The KRESS Modeler is computerized multifactor decision making tool. It is the outgrowth of work that was done on a series of projects by the Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management and the Department of Agronomy and Range Science that evaluated the suitability of various locations across a landscape for use by domestic livestock and wildlife. We needed a software package that could take landscape parameters, determine the suitability of each site on the landscape for use by animals based upon knowledge of experts in the discipline and GIS data layers. We had information about how animals use a landscape and wanted to construct models the predicted landscape use. We also wanted to determine the accuracy of the model or map produced based on actual observations of animals.

We built the modeler to be broadly useful across many types of systems. Since the systems that we work with are primarily resource based and involve lands used for domestic animals, water, and wildlife, natural resource applications are the primary focus. Because we are actively involved in landscape design and monitoring type work, the model reflects this natural resource/spatial perspective.

The KRESS modeler software system is a tool that facilitates the evaluation and analysis of multiple factors that determine the suitability of sites on a landscape for a purpose. At its broadest it is a multi-criteria decision aid (MCDA) and uses classification techniques to rank alternative solutions to problems. The MCDA process is used in a variety of fields as diverse as environmental and landscape management, medicine and finance. The modeling process we use consists of the following steps:

1. Define the decision or decisions that are to be made by the animal or decision maker
2. Identify the factors of importance
3. Build the GIS layers of factors that are needed as ASCII Raster maps
4. Scale of each of the factors so that they can be treated similarly
5. Determine or estimate of the “importance” or the weight of each of these factors for mathematical analysis
6. Determine the spatial and temporal relationship of the factors.
7. Build the model
8. Process the weighted factors mathematically using a Weighted Sum Algorithm
9. View the spatial pattern of the model
10. Evaluate the model using GPS generated positions in the study area.

The KRESS multiple factor analysis is used to simultaneously take into account a series of factors that affect the preference of animals for a particular position on the landscape based on a deterministic applications of rules.

The program was built to be flexible. We made it as close to an open “blackboard” format as we could. Thus a scientist or resource manager should be able to conceptualize linear, non-linear, or mixed models and, if spatial data exists for the parameters chosen, rapidly apply them to a landscape. The user can use information about the system to build a model that seems reasonable and generate the suitability for each cell on the landscape.