LandFACTS is a modelling tool to create scenarios of crops or land uses within the landscape. The model provides a crop/ land use per land unit per year, which meets user-specified spatial and temporal constraints on the crops/land uses. The software is spatio-temporal and allows multi-scaling. The modelling is based on stochastic and rule-based processes complemented with simulated annealing.
The model is currently used to create scenarios of cropping systems and land uses from the farm level up to the regional scale in order to assess ecosystem services, such as biodiversity, water quality, soil erosion, carbon sequestration.
LandSFACTS model details (inputs/outputs)
The LandsFACTS model was originally (v1.6) set up to simulate cropping systems at the landscape scale. Since 2007, it was further developed to allow modelling land uses at multiple scales within an evolving environment. The diagram below presents the main inputs and outputs of the model.
Figure: LandSFACTS version 2.0 inputs and outputs
Temporal constraints: return period, minimum and maximum repetition of crops within a field, forbidden crop sequences, past allocations. Each constraint can be field specific.
Spatial constraints: yearly land capability, separation distances between crops, linked fields. In progress: connectivity metrics.
LandFACTS is a tool developed within the Scenarios and Land Use Futures programme of work within the James Hutton Institute.
Environmental, economic and social issues associated with agriculture are often fundamental for rural prosperity and sustainability, with consequent implications for any debate about future land use. A key to supporting the planning of change is to understand the capability of the land for uses such as agriculture for the future as well as today, and the ecosystem service supply and land uses they can support.
We are creating a series of new models of land capability for different ecosystem services at different scales and trade-offs in values between combinations of ecosystem services. This work uses spatial frameworks for ecosystems, multi-functional rural and urban land use, and landscape capacity for change, and targets aims of the Scottish Land Use Strategy.
Land use scenarios
The evaluation of multiple benefits from land (‘multifunctional land use’) is being investigated through the development of land use change scenarios as part of an ecosystem approach to land management.
Figure 1: Scenario framework with land use change storylines
These combine different coherent options of land uses and land management, and consider consequences of climate change, present and future. The LandSFACTS toolkit was developed to support the development of spatial scenarios from field to national scale, for snapshots in time through to multiple years.
Please see the References section below for publications on LandFACTS applications.
LandSFACTS publications
Publications relating to the LandSFACTS model.
Model description
- Castellazzi, M.S., Matthews, J., Angevin, F., Sausse, C., Wood, G.A., Burgess, P.J., Brown I., Conrad, K.F., Perry J.N. 2010. Simulation scenarios of spatio-temporal arrangement of crops at the landscape scale. Environmental Modelling and Software 25, 1881-1889.
- Castellazzi, M. S., Brown, I., Poggio, L., and Gimona, A. 2012. Modelling land use change and its spatial variability for ecosystem services assessments. R.Seppelt, A. A. Voinov S. Lange D. Bankamp Eds. International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software. Managing Resources of a Limited Planet, Sixth Biennial Meeting.
- Castellazzi M.S., Joannon A., Brown I., Gimona A., Poggio L. 2010. Developing a nested-scale landscape modelling framework for ecosystem services. LANDMOD2010 international conference (Integrative landscape modelling conference), 3-5 February 2010, Montpellier, France (presentation).
- Castellazzi, M. S., Matthews, J., Wood, G. A., Burgess, P. J., Conrad, K. F., and Perry, J. N. 2007. LandSFACTS: Software for Spatio-temporal Allocation of Crops to Fields. In: Proceedings of 5th Annual Conference of the European Federation of IT in Agriculture, Glasgow, UK, 1-8-2007.
- Castellazzi, M.S., Perry, J.N., Colbach, N., Monod, H., Adamczyk, K., Viaud, V., and Conrad, K.F. 2007. New measures and tests of temporal and spatial pattern of crops in agricultural landscapes. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 118 (1-4), 339-349.
- Castellazzi, M. S. 2007. Spatio-temporal modelling of crop-coexistence in European agricultural landscapes. PhD Thesis, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK.
- Castellazzi, M.S., Wood, G.A., Burgess, P.J., Morris, J., Conrad, K.F., and Perry, J.N. 2008. A systematic representation of crop rotations. Agricultural Systems 97, 26-33.
