Clark 地理空间分析中心 (Clark CGA) was established in 2023 under the leadership of Director Prof. 哈米德Alemohammad. Clark CGA’s mission is focused on conducting transformative research using geospatial analytics to address global environmental challenges, with an emphasis on climate change adaptation and mitigation, 生态保护, 和农业. Committed to an entrepreneurial role in technology, 应用程序, 和可访问性, Clark CGA aims to make lasting contributions to a sustainable future through collaborative, 跨学科的努力, marking a continuation of Clark Labs’ legacy within Clark CGA’s ambitious mission. Clark CGA integrated Clark Labs’ activities and team, that are now part of the greater Clark CGA institution and mission.
太阳城娱乐城实验室由太阳城娱乐城教授于1987年创立. J名誉. 罗纳德·伊士曼, 并开创了IDRISI, the first GIS software for microcomputers which quickly gained traction in academia 和 international development community. 整个90年代, Clark Labs expanded into developing decision support tools for GIS, focusing on sustainable development and conservation. Key developments included the introduction of the Land Change Modeler and Earth Trends Modeler. 与美国国际开发署等组织合作, 世界自然基金会, and 戈登和贝蒂·摩尔基金会 led to innovative tools for land cover mapping and supporting REDD projects. Clark Labs also introduced multi-criteria decision-making tools to GIS, transforming the field and leaving a legacy of groundbreaking research and strategic partnerships.
A detailed history of Clark Labs is described below:
IDRISI和TERRSET的发展
由地理学名誉教授J. 1987年，罗纳德·伊士曼, Clark Labs was initially established to maintain the development and technical support of the IDRISI GIS and Image Processing System. IDRISI was the first GIS written expressly for a microcomputer platform, with the goal of providing a low-cost modular system that could:
- Function without costly additional hardware such as expensive non-standard graphical display systems (as was the norm at the time),
- Process large data sets with minimal RAM (random access memory),
- Allow for user-extensions through the use of an open architecture and intentionally simple file formats, ,从而
- 促进地理信息系统的分析发展.
最早的版本支持CP/M, MS-DOS and Vax-VMS on systems such as the DEC Rainbow, IBM PC和DEC Micro-VAX. However, as the microcomputer industry quickly developed, this was narrowed to focus on MS-DOS.
The late 1980s was a time of rapid development in GIS, paralleling the success of microcomputers. In 1988, the National Center of Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) was established with funding from the National Science Foundation. Among its first objectives was to create a national curriculum in GIS. 为了支持这一点, the NCGIA selected IDRISI as the system for the tutorials because of its accessibility and rapid adoption by universities. 也是在20世纪80年代末, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) selected IDRISI to support the implementation phase of its program of technology transfer in GIS funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and supported by the United Nations Institute for Training and 研究 (UNITAR). A key element for UNEP and UNITAR was support for the processing of remotely sensed images on the new IBM PS/2 computers with XGA displays gifted by IBM to support the program. 相应的, Clark Labs quickly incorporated a suite of image processing tools, 在联合国环境规划署的财政支持下. 从1989年到1994年, Clark Labs also provided training services for UNEP/UNITAR is locations across Africa, 东欧, 南美洲和亚洲.
In the 1990’s Clark Labs’ strong connection to international development 应用程序s of GIS and Image Processing continued, 尤其是美国国际开发署. The largest of these was a partnership with the University of Arizona to implement an environmental monitoring program in Malawi, 由美国国际开发署资助.
Despite a general sense in the 1990’s that GIS was an important tool for informing decision making, experience working in developing nations and witnessing the challenges of natural resource development quickly led the Clark Labs team to realize that decision support tools in GIS were severely lacking. This led to the first truly distinctive research contribution, to develop a suite of multi-criteria/multi-objective decision support tools.
Another consequence of its work in international development was a realization of the challenges of sustainable development. 结果是, Clark Labs strongly oriented the focus of IDRISI to support, 特别是, 环保团体. This led to a long history of special partnerships with 戈登和贝蒂·摩尔基金会, 保护国际 and 野生动物保护协会. 从这里开始, Clark Labs also developed a strong focus on empirical modeling tools including an innovative suite of neural network tools, 导致, 反过来, to the development of substantial vertical 应用程序s such as the Land Change Modeler, 地球趋势建模器, 生境和生物多样性建模器, the Climate Change Adaptation Modeler 和 Ecosystem Services Modeler. In 2014, 这套完整的工具被重新命名为TerrSet, with IDRISI still providing the GIS and Image Processing backbone.
