Clark Labs Releases of IDRISI Andes

Clark Labs (MA, USA) released of the 15th version of the IDRISI GIS and Image Processing system--The Andes Edition. An addition to IDRISI with this release is the Land Change Modeler (LCM) for Ecological Sustainability--an integrated software environment for analysing land cover change, projecting its course into the future, and assessing its implications for habitat and biodiversity change. LCM is the first extensive vertical application developed by Clark Labs.

The Land Change Modeler for Ecological Sustainability introduces a range of tools that are new to the fields of GIS and Conservation Biology and is oriented to the pressing problem of accelerated land conversion and the very specific analytical needs of biodiversity conservation. The application is organised around a sequence of tasks involved with:

• analysing past landcover change
  
• modelling the potential for change
  
• predicting the course of change into the future
  
• assessing the implications of that change for biodiversity
  
• evaluating planning interventions for maintaining ecological sustainability.

The Andes Edition of IDRISI provides three neural network classifiers, including: Multi-Layer Perceptron, Kohenon’s Self-Organising Map, and Fuzzy ARTMAP. It also includes a Classification Tree Analysis with a machine learning interface that provides the ability to map any node and to prune either manually or automatically. Other new classifiers include K-Means and k-Nearest Neighbor.

Other developments include interface and display enhancements with a new IDRISI Explorer file management utility, improvements to the existing 3-D Fly Through module to include saving flight paths to an external AVI, and enhanced cartographic map composition tools. New analytical routines include a multinomial logistic regression tool, a Temporal Fourier Analysis tool, a new panchromatic merge utility, a minimum noise fraction routine, and enhanced RUNOFF and SEDIMENTATION routines that greatly support hydrological modelling applications.