LCP -- FARSITE v.4 LCP Format

Driver short name

LCP

Driver built-in by default

This driver is built-in by default

FARSITE v. 4 landscape file (LCP) is a multi-band raster format used by wildland fire behavior and fire effect simulation models such as FlamMap (firelab.org). The bands of an LCP file store data describing terrain, tree canopy, and surface fuel. The LANDFIRE Program provides geospatial data in LCP format to support fire simulation modeling.

An LCP file (.lcp) is basically a raw format with a 7,316-byte header described below. The data type for all bands is 16-bit signed integer. Bands are interleaved by pixel. Five bands are required: elevation, slope, aspect, fuel model, and tree canopy cover. Crown fuel bands (canopy height, canopy base height, canopy bulk density), and surface fuel bands (duff, coarse woody debris) are optional. The LCP driver reports several band-level metadata items described below. The band names used are: ELEVATION, SLOPE, ASPECT, FUEL_MODEL, CANOPY_COV, CANOPY_HT, CBH, CBD, DUFF and CWD.

The LCP driver reads the linear unit, cell size, and extent, but the .lcp file does not specify a projection internally. UTM projections are typical, but other projections are possible. The driver will look for a file with .prj extension and read the coordinate system in ESRI pseudo-OGC WKT format.

LCP does not support an inherent no data value, but -9999 is used by convention to mark pixels that are not valid data.

Driver capabilities

Supports CreateCopy()

This driver supports the GDALDriver::CreateCopy() operation

Supports Georeferencing

This driver supports georeferencing

Supports VirtualIO

This driver supports virtual I/O operations (/vsimem/, etc.)

Metadata

The GDAL LCP driver reports dataset- and band-level metadata:

Dataset

LATITUDE: Latitude of the dataset, negative for southern hemisphere

LINEAR_UNIT: Feet or meters

DESCRIPTION: LCP file description

Band

<band>_UNIT or <band>_OPTION: units or options code for the band

<band>_UNIT_NAME or <band>_OPTION_DESC: descriptive name of units/options

<band>_MIN: minimum value

<band>_MAX: maximum value

<band>_NUM_CLASSES: number of classes, -1 if > 100

<band>_VALUES: comma-delimited list of class values (fuel model band only)

<band>_FILE: original input raster file name for the band

Note: The LCP driver derives from the RawDataset helper class declared in frmts/raw. It should be implemented as lcpdataset.cpp.

Creation Options

Creation options can be specified in command-line tools using the syntax -co <NAME>=<VALUE> or by providing the appropriate arguments to GDALCreate() (C) or Driver.Create (Python). The LCP driver supports CreateCopy() and metadata values can be set via creation options. Below is a list of options with default values listed first.

• ELEVATION_UNIT=[METERS/FEET]: Defaults to METERS. Vertical unit for elevation band.

• SLOPE_UNIT=[DEGREES/PERCENT]: Defaults to DEGREES.

• ASPECT_UNIT=[AZIMUTH_DEGREES/GRASS_CATEGORIES/GRASS_DEGREES]: Defaults to AZIMUTH_DEGREES.

• FUEL_MODEL_OPTION=[NO_CUSTOM_AND_NO_FILE/CUSTOM_AND_NO_FILE/NO_CUSTOM_AND_FILE/CUSTOM_AND_FILE]: Defaults to NO_CUSTOM_AND_NO_FILE. Specify whether or not custom fuel models are used, and if a custom fuel model file is present.

• CANOPY_COV_UNIT=[PERCENT/CATEGORIES]: Defaults to PERCENT.

• CANOPY_HT_UNIT=[METERS_X_10/FEET/METERS/FEET_X_10]: Defaults to METERS_X_10.

• CBH_UNIT=[METERS_X_10/METERS/FEET/FEET_X_10]: Defaults to METERS_X_10.

• CBD_UNIT=[KG_PER_CUBIC_METER_X_100/POUND_PER_CUBIC_FOOT/KG_PER_CUBIC_METER/POUND_PER_CUBIC_FOOT_X_1000/TONS_PER_ACRE_X_100]: Defaults to KG_PER_CUBIC_METER_X_100.

• DUFF_UNIT=[MG_PER_HECTARE_X_10/TONS_PER_ACRE_X_10]: Defaults to MG_PER_HECTARE_X_10.

• CALCULATE_STATS=[YES/NO]: Defaults to YES. Calculate and write the min/max for each band and write the appropriate flags and values in the header. This is mostly a legacy feature used for creating legends.

• CLASSIFY_DATA=[YES/NO]: Defaults to YES. Classify the data into 100 unique values or less and write and write the appropriate flags and values in the header. This is mostly a legacy feature used for creating legends.

• LINEAR_UNIT=[SET_FROM_SRS/METER/FOOT/KILOMETER]: Defaults to SET_FROM_SRS. Set the linear unit, overriding (if it can be calculated) the value in the associated spatial reference. If no spatial reference is available, it defaults to METER.

• LATITUDE=-90-90: Override the latitude from the spatial reference. If no spatial reference is available, this should be set, otherwise creation will fail.

• DESCRIPTION=value: A short description(less than 512 characters) of the dataset

Creation options that are units of linear measure are fairly lenient. METERS=METER and FOOT=FEET for the most part.

