers contains polygons for the smallest

geographic unit?

Examine map layer 0.shps attributes to answer the following.

12.2) Place the following names in the order of geographic area, from

smallest to largest: mesoregiao, microregia, nome, and regiao.

End of work package


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Work package 3: Analyzing data II - Clipping Steps 13 - 20

13) Add

vegetation

From the vegetation folder, add the veg map layer, and make a unique value map

on the field TIPO. The vegetation layer is the current vegetation cover of the area,

rather than the natural vegetation as untouched by human impact. The densest

forest (floresta ombrofila densa) once occupied up to half of Rondnia.

Select the state of Rondnia from the UF layer. Then, open the Systems Toolboxes

and go to Analysis Tools > Extract > Clip in order to clip the veg layer to the UF

layer with Rondnia selected, as shown next:

13.1) How much of floresta ombrofila densa would you say occupies

Rondnia today?

Next, you will determine exactly how much of each type of vegetation exists within

Rondnia.

14) Clip

vegetation layer

to states layer

Clipping the vegetation layer to the

extent of Rondnia.

14.1) Did you receive an error during the clip operation OR has the

clipped shapefile, veg_clip, not been created?


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15) Run Check

Geometry

Sometimes, data downloaded from public domain portals contain errors. Here, a

few of the polygons may have topology errors. To investigate the vegetation layer

so that the clip will work, in the Systems Toolboxes, use Data Management >

Features > Check Geometry on your veg layer.

This operation will create a DBF file listing any errors encountered; the dbf file will

be added automatically to your ArcMap document. (If not, add it manually.)Once

the DBF file is added to your ArcMap, open the file and investigate the problem.

15.1) What is the problem with the veg layer?

To resolve the issue, use Data Management > Features > Repair Geometry on the

veg layer to fix the problem.

Re-run the clip tool to clip the veg layer to the state of Rondnia.

16) Run Repair

Geometry

16.2) Briefly describe the spatial pattern of development in Rondnia.

16.1)Do you now have a veg_clip layer?

TheArea Antropizada is the area most affected by human impact as it has been

converted to agricultural use through the planting of crops or as pastureland.


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17) Examine

roadways layer

Turn on the roadways (rodovia) layer.

17.1) Name the roadway that is responsible for bringing the rainforest

developers into the most impacted area of Rondnia.

Access your veg_cliplayers attribute table. Select the Area Antropizada polygons.

Right-click shape_area and select Statistics.

18) Generate

statistics

19.1) How could you work with your data so that they would be in a

more convenient and accurate unit? Dont perform these steps, just

indicate how you would go about changing the data to fix this unit

problem.

Consider the map projection.

18.1) How much of the land in Rondnia is included in Area

Antropizada?

18.2) Are these figures in square miles, square kilometers, or in someother units? If the area is reported in some other units, what units are

they?

18.3) Are these units a convenient or accurate set of units to use for

spatial analysis? Why or why not?

19) Projections

20) Save Save your map document.End of work package


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Work package 4: Analyzing data III - Summarizing and analyzing Steps 21 - 28

21) Quantify area

of impact

To get a better assessment of the amount of land impacted in Rondnia, right-click

the Shape_area field and select Summarize. Summarize on this field using TIPO

First, as shown in the Summarize dialog box.

Be sure to uncheck the box Summarize on the selected rows only because you

want a summary of all of the rows (alternatively, clear any selected rows before

running Summarize).

Summarizing the amount of affected

land in Rondnia.


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22) Select by

vegetation type

Open your summary table. Select all of the Area Antropizada rows in the table

using Select by Attributes, as shown in the Select by Attributes dialog box.

Selecting by vegetation type.

Notice that each polygon of Area Antropizada is listed separately. This makes it

cumbersome to determine how much of Rondnia is covered by Area Antropizada.


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23) Summarize by

vegetation type

In your summary table, right-click shape_area > Statistics. You will see a histogram

of data that summarize all of the Area Antropizada.

Generating vegetation cover statistics.

Label the capital layer on the field Nomemun.

