What is Landscape Modeler?

Suitability analysis is a landscape modeling process that is used to determine which locations are best suited for certain uses. The landscape planner specifies the environmental and cultural factors considered important to decision making, selects the appropriate data layers, weights them, and uses geoprocessing tools to filter the criteria and identify the best locations. For example, a planner may want to assess where habitats are located for endangered species and how close a site may be to suburban development. Or you may be researching a site for a new petroleum pipeline and need to figure out which sites would be suitable based on elevation, slope, endangered species habitats, and proximity to urban and suburban areas.

This can be a time-consuming process with conventional desktop GIS tools. Landscape Modeler is a web-based application that makes the entire process more efficient. It allows you to use raster services to visualize information such as critical habitats, development risk, and fire potential, across the United States. This information can be used to research sites for urban development, housing developments, habitat locations, and other projects that require you to weigh several types of data against each other.