BeeBox Application User Manual
JULY 2013
RIRDC Publication No. 13/061
July 2013
BeeBox Application
User Manual
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne
© 2013 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-74254-554-7
ISSN 1440-6845
BeeBox Application User Manual
Publication No. 13/061
Project No. PRJ-004872
The information contained in this publication is intended for general use to assist public knowledge and discussion and to help improve the development of sustainable regions. You must not rely on any information contained
in this publication without taking specialist advice relevant to your particular circumstances.
While reasonable care has been taken in preparing this publication to ensure that information is true and correct, the Commonwealth of Australia gives no assurance as to the accuracy of any information in this publication.
The Commonwealth of Australia, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), the authors or contributors expressly disclaim, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all responsibility and liability to
any person, arising directly or indirectly from any act or omission, or for any consequences of any such act or omission, made in reliance on the contents of this publication, whether or not caused by any negligence on the part
of the Commonwealth of Australia, RIRDC, the authors or contributors.
The Commonwealth of Australia does not necessarily endorse the views in this publication.
This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. However, wide dissemination is encouraged. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights
should be addressed to the RIRDC Publications Manager on phone 02 6271 4165.
Researcher Contact Details
Stephan Winter
Department of Infrastructure Engineering
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010
Email:
winter@ unimelb.edu.au
In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form.
RIRDC Contact Details
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
Level 2, 15 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
Phone: 02 6271 4100
Fax:
02 6271 4199
PO Box 4776
KINGSTON ACT 2604
Email:
Web:
rirdc@ rirdc.gov.au.
http:/ / www.rirdc.gov.au
Electronically published by RIRDC in July 2013
Print-on-demand by Union Offset Printing, Canberra at www.rirdc.gov.au
or phone 1300 634 313
ii
Foreword
The objective of this research was to systemise knowledge about floral resource availability from a number of underlying datasets, and present
this information to beekeepers through a web mapping portal. Beekeepers, supported by such information equally well at home or in the
field, will profit from making better informed planning decisions, moving less, and with less risk.
The project succeeded to demonstrate a correlation between freely available satellite data and flowering patterns of eucalypt, the resource of
main interest for the beekeeping industry. It also set up a flowering calendar as a dynamic webmapping application, for use by beekeepers.
The webmapping service automatically downloads the most recent satellite data and provides it together with all historic satellite data and
layers from other sources. Users (beekeepers) can analyse current flowering patterns, e.g., by comparing subsequent states, or comparing with
seasonal averages, for their own planning purposes.
The successful implementation of the demonstrator, which was presented to the beekeeping industry, completes the research project. The
researchers are currently in talks with government agencies to maintain the webmapping service.
This project was funded from RIRDC Levy Funds which are matched by the Australian Government.
This report is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of over 2000 research publications and it forms part of our Honeybee R&D program,
which aims for a productive, sustainable and more profitable Australian beekeeping industry.
Most of RIRDC’s publications are available for viewing, free downloading or purchasing online at www.rirdc.gov.au. Purchases can also be
made by phoning 1300 634 313.
Craig Burns
Managing Director
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
iii
About the Authors
Stephan Winter and Joseph Leach are researchers at the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Marie
Keatley is Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, Melbourne School of Land and Environment,
Creswick. Jonathan Arundel is a PhD student working on honeybee epidemiology at the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the
University of Melbourne.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the substantial contributions of our students and research assistants to the research reported here: Edward Webber, Xi
Liang, and Guan Gui.
iv
Contents
1 Introduction
3
2 Understanding Satellite Data
4
3 User Requirements
6
4 User Interface
7
4.1 Interface Overview
8
4.2 Connection Status
8
4.3 Layer Panel
8
Native Vegetation
9
Eucalyptus Species
9
Vegetation Indices
10
4.4 Timeline Panel
11
4.5 View Data Point
12
4.6 Compare Two Data Points
13
4.7 Region Analysis
13
Draw/edit Polygons on the Map (Method 1)
14
v
Upload My Own Google Earth KML File (Method 2)
15
Download the Defined Region as a Google Earth KML File for Future Use
16
Show/Hide Selected Region
16
Processing
17
Viewing Result
17
3. Support
18
Bibliography
xix
vi
S ECTION 1
Introduction
A beekeeper’s livelihood depends on his or her ability to observe and interpret changes in the environment to predict
where and when flowering will occur. Beekeepers develop
these skills over a lifetime, and in some cases pass this informal knowledge down from generation to generation. The major running cost in any Australian beekeeping operation is
fuel, as beekeepers spend much of their time on the road either surveying potential apiary sites or moving hives between
sites.