23.1) What is the difference between the Statistics and Summarize

functions?

23.2) What percentage of Rondnia (the Sum listed in the Selection

Statistics of Sum_Output dialog box) is covered by Area Antropizada?

24) Identify

capital 24.1) What is the capital of Rondnia, what river is it on, and what is thevegetation type in the area of the city?


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25) Assess

municipalities

Turn on the 0.shp municipalities again and label.

The Nome field that you examined earlier in 0.shp corresponds to the

municipalities, but it is more like a city-state, with a city and its surrounding area.

Under the soils folder, add the layer solos (soils). You may need to turn it on or

make vegetation semi-transparent (under the Effects toolbar or Display tab in

Layer Properties) to answer the following question.

25.1) Which three municipalities around the capital would you say are

under the most pressure of land development, and why?

25.2) Describe the directions that the rivers flow in Rondnia (hidro).

25.3) What rivers would you say would likely be most affected by

increased sedimentation from development in this region?

26) Assess soil

types

26.1) What soil type(s) (TIPO and DESC_) underlie most of the area under

intense development in Rondnia?

26.2) Name at least two problems associated with developing land that

is underlain by tropical soils for urban land use.

26.3) Name at least two problems associated with developing land that

is underlain by tropical soils for agriculture.


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27) Assess soil

fertility

Under the potential agriculture folder, add the potencial map layer (potential for

soils to support agricultural development). Map the potencial layer on the

attribute FERTILIDAD (soil fertility).

27.1) What do you notice about the pattern of soil fertility (alta=high;

media=medium; baixa=low; muito baixa=very low) related to the

development in Rondnia?

27.2) Why do you think that soil fertility is related to land development?

27.3) Remembering the nome field that you examined earlier in 0.shp,

which three municipalities would you say have the lowest fertility and

yet have seen the most development?

27.4) How does the fertility of the soil encourage ongoing development

of the rainforest into farmland and ranch land?

27.5) Do you consider the fertility ratings to be short-term or long-term

ratings? Why?

28) Save Save your map document.

End of work package


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Work package 5: Analyzing satellite imagery Steps 29 - 38

29) Access

satellite imagery

Next, you decide that you need a satellite image to see the fishbone pattern of

roads branching off the main road into the rainforest.

An excellent source for satellite imagery is the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF).Access it at: http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml

Global Land Cover Facility website.

29.1) What is the GLCF, and who operates it?
http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtmlhttp://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/index.shtml


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30) Access Data

and Products

Select the Data and Products link. On the next screen, select Landsat(under

Satellite Imagery).

30.1) What is Landsat data? Who is responsible for operating Landsat

and providing data from it?

30.2) What spectral bands does ETM+imagery occupy, and what is its

spatial resolution?

31) Select Landsat

data

Select the ESDI link (on the right hand side).

Note: If this tool is not running when you need it, select the Download via FTP

Server under Data Access instead and complete the following:

Select directory WRS2.

Select directory P231.

Select directory r068.

You should be at the following URL:ftp://ftp.glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/glcf/Landsat/WRS2/p231/r068/

Select directory p231r068_7x20010811.ETM-EarthSat-Orthorectified.

Select file p231r068_7t20010811_z20_nn70.tif.gz.

Save and unzip this file (28 MB zipped [gz format]).
ftp://ftp.glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/glcf/Landsat/WRS2/p231/r068/ftp://ftp.glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/glcf/Landsat/WRS2/p231/r068/


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31) Select Landsat

data (contd.)

On the next screen, select: Map Search. On the left panel, select Landsat Imagery

ETM+. This is the Enhanced Thematic Mapper imagery. Zoom in to southern

Rondnia (or type in Rondonia in the Place tab).

32) Identify image

path and row

Search for path and row WRS-2, Path 231, Row 068as follows. The path refers to

the Northeast-Southwest tracks that the Landsat takes in its orbit, and the rows

refer to the segments along the orbit:

Identifying the correct Landsat imagery.


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Select Preview and Download.

