Back

Unveiling Urban Complexity: Integrating OpenStreetMap to enhance representation of fine-scale landscape heterogeneity

Gelmi-Candusso, T. A.; Rodriguez, P.; Fortin, M.-J.

2023-11-02 ecology
10.1101/2023.10.31.564785 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Landscape heterogeneity has an impact on wildlife behavior, their interactions, and their persistence. Urban landscapes are among the worlds most heterogeneous landscapes, yet current global landcover maps classify developed land in a single landcover type. This limits the spatial scale at which urban ecologists can approach research questions. OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open-source mapping platform, can be leveraged to enhance the representation of landscape heterogeneity in developed areas. For this, we extracted OSM features with attributes representing infrastructure, land use and green cover, integrating these into a continental landcover map through a globally applicable computational framework. We validated our OSM-enhanced landcover layer against existing remote sensing, aerial photography, and local governmental maps for 33 cities in North America. Our frameworks output provides an 89% accurate representation of landscape heterogeneity. We discuss caveats, potential improvements, and ecological applications. Our OSM-based landcover enhancement framework will facilitate the use of open-source landscape information for improved ecological modeling and urban planning.

Matching journals

The top 7 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

1
PLOS ONE
● 4510 papers in training set
Top 16%
12.3%
2
Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation
○ 10 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
9.9%
3
Landscape Ecology
○ 12 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
8.3%
4
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
○ 160 papers in training set
Top 0.6%
6.3%
5
Environmental Research Letters
○ 15 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
6.3%
6
PLOS Computational Biology
● 1633 papers in training set
Top 7%
4.8%
7
Nature Communications
○ 4913 papers in training set
Top 39%
3.6%
50% of probability mass above
8
Ecological Applications
○ 28 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
3.5%
9
Scientific Reports
○ 3102 papers in training set
Top 38%
3.5%
10
Ecological Informatics
○ 29 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
3.5%
11
Ecography
○ 50 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
3.5%
12
Scientific Data
○ 174 papers in training set
Top 0.6%
3.0%
13
Movement Ecology
○ 18 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
1.8%
14
Ecological Indicators
○ 20 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
1.7%
15
Global Ecology and Conservation
○ 25 papers in training set
Top 0.7%
1.7%
16
Communications Earth & Environment
○ 14 papers in training set
Top 0.5%
1.7%
17
Conservation Science and Practice
○ 13 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
1.7%
18
Science
● 429 papers in training set
Top 17%
1.2%
19
eLife
● 5422 papers in training set
Top 49%
1.2%
20
MethodsX
○ 14 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
0.9%
21
Journal of Applied Ecology
○ 35 papers in training set
Top 0.6%
0.9%
22
Ecology and Evolution
○ 232 papers in training set
Top 3%
0.9%
23
Science of The Total Environment
○ 179 papers in training set
Top 4%
0.9%
24
Ecological Modelling
○ 24 papers in training set
Top 0.5%
0.9%
25
Frontiers in Plant Science
○ 240 papers in training set
Top 5%
0.7%
26
Conservation Letters
○ 11 papers in training set
Top 0.5%
0.7%
27
iScience
○ 1063 papers in training set
Top 35%
0.7%
28
Journal of Thermal Biology
○ 15 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
0.7%
29
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
● 2130 papers in training set
Top 48%
0.6%