The conceptual bases

The Dinamica software uses as input a landscape map (land-use and cover map) - for instance: a thematic map obtained from satellite imagery -, and generates as output landscape maps (one for each time step), the spatial transition maps and the dynamic spatial variable maps. Yet, as input, the model employs selected spatial variables, which are structured in two subsets, according to theirs dynamic or static nature. In other words, the model receives a set of raster data cubes and outputs new ones.

For running the simulations, the model works in phases, each one having its own parameters. In this way, each phase comprises: 1) the number of time steps, 2) the coefficients of the logistic equations applied to calculate each spatial Pij, 3) the transition rates, 4) an eventual saturation value, 5) the minimum sojourn time before a cell changes its state, and 6) the percentage of transitions executed by each transitional function together with its options.

Each phase has fixed parameters; consequently it can be run using multiple phases, each one consisting of several time steps.

The algorithms developed for the DINAMICA software are described here.