Zellulärer Automat (CA)

For the consideration of possible future land use patterns on the basis of transition probabilities between the land use types, the CA was developed. Its application is done in two steps. First, a rule set needs to be defined. Which transitions are possible in general? Which neighbours cells could influence them? Which affects have cell-attributes, such as annual precipitation, on the land use change?

In the second step the land use change is being simulated iteratively. For documentation purposes, the user can make snapshots of the changing map. Besides, he/she can choose how land use change should happen in the map: casually dispersed in the map or starting from a certain point? The resulting map can be transferred into GISCAME core system in order to analyse the influence of the land use change on the provision of ecosystem services. In the example below, the succession process is simulated for arable land, starting from forested areas. Neighbouring cells as well as the annual precipitation are influencing factors.