太阳城娱乐城实验室研究历史
除了地理空间软件开发, Clark Labs has also had a long history of 应用程序s research and close partnerships with organizations such as the Africa Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Environment Program Global Resource Information Database (UNEP-GRID), the United Nations Institute for Training and 研究 (UNITAR), 保护国际, 戈登和贝蒂·摩尔基金会, 野生动物保护协会, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) and NASA. 主要研究领域包括:
土地变化模拟
In 2003, 保护国际 contracted with Clark Labs to develop a predictive land change modeling capability. This led to the development of the Land Change Modeler (LCM) and its associated Habitat and Biodiversity Modeler (HBM) for the conservation assessment of land change impacts. 2024年初, over 3300 scholarly publications featuring predictive land change modeling used LCM. Particularly attractive was the availability of a wide range of statistical and machine learning tools for empirical modeling, including a Multi-Layer Perceptron neural network, Decision Forest (an implementation of Random Forest), 逻辑回归与支持向量机.
基于从LCM中获得的知识, Clark Labs partnered with Esri to develop a cloud-based implementation of LCM specifically for the United States at 30 m resolution. The American Land Change Modeler (ALCM) was released in 2018, and provides a prediction of land cover change in the US to 2050. Esri and Clark Labs have continued their partnership in this arena. 2021年，太阳城娱乐城实验室开发了 Esri土地覆盖2050 global land cover change prediction for the mid-century at 300 m resolution.
时间序列分析
The partnership between Clark Labs and 戈登和贝蒂·摩尔基金会 began in 2006 with a grant to develop 地球趋势建模器 (ETM). ETM的初衷是监测 spatial-temporal trends in biodiversity indicators using earth observation data. This quickly grew to add a comprehensive suite of tools for image time series pattern analysis, 包括t型PCA和s型PCA, 多通道奇异频谱分析, Canonical Correlation Analysis and Empirical Orthogonal Teleconnection (EOT). ETM and LCM are the most distinctive research projects undertaken by Clark Labs.
REDD支持工具
REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is an important greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy. 为了支持这一点, Clark Labs added a REDD analysis facility to the Land Change Modeler, 基于世界银行生物碳基金(BioCF) Methodology for Estimating Reductions of GHG Emissions from Mosaic Deforestation. 以此为基础, Conservational International and Clark Labs worked together to develop GEOSIRIS – a national level REDD planning tool, 在TerrSet中实现. Clark Labs also partnered with Google to implement a REDD-focused tool using the earliest implementation of Google Earth Engine. 最近, Clark Labs has been working with Verra (the leading carbon registry for the voluntary-sector REDD projects) to develop its VT0007 非计划毁林分配(UDef-A)工具.
土地/森林覆盖制图
In the development of image processing tools in IDRISI/TerrSet, 太阳城娱乐城实验室开发了许多独特的工具, particularly with respect to image classification (semantic segmentation). TerrSet includes the most extensive set of soft classifiers in the industry, 其中许多在地理空间界是独一无二的. 其中之一, 马氏典型分类器, provided the basis for a multi-year research project with the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to try to detect trees infested with Emerald Ash Borer. It also provided the basis for detection of unknown forest communities in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve as part of a multi-year forest and land cover mapping in the Yucatan Peninsula, 由美国宇航局资助.
From 2013-2024, Clark Labs has worked with 戈登和贝蒂·摩尔基金会 to map mangroves and pond aquaculture in 17 countries across the tropics at 15 m resolution. 1999年的地图已制作完成, 2014, 2018, 2020 and 2022 in support of the foundation’s work to foster sustainable shrimp production. 这项工作的主要合作伙伴包括 世界自然基金会 和 水产养殖管理委员会.
Multi-criteria/multi-objective decision making and empirical modeling
In 1993, Clark Labs introduced the first instance of Multi-Criteria and Multi-Objective decision making tools in GIS. Innovations include the first implementation of the MOLA heuristic for multi-objective land allocation which also underlies the mechanics of the Land Change Modeler; the first implementation of the Ordered-Weighted Average for multi-criteria evaluation that allows one to balance the relative amount of tradeoff between criteria with decision risk in balancing discordant information; 和 first GIS software implementation of Saaty’s Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). These methods became important tools in the work of the Malawi Environmental Monitoring Program (MEMP) conducted in partnership with the University of Arizona and 由美国国际开发署资助.
基于这些工具构建, Clark Labs has placed strong emphasis on the development of empirical modeling tools, including a distinctive set based on neural networks (MLP, 耶鲁大学管理学院, 模糊Artmap). 这些的早期应用是一个项目 predictively map the interstate spread of Gypsy Moths via containers and shipments for the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service.