Presentation from Third InDOG Doctoral Conference in Olomouc, Czech Republic. 13. - 16. October 2014

1. Analysis of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon
Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris
Supervisor Prof. Dr. Manfred Buchroithner
Institute for Cartography 20.10.14

2. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Objective
 Analyze the relief diversity in the study area using the ArcGIS
softwareand patch analyst extension
 Produce a final output map presents the degree of the relief intensity
in area which covering a part of Saxon Switzerland, using ARCMAP.
DEM’s and layer files will be included to produce several maps, all data
gathered will be organized and compiled in a database

3. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
The Study Area
 East Germany, Saxon Switzerland
 Total area of 81.36 km²
 Range of Elevation 300 m
 Krippen, Bad Schandau, and Kirnitzschtal
 Covered by The National Park Saxon Switzerland

4. The Study Area Location

5. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
The Study Area
• The area of interest for this study is a part of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Region “Sächsische Schweiz” which is exemplified by the national park region
Saxon Switzerland (398 km²), and consists of a national park (93.5 km²) and a
surrounding landscape conservation area (287.5 km²)
• The selected study area has a total area of (81.36 km²)
• The topography of the area is characterized by its sandstone rocks “Elbe
Sandstone Mountains”, The Elbe River breaks through the mountain range in a
steep and narrow valley; therefore, the region involves a complex distribution of
rocky mountains, plains, hills, valleys and Elbe valley
• The Saxon Switzerland is an intensively fissured and rocky canyon landscape.
The highest peak of the National Park is at 556 meters above sea level but only
in short distance to the valley of the Elbe river at 110 to 120 m (Wächter and
Boehnert 1998)

7. u
Color-coded DEM visualization of study area

8. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Data Processing
1. Provision of IRS Imagery Provided by Dresden IRP in Arc info
format
2. The Raster calculator tool within ARC/MAP
3. Detailed Relive Analyses using Patch Analyst extension of Arc Map

9. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
What is Patch Analyst for ArcGIS
 Tool for quantifying landscape structure
 Extension to the ArcGIS® software system that facilitates the spatial analysis of
landscape patches and the modeling of attributes associated with patches
 Used for spatial pattern analysis
 Includes capabilities to characterize patch pattern and the ability to assign patch values
based on combinations of patch attributes

10. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
The Hexagon Regions Lattice Used In Patch Analyst

11. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
What can it be used for ?
Patch Analyst allows the data to be analyzed within three levels of hierarchy:
1. Landscape relates to all the patches, polygons, contiguous cells or shapes
in a view or theme
2. Classes relate to all the patches, polygons, contiguous cells or shapes in a
theme, view or landscape that have the same value for a given attribute
3. Patches relate to the individual polygons or contiguous set of cells or
shapes. Each patch has a separate record or row in the theme attribute table

12. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Why Relief diversity Index
 The practical meaning of the landscape evaluation is spatial
development used for the for the tourism activities
 The relief diversity index used with set indexes which reflects the
aesthetical value of the landscape

13. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Shannon's Diversity Index (SDI)
• Used to measure relief intensity in categorical data or the proportional
abundance of each patch type within the landscape
• only available at the landscape level and is a relative measure of patch
diversity
• The advantage of this index is that it takes into account the number of
species and the evenness of the elevation classes

14. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
• ni The number of individuals in species i; the abundance of species i.
• S The number of species. Also called species richness.
• N The total number of all individuals
• pi The relative abundance of each species, calculated as the proportion
of individuals of a given species to the total number of individuals in the
community:

15. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Input Data
 IRS / 5m x 5m
 NPSS: DEM /10m x10m
 NPSS: Regional location
map
 NPSS: Administrative
boundaries
 NPSS: Land use map
 NPSS: Topographic Maps
1/ 25000

16. DTM
Spatial Analyst
Landscape Fragmentation
Patch Analyst
Landscape Metrics
Spatial Analyst
Relief Diversity Map

17. Spatial Analyst
Patch Analyst Landscape Fragmentation
Spatial Analyst
DDEEMM
RReelileief fD Diviveersrsitiyty M Maapp
Calculation of the relief diversity index
Applying
Spatial Statistics
(by Regions)
Calculation the
SHDI Index
Combining
Regions Extraction
Joining tables
Joined table
Individual Region
Set of tables
Author‘s design
Slope Aspect Ver. Curvature
Slope classes Aspect classes Ver. Curvature classes
Patches/ Regions
Ranging
Clipping

18. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Shannon's Diversity Index Classes

19. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Combination of Slope, Aspect and Curvature

20. Slope Classes Map

21. Aspect Classes Map

22. Vertical Curvature Classes Map

23. Map of Comined Relief Parameters

24. Shannon's D iversity Indices

25. Relief Diversity Map

26. Relief Deversity

27. Relief Diversity

28. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Conclusions
 The region displays high to very high relief diversity
 Low values cover only 5% of the study area (inside the National Park )
 High and very high diversity values exclude agricultural and areas and
settlements areas
 Along the Elbe Valley: high values

29. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Benefits
 Allow to analytically derive morph graphic features (such as slope, aspect,
curvature, etc.)
 Allow to create value-added map products
 The assessment of spatial landscape diversity and relief diversity could be easier
and faster
 A lot of parameters could be carried out
 External nets, regions, analyses units could be exported, then joined with patch
tools
 possibility to derive small units which could match other statistical parameters
 The opportunity to explore such possibilities within Patch Analyst was not hard to
perform

30. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Weak points and limitations
 Does not include the landscape fragmentation function
 NO tool to represent the final calculated output
 Executing some processes requires computing times too long for
smaller computers
Embedding of the study
Small exercise dealing with quantization of landscape metrics
Overall objective: landscape aesthetics in relation to the recreational
value

31. Analysis Of Relief Diversity. The Example of Saxon Switzerland National Park
Hiba Idris 20.10.14
Embedding of the study
•Embedding of the study
•Small exercise dealing with quantization of landscape metrics
•Overall objective: landscape aesthetics in relation to the
recreational value

32. Thank you
Thank you