## GDAL Driver for FARSITE v.4 LCP Format

FARSITE v. 4 landscape file (LCP) is a multi-band raster format used by wildland fire behavior and fire effect simulation models such as FARSITE, FLAMMAP, and FBAT (www.fire.org). The bands of an LCP file store data describing terrain, tree canopy, and surface fuel. The USGS National Map for LANDFIRE distributes data in LCP format, and programs such as FARSITE and LFDAT can create LCP files from a set of input rasters.

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 reads the linear unit, cell size, and extent, but the LCP file does not specify the projection. UTM projections are typical, but other projections are possible.

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 gdal/frmts/raw. It should be implemented as gdal/frmts/raw/lcpdataset.cpp.

### Creation Options

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]: Vertical unit for elevation band.

- SLOPE_UNIT=[DEGREES/PERCENT]

- ASPECT_UNIT=[AZIMUTH_DEGREES/GRASS_CATEGORIES/GRASS_DEGREES]

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

- CANOPY_COV_UNIT=[PERCENT/CATEGORIES]

- CANOPY_HT_UNIT=[METERS_X_10/FEET/METERS/FEET_X_10]

- CBH_UNIT=[METERS_X_10/METERS/FEET/FEET_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]

- DUFF_UNIT=[MG_PER_HECTARE_X_10/TONS_PER_ACRE_X_10]

- CALCULATE_STATS=[YES/NO]: 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]: 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]: 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=[...]: 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