You will see a list of images; select ID 035088. Landsat sensors are sensitive to

seven bands in the electromagnetic spectrum, from blue to mid-infrared. For thisexercise, you will download only a file in one band, although for a more rigorous

study, you would probably need to download all bands for multispectral analysis.

32) Identify image

path and row

(contd.)

Land cover facility portal.

33) Accesstechnical guide

Select Info to access the page http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/landsat/ and from

there select Technical Guide (from list of options on right hand side).

Link to GLCFtechnical guide.
http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/landsat/http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/data/landsat/


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You should be looking at the following document at:

http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/library/guide/techguide_landsat.pdf

Notice that the document states that Bands 4, 5, or 7 from ETM+ (EnhancedThematic Mapper) are used to demonstrate vegetation conditions.

33) Access

technical guide

(contd.)

35) Access

metadata

Go back to your list of images and select download (make sure you still have file

035088 selected). You will next see a list of files; select the metadata file (last one

in the list), named with a .met extension.

You will see from this list that the file you need that corresponds to Band 7 in the

electromagnetic spectrum has the following name:

BAND7_FILE_NAME = "p231r068_7t20010811_z20_nn70.tif

36) Download

data

Exit your metadata file and download (save target as) and unzip the above nn70.tif

file.

34) Access images

34.1) What band will you need for a Mid-Infrared 2.080 2.25

micrometer image?

Choose the band.
http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/library/guide/techguide_landsat.pdfhttp://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu/library/guide/techguide_landsat.pdf


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Add your Landsat image to your ArcMap session. Choose Yes to create pyramids to

make your zoom and pan draw speeds faster.

37) Add imagery

to ArcMap

Try symbolizing the data using a classified method and experiment with other

symbolization and classification methods.

38) Save Save your map document.

37.1) Using the Landsat image as your background image, make at least

two observations about the pattern of development in this section of

Rondnia.

Landsat image imported into ArcMap with roads and

hydro vector data

End of work package


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Work package 6: Synthesizing results Steps 39 - 40

Create a layout and paste it into this exercise document that includes your satellite

image base, your vegetation, roads, and hydro data.

39) Communicate

your results

Analyze the results of your investigation.

39.1) What other information do you think you will need to

communicate the extent of the issues you have been examining in

Rondnia?

40) Analyze

results 40.1) What have you learned about development in Rondnia, Brazil, duringhistoric times up to the present day?

40.2) What area do you think will be targeted next for development? Why?

40.3) If you were going to study this region in a more rigorous way, what

additional dataspatial or otherwisemight you need for this study?

40.4) Summarize in a few sentences what you have learned about using the

GLCF as an image portal. What were its strengths and weaknesses portal?

40.5) Summarize in a few sentences what you have learned about using theIBGE. What were its strengths and weaknesses?

40.6) Is your use of IBGE or your use of GIS hampered if Portuguese is not

your native language?

40.7) Do you think it is important for spatial data portals to be offered in

more than one language? Who should fund

such a translation effort?End of work package


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1) What is a spatial data infrastructure?

2) Which component of a spatial data infrastructure is most important, and why?

3) Name three difficulties in setting up an international spatial data infrastructure.

Which one do you think is the most challenging to its success, and why?

4) Name two advantages that the INSPIRE initiative will offer the spatial data

community of users.

5) Name two concerns that have been voiced about the INSPIRE initiative and whythey are of concern.

6) What is the difference between an international spatial data infrastructure and

an international data portal?

7) Name three international data portals and indicate the advantages of each in

terms of data themes, formats, and download options.

8) Compare and contrast the Helsinki Commissions Baltic Marine Environment

Protection Commission (HELCOM) and the Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure (ASDI).

9) Which datasets did you examine from the Brazilian mapping, environment, and

statistics agency in your study of Rondnia?

10)Name the types of satellite imagery hosted on the Global Land Cover Facility.Whi h did ?

Chapter 6 quiz

Exercise 06 - Land use and sustainability in Brazil

Documents

Transcript of Exercise 06 - Land use and sustainability in Brazil