In NINAnor/oneimpact: Tools for the assessment of the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic features in ecological studies

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The computation of zones of influence (ZOI) in useful to assess whether the effect of a given anthropogenic infrastructure, disturbance, or landscape variable affect an ecological response variable beyond its spatial delimitation. Computing zones of influence for large maps with fine resolution though, is tricky because of computing and memory limitations in processing raster maps in R. To deal with that, the oneimpact package offers tools to compute the ZOI in GRASS GIS, a powerful, open-source , using the package rgrass to link R and GRASS. Here we provide an example and some comments on how to compute ZOI metrics in GRASS GIS via R.

For an introduction to the zone of influence approach in R, look at the Getting started and Computing zones of influence introdutory vignettes.

Overview

To compute ZOI metrics in GRASS GIS, we can use the same function used to compute ZOI in R, calc_zoi() (or calc_zoi_nearest() and calc_zoi_cumulative for only the nearest and cumulative ZOI metrics), adding a parameter where = "GRASS". However, the computation in GRASS GIS is slighly different from doing the same in R. Here are some key differences:

• raster processing is made in GRASS GIS, so it requires an active connection between the R session and a GRASS GIS location and mapset;
• the input raster maps representing infrastructure or disturbance might be loaded into the GRASS GIS location/mapset R is connected to. This might be done through the rgrass package;
• once the input raster maps are loaded in GRASS, the input to the calc_zoi() function is not a raster object in R but a string with the name of the map in the GRASS mapset;
• after processing, ZOI maps are saved within the GRASS GIS location and mapset. To retrieve them, one must use the rgrass pacakge to import the maps into R or outside to a working folder.

Below we show how to do these steps to compute the ZOI and provide a few comments.

Establishing a connection between R and GRASS

Downloading and installing GRASS GIS

The first requirement to compute ZOI metrics in GRASS is to have GRASS GIS installed. GRASS can be freely downloaded and installed in most operational systems (Windows, Linux, MacOS). For more information on installations, please see the official GRASS Downloads webpage. The website also provides helpful manuals, tutorials, and videos and various languages for first time and experienced users.

Connecting R to GRASS GIS

GRASS GIS has a slighly different project organization, if compared to other popular GIS software such as ArcGIS and QGIS. GRASS projects are called Locations, which are defined by a single geodetic datum and coordinate reference system (CRS). This means that all maps of all types (e.g. vector, raster) within a location have the very same CRS, what assures all data is processed correctly. Each location has a main folder called PERMANENT and might have multiple other folders; these folders are called Mapsets. See this tutorial for more information on the GRASS database and location structure.

Running GRASS from R

When connecting R to GRASS, R might be connected to a given GRASS location and mapset through the function rgrass::initGRASS(). One must provide to this call the folder where the GRASS GIS executable files are found (parameter gisBase), as well as the folder where the project is located (parameter gisDbase), the location name (parameter location) and the mapset name (parameter mapset). The function might be used to connect to an already existing location or create a new one, if it does not exist.

For illustration, here we create a new location to work on the oneimpact examples. To do so, we use as a reference (for defining the datum and CRS of the GRASS location) the map of number of private tourist cabins in a sample area in Southern Norway, stored in the oneimpact package (see ?sample_area_cabins_count.tif for more information). We first load this data set.

# load packages
library(oneimpact)
library(rgrass) # for connecting R and GRASS
library(terra) # for geodata in R

# load cabins raster data into R
(f <- system.file("raster/sample_area_cabins_count.tif", package = "oneimpact"))
cabins_count <- terra::rast(f)

Next, we need to know what is the path of the folder where GRASS GIS executable files are located. The following command works in Linux, MacOS, and within the OSGeo4W in Windows:

# For linux or within OSGeo4W shell
grassdir <- system("grass --config path", intern = TRUE)
grassdir

Now we can create a GRASS GIS location and connect our R session to it:

gisDB <- "." # create location and mapset in the working directory
loc <- "test_location/" # name of the location
ms <- "PERMANENT" # name of the mapset
# create grass db and connect
rgrass::initGRASS(gisBase = grassdir,
                  SG = cabins_count, # use map to define location projection
                  home = tempdir(),
                  gisDbase = gisDB,
                  location = loc,
                  mapset = ms,
                  override = TRUE, )

Notice that, in the code above, a few additional parameters were filled. First, the SG = cabins_count parameter defined the map of cabins as the reference to define the CRS of the created location. Second, we created a location in a temporary folder using home = tempdir(). While this is ok for tests and demonstration purposes like this tutorial, we do not recommend you to use it when processing maps for other purposes, since the data might be lost after the connection to GRASS is closed.

