Roads between towns and in between parcels

There are two types of roads to model:

i) Roads between towns ii) Roads providing access to paddocks

Roads between towns

Use least coast path based on the DEM and the hydrology layer to add roads. The least cost path method tries to minimize changes in elevation - i.e. what is the flattest route from point a to point b.

Considerations:

We have to assign a points at the edge of the map for the destination.

Rivers will pose as a barrier - but we will need to allow the pathway to cross rivers a few times (bridges) otherwise it will be impossible to move between certain areas on the map. Maybe ignore rivers initially.

The software Circuitscape is a great example.

Nice video:

http://vimeo.com/35862570

Some papers referring to code I have to sort through to find which ones have freely available code:

• http://arandu.org.ar/pub/pd-gis.pdf
• http://gis.kent.edu/People/LeePapers/LCPath.pdf
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440311001099
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00048.x/full
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0098300410002578
• http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/least-cost-path-on-mesh-python

This looks the best so far http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/drupal/book/export/html/128

Providing access to paddocks

There should a series of roads around the paddocks. But this could be done during the paddock creation process.