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VISUALIZING MOOSE HABITAT CHANGES DUE TO INFRASTRUCTURE
CONSTRUCTION IN SOUTHERN FINLAND
T.M.Krisp * *, S. Vàre ^ J.Dame'*, K.Virrantaus ?
* Helsinki University of Technology, Cartography & Geomatics, PL 1200, Finland, jukka.krisp@hut.fi,
? YS-Konsultit Oy, Luoteisrinne 4A, 02270 Espoo, Finland, seija.vare@Y S-Konsultit.fi
© University of Bonn, Dept. of Geography, Germany, jdame@uni-bonn.de
* Helsinki University of Technology, Cartography & Geomatics, PL 1200, Finland, kirsi.virrantaus@hut.fi
Commission 1V/6 Landscape Modeling and Visualization
KEYWORDS: Visualization, GIS, Modeling, Ecology, Environment, Infrastructure, Planning
ABSTRACT:
New road constructions in southern Finland are causing significant changes in the natural behavior of moose populations. All major
roads within this area are protected by fences to minimize the danger of traffic-accidents. The decrease of natural areas is
problematic in the urban land use planning, as the continuity between different protected areas is crucial to maintain the endurance
of wildlife. Moose tend to migrate between their summer and winter habitats to different locations within southern Finland. Without
proper investigation and integration of animal crossing structures into the infrastructure the natural migration patterns and habitats of
moose and other wildlife are distorted. We are investigating the Finnish moose population changes for the years 1999 to 2003. Data
is available as points representing individual moose observations. How do we transform these data into information and
subsequently into knowledge? Using geostatistical methods, available in GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis tools, the
data can be interpolated to density surfaces for the different years. By applying overlay and data fusion procedures with road data for
the same instances, we can highlight changes in moose habitats caused by infrastructure. The results are displayed as a four-
dimensional animation. Thus, we intend to provide appealing visualizations attracting the public to participate in the planning
procedures for future infrastructure. Furthermore we will evaluate the effects of infrastructure construction for deriving guidelines on
adaptation of existing means of transport to ecological requirements. The Finnish Road Administration in cooperation with the
Helsinki University of Technology — Department of Cartography & Geoinformatics finances this research as part of the MOSSE
research project. More information is available on the following Website:
http://www.hut.fi/Units/Cartography/research/mosse/index.html
I. INTRODUCTION
Moose have their annual behavior means to survive in the
Habitat fragmentation is a severe problem in Central Europe northern hard climate. The animal accidents have forced the
and the same development is seen also in southern Finland road authorities to built wildlife fences along high-speed roads
although our country has still much sparse inhabited nature and to protect drivers from sudden and often unexpected animal
forest areas. The major roads cut their way through forest accident.
joining built up areas to each other and cause isolation to
animal populations. The species of deer family are common The development of models and methods to integrate and
animals in Finland. There is about 100.000 moose, 30.000 visualize experts’ knowledge into planning procedures will also
white tale deer, 10.000 roe deer and 200.000 reindeer be in the future one of the most important tasks for scientists
wandering in the Finnish forests, and the amount of animals (Woess & Grillmayer, 2002). To examine space and spatial
will almost double every spring due reproduction. Figure I relationships is of growing importance. To model the influence
shows a moose as they exist in Finland. of spatial objects towards its environment is a challenge for
cartographic representations. In addition to that, an
extraordinary challenge is to transform data in to information
and subsequently into knowledge (MacEachren & Kraak,
2001). Furthermore this knowledge has to be integrated into
legislation or planning procedures. We suggest that the
presentation and visualization of information in cartographic
form can play a crucial role to incorporate the knowledge into
planning procedures.
Figure 1. Finnish moose (Tôrmänen, 2002)
* .
Corresponding author
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