As a proof to check if the connection between R and GRASS is active, the initGRASS() function shows a series of information about the grass database and location. The same might be checked at any time by using the rgrass::gmeta() function:

# check grass connection
rgrass::gmeta()

This command shows all the information on the grass database, location, mapset, and reference system. Besides, it provides information about the GRASS working computational region (number of rows and columns of the region; north, south, west, and east boundaries of the region extent; and region resolution in the north-south and east-west directions, nsres and ewres). Differently from other GIS, GRASS works based on computational regions to perform map processing. This means that, regardless of the extent and resolution of the input maps, it is possible to set a specific desired extent and resolution as the output for most of the GRASS GIS tools. More information on GRASS computational regions can be found here.

Running R within GRASS

Another option is to open a GRASS GIS session and run R within the GRASS shell. Too know more about this option, please look at these GRASS GIS wiki.

Notes in GRASS installation and connections on Windows

It is possible to install GRASS on Windows operational systems in two ways, and it might be a little tricky to connect R and GRASS.

Standalone installation

The first option is to download a standalone installer and install a given GRASS GIS version. If you do so, the code above should work, except the command system("grass78 --config path", intern = TRUE). In this case, the grassdir object with the path to the executable GRASS files should look like:

# If you used the standalone installer in Windows
grassdir <- "C:\Programs\GRASS GIS 7.8" # Correct if the path is different

Installation through OSGeo4W

Another option on Windows is to use OSGeo4W. OSGeo4W is an installer for a broad set of open source geospatial software packages including GRASS GIS as well as many other packages (QGIS, GDAL/OGR, and more). Here it is possible to choose which version of GRASS GIS to install and choose many other installation setting besides the default.

When GRASS is installed through OSGeo4W, though, R must be opened from the OSGeo4W shell for the connection between R and GRASS to work through the rgrass package. See the documentation for the rgrass::initGRASS() function and this issue for more information on the connection between R and GRASS on Windows.

Computing the zones of influence

Loading input maps into GRASS

Before computing the ZOI metrics, the input infrastructure or disturbance maps must be loaded into GRASS. If the maps are already open in our R session, it is possible to write them into our GRASS mapset using the rgrass::write_RAST() function:

# write raster into GRASS
rgrass::write_RAST(cabins_count, 
                   vname = "cabins_count", # name of the map in GRASS
                   flags = c("o", "quiet", "overwrite"))

In some cases, there might be small, negligible differences between the GRASS location CRS and the the input map CRS. In such cases where this difference might be ignored, the parameter flags = "o" might be added to ignore the differences (look here for more details on the -o flag). Likewise, if the map already exists in the GRASS location and we want to overwrite it, we must add the overwrite = TRUE parameter to the function.

Another way of loading a map into a GRASS location and mapset directly from a folder in your computer, without the need to pre-load it into R, is to use the r.in.gdal or r.import GRASS tools through the rgrass::execGRASS() function. The function execGRASS() provides a way of running GRASS modules and addons directly, as if we were running them through the GRASS console.

In this case, the following command would also work:

# get path to the raster file
f <- system.file("raster/sample_area_cabins_count.tif", package = "oneimpact")
f

# load this file to the GRASS mapset
rgrass::execGRASS("r.in.gdal", input = f, 
                  output = "cabins_count", # name of the map in GRASS
                  flags = c("overwrite", "o"))

Computing the ZOI

Now, computing the ZOI is very similar to the procedure in R with the calc_zoi() function. We will here compute both the ZOI of the nearest feature and the cumutive ZOI for cabins using a ZOI with a linear decay (i.e. Bartlett) shape and radii of 500 and 1000 m. Importantly, here the main input x for the calc_zoi() funcion is a string with the name of the map within the GRASS mapset (or a vector strings for multiple maps). To inform R that we wish to make processing in GRASS, we must set where = "GRASS":

# compute zoi
zoi_metrics <- calc_zoi(x = "cabins_count", # string as input
                        radius = c(500, 1000),
                        type = "bartlett",
                        zeroAsNA = TRUE,
                        where = "GRASS", 
                        g_overwrite = TRUE)

# check the output
zoi_metrics

Notice that, differently from when calc_zoi() is run entirely in R, the output object zoi_metrics is a vector of strings specifying the name of the output maps computed in GRASS. Below we show how to retrieve these maps into R or export them from GRASS into a local folder.

Notice also that the g_overwrite parameter was used to guarantee that, if there are already maps with similar names in the GRASS GIS mapset, they will be overwritten. Other parameters to control how calc_zoi() is computed in GRASS are available, all following starting with g_. For instance, the name of the output map (or pattern in the output names, when there is more than one map or ZOI radius) might be determined using the g_output_map_name parameter. If no parameter is specified, the input map name is used, together with the ZOI metric, shape, and radius, to create the name of the output maps. For more information on GRASS GIS options for ZOI computation, see the documentation for calc_zoi_nearest() and calc_zoi_cumulative().

Retrieving outputs from GRASS

Once the ZOI maps are calculated, we can retrieve them to R using the function rgrass::read_RAST(). By default, this function reads the rasters as a SpatialGridDataFrame object from the sp package. Here we prefer to specify return_format = "terra", in case which the output is a terra SpatRaster object.