The BeeBox system was inspired by the challenge of trying to
use satellite observations to predict when flowering will occur.
NASA have made all of their satellite data freely available for
non-commercial purposes and BeeBox uses this data to produce maps showing vegetation growth cycles across southeastern Australia.
The BeeBox application is currently a prototype. While the vision of predicting flowering has not yet been achieved, we
have made significant progress towards this goal. Beekeepers
can access the BeeBox application from home or on a mobile
device, and view current and historical vegetation growth cycles for an area of interest. They can view growth at a single
point in time, compare points in time, or select and plot vegetation growth cycles over the last decade.
We hope you find the BeeBox application interesting and useful, and we would very much appreciate your feedback and
ideas for how it can be improved in the future.
While a range of different native and introduced species provide food for honey bees, the majority of beekeepers in Australia predominantly rely on eucalypts to provide nectar and pollen for their bees. Eucalypts are highly adapted to Australian
conditions, and their flowering cycle is complex. Most species
only flower every 2, 3 or 4 years and a number of factors influence flowering including temperature and rainfall.
3
S ECTION 2
Understanding Satellite
Data
Since 1972, when NASA launched the very first Landsat satellite, space agencies around the world have collected data on
land use and forests from space observations of reflected radiation. When we compare the different kinds of data available
from different satellite, we find that they vary in three main
ways:
• How frequently the data is collected: some satellites will
automatically scan the entire earth’s surface every 1-2 days,
whereas others collect data only on request
Light is made up of a spectrum of many wavelengths, which
we see when we split visible white light into different wavelengths (or colours) using a prism. On either side of visible
light we have ultraviolet light, which honeybees can see, and
infrared light. What we perceive as the colour of objects is due
to which wavelengths of light are reflected, and which are absorbed. Leaves appear green to us because the green wavelengths of light are reflected, and the red and blue/violet wavelengths are absorbed. All vegetation also strongly reflects infrared light (actually even more strongly than it reflects green
wavelengths), but because we can’t see this with our eyes,
most of us are unaware this occurs.
Radiation from the sun passes through the earth’s atmosphere, where it then hits the earth’s surface and is reflected
back into space. Satellites are able to observe this reflected
light using sensors tuned to specific wavelengths, or “bands”.
• What spatial resolution the data is collected at: some satellites collect data with the ability to distinguish features just a
couple of metres apart, whereas others have a resolution of
several hundred metres. Just like the resolution on a computer monitor, the higher the spatial resolution, the smaller
will be the eventual pixel size.
• What spectral resolution the data is collected at: the greater
the number of bands, the higher the spectral resolution
Generally speaking, satellites which collect data more frequently have lower spatial and spectral resolutions as part of a
trade-off in their design. To collect data to predict flowering,
we need to choose a satellite that obtains data on a near daily
basis. One such satellite is NASA’s EOS satellite, which has a
sensor on board called MODIS (standing for MODerate resolution Image Spectroradiometer). Data from MODIS has a spatial resolution of either 250m or 500m depending on the
band.
4
So how can we use satellite data to help understand what is
happening with vegetation on the ground? We start by computing a vegetation ratio, or “index”, of the reflected radiation
in the infrared divided by the absorbed radiation in the red
wavelength. There are two slightly different calculations used
to create what is called the normalised difference vegetation
index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI). We can
display these vegetation indices using a colour scheme where
brown/red represents low values and green represents high
values. It is very important to note that (i) these are computed
values and not direct measurements of any particular factor
and (ii) the colour scheme does not translate to anything you
will see directly on the ground. Just like in an old atlas where
different elevations were printed with different colours, we
are using colours to represent a value.
