permaculture

[Rich Blaha <rich@mossbackfarm.com>]

Hi Paul

There is some competition for ESRI, but Qgis is starting waaaaaayyyy 
behind the juggernaut, with a huge lead to overcome.  But hey, they said 
that about firefox, too.

I've never worked with Qgis....I'm thinking of messing around with it 
some this winter, but I know for a fact it won't happen before then.  
Hawth's Tools (http://www.spatialecology.com/htools/tooldesc.php) is 
probably what you're looking for as a free plug in to Arc9x.  It's got 
pretty much the functionality that I remember from the free Xtools, plus 
a little more. 

I'd love to see your database/template/model.  What's the best way to 
get it (with the understanding that I'm on a dialup connection.... :) )?

Cheers
Rich
www.mossbackfarm.com/journal

>   6. Re: introduction (Paul Cereghino)
>
>  

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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 23:24:28 -0700
From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] introduction
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4518C79C.6060503@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Rich -- Glad to hear that there is finally some competition for ESRI!  
Do you know if QGIS has the ability to draw and calculate the area of 
polygons.  Or alternately if there is a free extension for ArcGis 9.x 
that has the same functions as XTools -- a once free extension created 
for ArcView 4.x by some forestry guys in Oregon?  I have used GIS for 
site planning and have found it very useful... given that you have some 
rational for developing the proficiency.  For native revegetation 
projects I typically divide sites into polygons based on the 
intersection of existing conditions and desired future conditions.  GIS 
allows calculation of polygon area.  The areas can be used as the basis 
for calculating plant counts based on templates and density... the 
fastest way to get from a landscape to a shopping or propagation list.  
I have developed an Access database that allows multiple planting 
templates to be applied in multiple phases over multiple zones and then 
it spits out a range of reports from nursery requests for availability 
to plant placement specs and cost estimates based on stock type.  These 
reports can be 'rolled up' by phase or by zone or whatever your 
interest.  The template concept translates well to the guild concept.  
Multiple templates in a zone can be a multiple guild mosaic.  I am 
looking for critique and the database is roughly public domain if you 
have Access.  I have been considering buying the Plants for a Future 
database so I can adapt this tool to agroforestry design, but I am 
unsure how well I would be able to query the PfaF database for species 
appropriate to my temperate maritime dry summer climate, though I could 
hand pick based on personal preference and availability.

Paul Cereghino
Olympia, WA, USA