PCRaster

Those who are involved in developing spatio-temporal environmental models and are using sophisticated GIS suites might be requiring a way to create such models using the command-line interface.

PCRaster is a collection of executables that will aid people in developing environmental models by using the command-line editor and several predefined switches. Since it is based on the command-line console, means that its simulations and processing is quite fast.

Containing a scripting development environment, it will enable users to construct their own simulation models, with programming languages such as PCRcalc and Python.

With applicability in environmental modeling for fields such as geography, hydrology, or ecology, it will provide a comprehensive model designer that also supports other model types. For instance, one will be able to develop runoff-models, vegetation competition or slope stability models.

Carrying a set of modeling building blocks and analytical functions for manipulating raster data, it also comes packed with a stochastic spatio-temporal model construction and data assimilation framework. People will benefit from a tool that will allow them to visualize the said spatio-temporal stochastic data.

However, experienced GIS users and those who are well accustomed to handling raster data in a geographical context must be aware that PCRaster is not a complete raster handling suite. It lacks functionality for digitizing, plotting or other features that are commonly found in full-fledged GIS suites.

The developer advises people to use PCRaster in collaboration with other GIS for rasters and recommends the GDAL libraries for raster conversions.