Software for environmental modelling

PCRaster...

• Is a collection of software targeted at the development and deployment of spatio-temporal environmental models.

• Executes models very fast.

• Contains a scripting model development environment: it allows users to develop their own simulation models. Scripting languages supported include PCRcalc and Python

• Is mainly applied in environmental modelling: geography, hydrology, ecology to name a few. But also other models can be constructed. Examples include rainfall-runoff models, vegetation competition models and slope stability models.

• Includes a rich set of model building blocks and analytical functions for manipulating raster GIS maps.

• Includes a framework for construction of stochastic spatio-temporal models and data assimilation.

• Includes a tool for interactive visualisation of spatio-temporal stochastic data.

• Is free and open source software (GPLv3, as of PCRaster version 4).

• Runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, and the current version 4.4.1 can easily be installed with Conda.

• Comes with extensive documentation.

• Is developed and maintained by the Computational Geography group at the Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University , the Netherlands.

PCRaster is not developed to be a full-blown raster GIS. It lacks functionality for digitising, plotting and other typical GIS tasks. Although PCRaster can be used as a stand-alone package, we recommend to use it in combination with raster GIS. The GDAL libraries allow for converting raster maps between the various platforms.