Habitat network analysis for smaller woodpeckers

Digitalisation
Society and Urban Planning

Norconsult won the assignment to test the suitability of establishing a commercial area where a nesting pair of smaller woodpeckers was discovered during the work with the local plan. As the specie is protected according to the Species Protection Ordinance, conditions at the site needed to be analyzed.

The commercial area with associated parking is adjacent to Spekeröd's traffic area. A large area, today undeveloped forest and agricultural land, needed to be studied and a GIS-based analysis with the GeoRaptor tool was an effective way to tackle the task. The analysis gave a good and comprehensive picture of the land areas within the entire municipality and a nuanced picture of more or less likely areas that smaller woodpeckers would thrive in. A species protection expert also worked in close collaboration with the GIS analysis, who was able to supplement the input data and analyze the results that were presented in a report.

GeoRaptor optimizes planning of infrastructure

Norconsult's GIS tool GeoRaptor uses multi-criteria analysis and a weighting methodology in GIS to compare locations and distances. Localization of operations and infrastructure is a process that affects both the environment and societal functions. Therefore, it is important to use a method that can take various aspects into account. GeoRaptor makes a thorough comparison of different alternatives where the environmental impact, costs, social effects are set against each other.

The result of the analysis can be seen as an indicator if the land areas are deemed to constitute a valuable environment for smaller woodpeckers or not. In order to get a more detailed picture of the conditions, a field inventory needs to be done on site, which was the case in this work.