FAQs

What is the Planscape Cooperative?

The Planscape Cooperative is is composed of individuals from the following institutions who have come together to build a wildfire resilience tool to prevent future catastrophic wildfires.  Some of the top experts in the fields of forestry and wildland planning are contributing to Planscape and are key decision makers on both the science and data on which it’s built. Funding is provided by Google.org, CNRA, and Spatial Informatics Group.

Who can use Planscape?

Planscape is open to the public and free for anyone to use. Planscape will focus on regional planners as the primary users (and local planners as secondary users), with the goal of helping them identify and prioritize the most valuable resilience treatments across California’s wildlands.

Why use Planscape?

-Strategically plan resilience treatments in forested and chaparral landscapes across California. 
-Leverage the full potential of the Pillars of Resilience, which provide a robust framework to assess and communicate the benefits and impacts of potential projects. 
-Increase collaboration by allowing users to select proposed actions based on their own preferences and then share and contrast results with the proposed actions of others.

What are the benefits of Planscape?

-OPEN SOURCE. Planscape code is openly available for anyone to use, with a public-domain, no-copyright license. We welcome collaborators. Reach out if you’d like to contribute a module, or adapt Planscape for a new geography.
-OPEN SCIENCE. The science and models used by Planscape are transparent. There is no ‘black box’. We build easy to use interfaces so you don’t need to be an expert to enter your goals and constraints, or to understand the results – but we’re always transparent about how our models work. Built on the best, peer-reviewed science. We are not developing new science
-OPEN DATA. Planscape ingests hundreds of scientifically approved data layers. The sources, descriptions and vintages of each are transparently provided. Users can download any data layers used in Planscape.
-GOVERNANCE. By USFS, State of California, The California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Taskforce, the University of California, Google.org and others. No entity has commercial ownership of Planscape, or profits from its success. We welcome new members of the Planscape cooperative. Incorporates climate change models. We believe we can’t achieve wildfire, ecological, watershed or other resilience without considering the pressures of climate change. By building in future facing models, we help planners understand where best to apply efforts today.
-INCORPORATES CLIMATE CHANGE. We believe we can’t achieve wildfire, ecological, watershed or other resilience without considering the pressures of climate change. By building in future facing models, we help planners understand where best to apply efforts today.

Is Planscape a Free Application?

Planscape is a free, open source web application, built on tools and data provided by state and federal governments. Anyone can contribute to the Planscape project, which is hosted on Git Hub.

What kind of equipment do I need to use Planscape?

Planscape is a web-based application. We recommend using it on a desktop or laptop computer. Planscape is tested on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari and Firefox. Due to the mapping interface, Planscape is not supported on mobile devices or tablets.

Can I bring my own data into Planscape?

Not at this time. In the future we will be expanding the sources of data that are supported. If you have data layers you would like to see supported, please email contact@planscape.org and we will forward that to the team creating the datasets.

What size planning areas are supported?

Planscape was designed to handle extremely large landscapes, so it can easily handle planning areas in the hundreds of thousands of acres. However, note that the larger the acreage, the longer it will take for Planscape to process the data. Stand size, which is editable, has a large impact on processing time. Selecting small stand size will significantly increase the processing time, however it will provide more granular information.

What is the difference between a Planning Area, a Scenario and a Project Area?

-Planning Area is the area that encompasses the entire area that you would like to evaluate for treatment. This area can either be drawn on the map or defined by a shapefile that is uploaded. When you start planning, you’ll be asked how much of that planning area that you want to actually allocate for treatments, and this is the acreage that the scenario will be run within. 
-Scenario is your user-defined problem that you ask Planscape to solve within your defined parameters. 
-Project Areas are the output of the scenario that is generated. There can be up to 10 project areas generated per scenario. These identify the optimal areas to treat on the landscape, as designated by the scenario that you have created.

What resolution data is used in Planscape?

All data used in Planscape today is all 30 meter data.

What do Stand Sizes represent?

The stand sizes represent the number of acres per stand:
-Small stand size equates to 10 acres/stand
-Medium stand size is 100 acres/stand
-Large equates to 500 acres/stand.

Can I change the treatment cost rate that’s in Planscape?

Yes, the treatment cost rate can be edited. 

Can I create multiple Plans and Scenarios?

Yes, you can create as many plans and scenarios as needed.

What is ForSys and how is it used by Planscape?

ForSys is a powerful planning tool developed by Alan Ager, Michelle Day and Cody Evers at the USFS. ForSys is used in Planscape to generate project areas from the user-defined scenarios. For users who want to create more detailed scenarios using different data, we recommend that you look into using ForSys directly.

Why do I see slightly different results when I run the same scenario with different stand sizes?

Stand size has a high impact on the project areas. Selecting a small stand size will provide the most granular and accurate output, however for large planning areas (>50K acres) this can take a long time to run. Small stand size runs of >100K acres can take 20-30 minutes. You will note that the project area priorities will be different at different stand sizes – this is as expected, as the tool is pulling much more granular information with smaller stand sizes, which changes the output.

I can't seem to get a scenario to succeed. What am I doing wrong?

If your scenario fails, it is likely because there are too many constraints applied. Constraints reduce the amount of available land on which the project areas can be identified. To reduce failure events, ensure that you set the maximum available acreage, limit constraints and exclusion areas. If your scenario continues to fail, eliminate all constraints and then add them back in iteratively. It can be challenging to identify which constraint is causing the failure.

I’m getting a failure based on the size of my planning area, how do I resolve that?

It’s important to note the size of the planning area that you have created. You will see that after you have saved your planning area, at the top left of the Plan home page screen.  When drawing a polygon, it’s very easy to create a planning area that is larger in acreage than you may want or need. Additionally, when you start creating scenarios, it’s important to remember the size of your planning area, as the scenario acreage needs to be between 20 and 80% of your overall planning area. For example, if your planning area is 100,000 acres, your scenario acreage needs to be between 20,000 and 80,000 acres.

Who can I talk to if I need help? 

Click on the following URL and let us know how the Planscape team can help. https://www.planscape.org/contact-us/

How often is data updated? 

The Planscape team consistently monitors and updates our data to ensure it remains current and relevant.

Who pays for and supports Planscape?

Planscape is supported by a range of federal, state, philanthropic and tribal entities that provide funding and resources to the program. Many are represented on the governance board. Some prefer to remain anonymous. We follow the model of a software collaborative. Spatial Informatics Group (SIG) is the steward of the program. We always welcome more collaborators. Please reach out if you are interested to know more.

How do I run a scenario to Planscape?

Once you have uploaded or drawn a planning area, you can then select the scenario type you would like to run on the planning area overview page.

How do I run additional post-treatment metrics? 

Once you have either uploaded project areas or run a scenario option, you can then choose to run further treatment analyses from Planscape's treatment tools menu.