LandSFACTS downloads
The LandSFACTS software is available in several formats:
- with graphical interface, helpfile and tutorial [XP, W7], cf. below
- command-line [XP, W7, W7 x64, Linux x64], by request
- dynamic libraries [XP, W7, W7 x64, Linux x64], by request.
The command line version allows work with larger landscapes (for example, 2 millions polygons) but requires more pre-processing of the data and a more in-depth knowledge of the model. Linux x64 was tested on SL6.1.
The software development is an ongoing process and you can email Marie Castellazzi to get the latest version.
Download software with graphical interface and tutorial
Software and Help file [XP, W7 compatible]: LandSFACTSv2-0-4.zip
Unzip the file, on a local drive preferably, and double-click LandSFACTS.exe to launch the software. Use the tutorial below for an introduction to using the software , and browse the help file for detailed information.
Examples and tutorial with data: LandSFACTSv2-0-4_Tutorial.zip
Help file only: LandSFACTS.zip
The help file is in .chm format, and to open correctly, it needs to be saved on a local drive (for example, C, D).
Licence
The software is released under GNU public licence, and is therefore free to use and develop. The code sources are available upon request.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the GNU General Public Licence for more details.
The model is currently used to create scenarios of cropping systems and land uses from the farm level up to the regional scale in order to assess ecosystem services, such as biodiversity, water quality, soil erosion, carbon sequestration.
Model application
- Baggaley, N. J., Lilly, A., Castellazzi, M. S., and Walker, R. 2009. Soil quality = Water quality? Soil erosion modeling at a catchment scale International conference on Soil quality = Environment quality, Teagasc, Ireland, 9-11 September 2009.
- Brown, I., Castellazzi, M. 2009. Land use and Climate Change scenarios for managing multi-functional landscapes. Knowledge Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Inverness, 25 March 2009.
- Castellazzi, M. S., Brown, I., Gimona, A., and Poggio, L. 2012. Exploring path-dependencies and spatial variability in landscape scale scenarios for ecosystem services assessments. R.Seppelt, A. A. Voinov S. Lange D. Bankamp Eds. International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software. Managing Resources of a Limited Planet, Sixth Biennial Meeting.
- Castellazzi, M. S., Brown, I., Poggio, L., and Gimona, A. 2010. Multi-scale modelling of ecosystem services - an iterative approach. In: Modelling for Environment's Sake. 2010 International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Ottawa, Canada, 2010.
- Crossman J., Whitehead P.G., Futter M.N., Jin L., Shahgedanova M., Castellazzi M., Wade A.J. 2013. The interactive responses of water quality and hydrology to changes in multiple stressors, and implications for the long-term effective management of phosphorus. Science of The Total Environment, Volumes 454–455, p.230-244.
- Dunn, S.M.; Birkel, C.; Castellazzi, M.S. 2010. Catchment scale recovery from diffuse pollution: some initial scenario exploration. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference, IWA Diffuse Pollution Specialist Group: Diffuse Pollution and Eutrophication, Quebec, Canada, 12-17 September 2010.
- Gimona, A., Poggio, L., Castellazzi, M. S., and Brown, I. 2009. Vulnerability of ecological networks to direct and indirect climate impacts. International Association for Landscape Ecology – Ecological networks: Science and Practice, Edinburgh, UK. 1-9-2009.
- Joannon, A., Vasseur, C., Boussard, H., Castellazzi, M.S., Schermann, N., and Baudry, J. 2009. A method to assess farmers' room for maneuvring crop location at the landscape level for biodiversity conservation. Farming Systems Design 2009 Conference, Monterey, CA.
- Ronfort, C., Souchère, V., Martin, P., Sebillotte, C., Castellazzi, M.S., Barbottin, A., Meynard, J.M., and Benoit Laignel. 2011. Methodology for land use change scenario assessment for runoff impacts: A case study in a north-western European Loess belt region (Pays de Caux, France). Catena 86, 36-48.
- Schaller, N., Aubry, C., Martin, P. 2010. Modelling farmers' decisions of splitting agricultural plots at different time scales: a contribution for modelling landscape spatial configuration. In: Proceedings of Agro2010 the XIth ESA Congress, Montpellier, France: 879-880.
Further information is available on the ACM Digital Library here.
