General raster plotting

# Plot continous landscapes
show_landscape(gradient_landscape)

# Plot continous landscapes 
show_landscape(classified_landscape, discrete = TRUE)

# RasterStack/RasterBrick
show_landscape(raster::stack(gradient_landscape, random_landscape), discrete = TRUE)

# Plot a list of raster (list names become facet text)
show_landscape(list("Gradient landscape" = gradient_landscape,
                    "Random landscape" = random_landscape))

# Plot multiple raster with unique scales
show_landscape(raster::stack(gradient_landscape, random_landscape, classified_landscape), unique_scales = TRUE)

Binarize

In landscape ecology, many people often work with landscapes that reflect a matrix / habitat context. If you work with simulated landscale, util_binarize is a convienent wrapper to achieve this. You can define a value in the range of your landscape values and get a binary reflection of it:

# Binarize the landscape into habitat and matrix
binarized_raster <- util_binarize(fractal_landscape, breaks = 0.31415)
#> Warning in util_classify.RasterLayer(x, weighting = c(1 - breaks,
#> breaks), : If n AND weighting are used, util_classify will fallback to
#> weighting as classification method.
show_landscape(binarized_raster)

# You can also provide a vector with thresholds and get a RasterStack with multiple binarized maps
binarized_raster <- util_binarize(fractal_landscape, breaks = c(0.25, 0.5, 0.7))
#> Warning in util_classify.RasterLayer(x, weighting = c(1 - breaks[i],
#> breaks[i]), : If n AND weighting are used, util_classify will fallback to
#> weighting as classification method.
#> Warning in util_classify.RasterLayer(x, weighting = c(1 - breaks[i],
#> breaks[i]), : If n AND weighting are used, util_classify will fallback to
#> weighting as classification method.

#> Warning in util_classify.RasterLayer(x, weighting = c(1 - breaks[i],
#> breaks[i]), : If n AND weighting are used, util_classify will fallback to
#> weighting as classification method.
show_landscape(binarized_raster)

Classify

Complementary to util_binarize, util_classify classifies a landscape with continuous values into n discrete classes. The function is quite the workhorse, so I will spent some more details here to explain everything:

# Mode 1: Classify landscape into 3 classes based on the Fisher-Jenks algorithm:
mode_1 <- util_classify(fractal_landscape, n = 3)

# Mode 2: Classify landscapes into landscape with exact proportions:
mode_2 <- util_classify(fractal_landscape, weighting = c(0.5, 0.25, 0.25))

# Mode 3: Classify landscapes based on a real dataset (which we first create here)
#         and the distribution of values in this real dataset
mode_3 <- util_classify(gradient_landscape, n = 3)

## Mode 3a: ... now we just have to provide the "real landscape" (mode_3)
mode_3a <- util_classify(fractal_landscape, real_land = mode_3)

## Mode 3b: ... and we can also say that certain values are not important for our classification:
mode_3b <- util_classify(fractal_landscape, real_land = mode_3, mask_val = 1)

landscapes <- list(
'Mode 1'  = mode_1,
'Mode 2'  = mode_2,
'Mode 3'  = mode_3,
'Mode 3a' = mode_3a,
'Mode 3b' = mode_3b
)

show_landscape(landscapes, unique_scales = TRUE, nrow = 1)

# ... you can also name the classes:
classified_raster <- util_classify(fractal_landscape,
                                   n = 3,
                                   level_names = c("Land Use 1",
                                                   "Land Use 2",
                                                   "Land Use 3"))
show_landscape(classified_raster, discrete = TRUE)

Rescale

util_rescale l linearly rescale element values in a raster to a range between 0 and 1.

library(raster) 
landscape <- raster(matrix(1:100, 10, 10))
summary(landscape)
#>          layer
#> Min.      1.00
#> 1st Qu.  25.75
#> Median   50.50
#> 3rd Qu.  75.25
#> Max.    100.00
#> NA's      0.00

scaled_landscape <- util_rescale(landscape)
summary(scaled_landscape)
#>         layer
#> Min.     0.00
#> 1st Qu.  0.25
#> Median   0.50
#> 3rd Qu.  0.75
#> Max.     1.00
#> NA's     0.00

Merge

util_merge most likely makes sense in the context of NLMR. If you merge multiple neutral landscapes models, you can create more feasible landscape patterns for certain questions, or come up with ecotones if you merge fractal patterns with gradients.

# Merge all maps into one
merg <- util_merge(fractal_landscape, c(gradient_landscape, random_landscape), scalingfactor = 1)

# Plot an overview
merge_vis <- list(
    "1) Primary" = fractal_landscape,
    "2) Secondary 1" = gradient_landscape,
    "3) Secondary 2" = random_landscape,
    "4) Result" = merg
)
show_landscape(merge_vis)