GIS applications with Grass

The application of GIS has become fundamental in environmental studies since it allows the integration of heterogeneous data. Several applications of the GRASS GIS where the use of different data types leads to the realization of environmental models are presented. The GRASS GIS has been used to develop and test forest fire risk models combining several morphologic, vegetational and anthropic factors; it has been used to set up a new avalanche risk model which allows the evaluation of the ability of the different vegetation types to protect against avalanches. A procedure for the automatic determination of the forest coverage evolution has been developed using the GRASS image analysis capability. The production of GPS satellites’ visibility maps has been automated using the shadow generation algorithm in GRASS. This algorithm is also used to evaluate solar radiation and its relation to vegetation types.