# retireve maps
cabins_zoi_cumulative <- rgrass::read_RAST(zoi_metrics, 
                                           return_format = "terra",
                                           flags = "quiet")
cabins_zoi_cumulative

# For some reason the nearest maps are being read/approximated to integers
# we fix it here, later on we look for the issue
# probably a terra package issue, or a rgrass issue
cabins_zoi_cumulative[[1]][] <- as.numeric(cabins_zoi_cumulative[[1]][])
cabins_zoi_cumulative[[2]][] <- as.numeric(cabins_zoi_cumulative[[2]][])
cabins_zoi_cumulative[[3]][] <- as.numeric(cabins_zoi_cumulative[[3]][])
cabins_zoi_cumulative[[4]][] <- as.numeric(cabins_zoi_cumulative[[4]][])

Now we can plot the ZOI metrics computed in GRASS:

# plot ZOI metrics
terra::plot(cabins_zoi_cumulative)

From this point, the oneimpact vignette Getting started shows how it is possible to annotate biological data with the ZOI variables computed for different variables to prepare data for a multi-scale analysis on the effects of infrastructure and anthropogenic disturbance on biological responses (see also Niebuhr et al, submitted).

Additional resources

Different algorithms to compute the cumulative zone of influence

In GRASS GIS, different algorithms might be used for the computation of neighborhood analyses, which are the basis for the cumulative ZOI calculation. The following GRASS tools are available to be used in calc_zoi() in GRASS: r.resamp.filter, r.mfilter, or r.neighbors. The module to be used is controlled by the parameter g_module. Each of these algorithms provide different capabilities and flexibility:

• r.resamp.filter seems to be the fastest one in most cases, but has less flexibility in the choice of the zone of influence shapes. The algorithm calculates the weighted density of features, which might be rescaled to the cumulative ZOI if the appropriate scaling factor (calculated from the weight matrix) is provided. Currently only the filters type = "bartlett" and type = "box" are implemented in oneimpact. More information about the algorithm here.
• r.mfilter (the default tools in the calc_zoi() functions) is slower than r.resamp.filter but much faster than r.neighbors, and allows a flexible choice of the shape of the zone of influence (the wight matrix shape). r.mfilter is then the most indicated in terms of a balance between flexibility in the choice of the ZOI shape and computation efficiency. The only inconvenient of r.mfilter is that it creates an edge effect with no information in the outer cells of a raster (the number of cells correspond to radius or half the size of the weight matrix), so if it is used the users should add a buffer area \eqn{ge radius} around the input raster map, to avoid such edge effects. See \url{https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/issues/2184} for more details about this issue, and this link for more information on this tool.
• r.neighbors is considerably slower than the other algorithms (from 10 to 100 times), but allows a flexible choice of the ZOI shape. Contrary to r.resamp.filter and r.mfilter, which can only perform a sum of pixel values weighted by the input filter or ZOI, r.neighbors might calculate many other statistical summaries within the window of analysis, such as mean, median, standard deviation etc. In principle, though, the sum is enough to compute the cumulative ZOI as formulated in Niebuhr et al. (submitted) and proposed here.

Different measures of distance to compute the zone of influence of the nearest feature

The metrics of ZOI of the nearest feature are based on maps of distance form each pixel in the landscape to the nearest feature. They are computed in GRASS through the r.grow.distance tool. This tool allows the computation of the distance to the nearest feature based on different distance metrics: "euclidean", "geodesic", "squared", "maximum", "manhattan". This allows extra flexibility and might be controlled in the calc_zoi() functions through the g_dist_metric parameter. If g_dist_metric = "geodesic" and one uses the option flags = "m", for instance, the computation of the distance is made in meters even if the map is in geographical coordinate system (Latitude-Longitude). Find more information at the GRASS GIS documentation for this function here.

Additional ancillary functions

Additional examples for the computation of the ZOI in GRASS can be found in the documentation of the calc_zoi_nearest() and calc_zoi_cumulative() functions. The oneimpact package also provides a few other ancillary functions to help processing maps within GRASS:

• The function grass_binarize() transforms continuous maps into binary maps based on breaks to define discrete categories. The output consists of maps with 1 for values above the break and 0 for values below it. It might be used for preparing inputs to compute the ZOI based on continuous layers.
• The function grass_v2rast_count() rasterizes vectors within GRASS by counting the number of features in each pixel. This is usefull for large maps which are hard to be rasterized within R. See the Computing zones of influence vignette for a reasoning about where this might be useful.

References

Niebuhr, B. B., van Moorter, B., Stien, A., Tveraa, T., Strand, O., Langeland, K., Alam, M., Skarin, A., & Panzacchi, M. Estimating the cumulative impact and zone of influence of anthropogenic infrastructure on biodiversity. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 14, 2362–2375. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.14133

NINAnor/oneimpact documentation built on June 14, 2025, 12:27 a.m.