Using BeeBox, we can compute and display vegetation indices, both NDVI and EVI, as separate layers in an online mapping application. While data is collected on a daily basis, on
any given day clouds may obscure the observations of the satellite. For this reason, rather than display data from every day
we display a 16-day average.
When the value of NDVI and EVI are increasing over time,
this represents vegetation that is growing. When the values
are decreasing, this represents vegetation that is senescing;
e.g. drying out, browning off, or dropping leaves. Thus just as
beekeepers can observe the flushes of new growth on trees in
a forest, we can observe the same growth using NDVI and EVI
data from a satellite.
5
S ECTION 3
1.
In this manual, all screenshots are captured using Google Chrome.
User Requirements
2.
A newly installed browser will enable the JavaScript feature by default. If you have trouble loading the application, please refer to
your chosen browser’s help guide on how to check if JavaScript is
enabled in your browser. If JavaScript has been disabled, please
follow the steps outlined in your browser’s help guide to enable it.
The BeeBox Application does not require any special software
to be downloaded by the user, as it runs within a standard web
browser. The user must use a recent version of any of the following web browsers (Microsoft Internet Explorer is not currently supported):
Google Chrome1 (Recommended):
https://www.google.com/chrome!
Safari: http://www.apple.com/safari/!
Firefox: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
In addition, the JavaScript feature must be enabled for the
user’s chosen browser2, and a broadband internet connection
is needed for the best user experience.
6
S ECTION 4
User Interface
Please refer to
Layer Panel in
section 2
Please refer to
Connection
Status in section
4
Please refer to Timeline
Panel in section 2
F IGURE 1 BeeBox System User Interface Overview
7
Interface Overview
Layer Panel
Visit http://www.sideroxylon.com.au/beebox/ to access the
BeeBox System Application as shown in Figure 1. It allows the
user to view NDVI and EVI layers on top of Google Maps.
F IGURE 3 Select Layers to
Connection Status
When the user is successfully connected to the BeeBox Application, there is nothing shown in the
area circled in Figure 1. If the connection is lost for some reasons a red dot
will appear in the circled area to indicate the user is disconnected from the
BeeBox System Server, as shown in Figure 2.
F IGURE 2 Discon- If the connection is lost, the application
nected from the BeeBox System Server
will automatically try to reconnect.
The user can force the application to try
re-connecting immediately by clicking on the red dot.
In this way, the user can continue using the application without the needs to refresh the browser and starting a new session.
show on the map
Click on the highlighted area in
Figure 3 to show layers on the
map. The user can only choose
one Google Map layer as the
base layer, but as many other
overlay layers as needed.
When selecting a layer to show,
the selected layer will be highlighted. For example, in Figure
3, the user last clicked to show
the EVI layer, therefore the EVI
is highlighted by the grey color.
The user can also highlight a
layer by clicking on the shaded
area in Figure 3. This won’t
change what has been shown on
the map, but will only highlight
that layer.
When a layer is highlighted, the
F IGURE 4 Layer Preferences Dialog Box
8
Layer Preferences button will be enabled. Clicking on that button will pop out the Layer Preferences Dialog Box for the
highlighted layer as shown in Figure 4. The user can change
the layer’s opacity level, from comF IGURE 5 Fold/
pletely transparent (left) to completely
Unfold Layer Group
opaque (right), by dragging the horizontal scrollbar. The user can highlight other layers to change their opacity levels without closing the dialog
box. The user can also drag the title of
the dialog box to move it anywhere
they like.
The user can collapse/expand layer
groups by clicking on the -/+ beside
the layer group titles as shown in Figure 5.
The user can view a vegetation information by ticking the corresponding native vegetation layer. The colored area corresponding to that type of native vegetation layer will then show
up in the map.
F IGURE 6 Vegetation In-
dex for a Single Data Point
E UCALYPTUS S PECIES
There are 17 typical eucalyptus
species layers under the Eucalyptus Species layer group. They
are currently based on herbaria
records only, so they may not reflect the full extent of eucalyptus species distribution.
F IGURE 7 Vegetation In-
N ATIVE V EGETATION
This layer describes the current extent of native
vegetation and major water- based habitats in Victoria.