Note: CreateCopy does not scale or change any data. By setting the units for various bands, it is assumed that the values are in the specified units.

LCP header format:

Start byte	No. of bytes	Format	Name	Description
0	4	long	crown fuels	20 if no crown fuels, 21 if crown fuels exist (crown fuels = canopy height, canopy base height, canopy bulk density)
4	4	long	ground fuels	20 if no ground fuels, 21 if ground fuels exist (ground fuels = duff loading, coarse woody)
8	4	long	latitude	latitude (negative for southern hemisphere)
12	8	double	loeast	offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days)
20	8	double	hieast	offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days)
28	8	double	lonorth	offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days)
36	8	double	hinorth	offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days)
44	4	long	loelev	minimum elevation
48	4	long	hielev	maximum elevation
52	4	long	numelev	number of elevation classes, -1 if > 100
56	400	long	elevation values	list of elevation values as longs
456	4	long	loslope	minimum slope
460	4	long	hislope	maximum slope
464	4	long	numslope	number of slope classes, -1 if > 100
468	400	long	slope values	list of slope values as longs
868	4	long	loaspect	minimum aspect
872	4	long	hiaspect	maximum aspect
876	4	long	numaspects	number of aspect classes, -1 if > 100
880	400	long	aspect values	list of aspect values as longs
1280	4	long	lofuel	minimum fuel model value
1284	4	long	hifuel	maximum fuel model value
1288	4	long	numfuel	number of fuel models -1 if > 100
1292	400	long	fuel values	list of fuel model values as longs
1692	4	long	locover	minimum canopy cover
1696	4	long	hicover	maximum canopy cover
1700	4	long	numcover	number of canopy cover classes, -1 if > 100
1704	400	long	cover values	list of canopy cover values as longs
2104	4	long	loheight	minimum canopy height
2108	4	long	hiheight	maximum canopy height
2112	4	long	numheight	number of canopy height classes, -1 if > 100
2116	400	long	height values	list of canopy height values as longs
2516	4	long	lobase	minimum canopy base height
2520	4	long	hibase	maximum canopy base height
2524	4	long	numbase	number of canopy base height classes, -1 if > 100
2528	400	long	base values	list of canopy base height values as longs
2928	4	long	lodensity	minimum canopy bulk density
2932	4	long	hidensity	maximum canopy bulk density
2936	4	long	numdensity	number of canopy bulk density classes, -1 if >100
2940	400	long	density values	list of canopy bulk density values as longs
3340	4	long	loduff	minimum duff
3344	4	long	hiduff	maximum duff
3348	4	long	numduff	number of duff classes, -1 if > 100
3352	400	long	duff values	list of duff values as longs
3752	4	long	lowoody	minimum coarse woody
3756	4	long	hiwoody	maximum coarse woody
3760	4	long	numwoodies	number of coarse woody classes, -1 if > 100
3764	400	long	woody values	list of coarse woody values as longs
4164	4	long	numeast	number of raster columns
4168	4	long	numnorth	number of raster rows
4172	8	double	EastUtm	max X
4180	8	double	WestUtm	min X
4188	8	double	NorthUtm	max Y
4196	8	double	SouthUtm	min Y
4204	4	long	GridUnits	linear unit: 0 = meters, 1 = feet, 2 = kilometers
4208	8	double	XResol	cell size width in GridUnits
4216	8	double	YResol	cell size height in GridUnits
4224	2	short	EUnits	elevation units: 0 = meters, 1 = feet
4226	2	short	SUnits	slope units: 0 = degrees, 1 = percent
4228	2	short	AUnits	aspect units: 0 = Grass categories, 1 = Grass degrees, 2 = azimuth degrees
4230	2	short	FOptions	fuel model options: 0 = no custom models AND no conversion file, 1 = custom models BUT no conversion file, 2 = no custom models BUT conversion file, 3 = custom models AND conversion file needed
4232	2	short	CUnits	canopy cover units: 0 = categories (0-4), 1 = percent
4234	2	short	HUnits	canopy height units: 1 = meters, 2 = feet, 3 = m x 10, 4 = ft x 10
4236	2	short	BUnits	canopy base height units: 1 = meters, 2 = feet, 3 = m x 10, 4 = ft x 10
4238	2	short	PUnits	canopy bulk density units: 1 = kg/m^3, 2 = lb/ft^3, 3 = kg/m^3 x 100, 4 = lb/ft^3 x 1000
4240	2	short	DUnits	duff units: 1 = Mg/ha x 10, 2 = t/ac x 10
4242	2	short	WOptions	coarse woody options (1 if coarse woody band is present)
4244	256	char[]	ElevFile	elevation file name
4500	256	char[]	SlopeFile	slope file name
4756	256	char[]	AspectFile	aspect file name
5012	256	char[]	FuelFile	fuel model file name
5268	256	char[]	CoverFile	canopy cover file name
5524	256	char[]	HeightFile	canopy height file name
5780	256	char[]	BaseFile	canopy base file name
6036	256	char[]	DensityFile	canopy bulk density file name
6292	256	char[]	DuffFile	duff file name
6548	256	char[]	WoodyFile	coarse woody file name
6804	512	char[]	Description	LCP file description

Chris Toney, 2009-02-14