ExActR

ExActR generates ecosystem extent accounts from shapefiles to quantify land cover change over time according to the SEEA-EA framework.

Key Features:

• Multi-timepoint analysis: Extent accounts are generated for consecutive pairs of timepoints to support dynamic ecosystem assessments across several periods.
• Interactive and static visualisations: The tool produces leaflet interactive maps, static maps for each timepoint, and barplots illustrating land type composition and change.
• Flexible spatial grouping: The tool supports any spatial grouping variable and adapts to various land cover classification systems.
• Exportable outputs: Tables can be copied into multiple formats including LaTeX, and plots are suitable for direct insertion into reports.

Scientific Applications:

• Ecosystem accounting: Quantification of spatial composition of ecosystem accounting areas grouped by habitat types and tracking of land cover change over time following SEEA-EA standards.
• Land cover change assessment: Analysis of CORINE land cover data and very-high resolution satellite imagery for monitoring environmental impacts such as wind farm construction.
• Ecosystem asset monitoring: Understanding, visualisation and tracking of changes in ecosystem assets for scientific and stakeholder interpretation.

Methodology:

ExActR is built in R with the Shiny framework using reactive programming. The tool processes shapefiles as input and generates extent account tables by comparing land cover classifications across consecutive timepoints. Data visualisations are produced using leaflet for interactive maps and standard plotting functions for static maps and barplots. JavaScript plugins enable table export to multiple formats.