The layer categorises the landscape into native woody,
native grassy and major native wetland cover together
with probability ratings, ranging from “highly likely
native vegetation cover” through to “unlikely to support
The user can view a species geographical information by ticking
the corresponding eucalyptus species layer. The color dots corresponding to that type of eucalyptus species will then show up in
the map.
dex for Comparing Two Data
Points
native vegetation”.!
[1]
9
V EGETATION I NDICES
Please note that the vegetation index layers are on top of other
layers. The user can either adjust the vegetation index layer’s
transparency or turn it off in order to view those layers underneath.
As showing in Figure 6, green represents areas with a high
value of EVI or NDVI and red represents areas with low values of EVI or NDVI.
As showing in Figure 7, when comparing images from two different time periods red indicates that the EVI or NDVI is
higher in the second image than the first and blue indicates
that the EVI or NDVI is lower in the second image than the
first. Areas of white indicate no change between the two images.
10
Timeline Panel
F IGURE 10 Date Picker
As shown in Figure 8, the Timeline Panel comprises the following components:
F IGURE 8 Timeline Panel Overview
(1) Operation Combobox with the following options:
F IGURE 9 Two Data Points
! view: view a single data point, as (2) in Figure 8
! compare: compare two data points, as (1) and (2) in
Figure 9, by subtracting the first with the second, and
show the result
(2) Data Point Control(s). A data point could be one of the following types:
! date: a pre-processed data point captured on a specific date by NASA’s MODIS satellites, as (2) in Figure
9. Under this type, two controls are shown: the first
Combobox selected as “date”; the second Date Field
for user to select a date. The user can either use the
Date Picker, as in Figure 10, use the Graphic Timeline,
as (3) in Figure 8, or type directly in the Date Field, using format DD/MM/YYYY. The user can also combine
these methods to select a date.
! average: a pre-calculated average of some date data
points, as (1) in Figure 9. Under this type, one control
is shown: the Combobox for user to select an average,
for example, “2011 spring”, which means the average
of all available date data points in 2011 spring.
(3) Graphic Timeline. This is enabled only for the date data
point type. Under “compare” operation, a thick black border will appear on the Date Field the Graphic Timeline is
currently operating on. If none of the data points are date
data points, the Graphic Timeline will be disabled, so the
user cannot operate on it anymore until a date data point
is used again. The user can select a date via Graphic Timeline using the following steps:
1. Click the target Date Field
11
2.
Move the Graphic Timeline left/right by dragging it
left/right, scrolling mouse up/down, clicking (4)/(5)
in Figure 8, pressing left/right key on keyboard, or
two figures dragging left/right on a iPad/iPhone/
iTouch.
3. Click on the required date. A grey circle will appear
on the selected date on the Graphic Timeline.
(4) Jump to Previous Available Data Point Button. It is enabled only when the Graphic Timeline is enabled. Pressing the left arrow key on keyboard has the same effect.
(5) Jump to Next Available Data Point Button. It is enabled
only when the Graphic Timeline is enabled. Pressing the
right arrow key on keyboard has the same effect.
View Data Point
To view a single data point:
1. Select “view” from (1) in Figure 8
2. Select a data point from (2) in Figure 8.
3. Select the required overlay layer from Layer Panel
4. The required layer will be loaded progressively
12
Compare Two Data Points
Region Analysis
To compare two data points by subtracting the first with the
second:
BeeBox Application also allows the user to define their own
area of interest, which is then used to generate a time series of
vegetation growth over the last decade.
1.
Select “compare” from (1) in Figure 8
2.
Select the first and second data points from (1) and (2) in
Figure 9 respectively. Make sure there are no selection errors
3.
Click the Go Button
4.
A progress bar will appear on top of the user interface.
The user can go to carry out other operations if they wish,
such as viewing data point. The calculated results will appear on Layer Panel progressively
5.
Select the required overlay layer from Layer Panel
6.
The required layer data will be loaded gradually
First, you need to open the Region Analysis Wizard window
(Figure 12) by clicking the Region Analysis button on the
Layer Panel, as shown in Figure 11. The wizard will guide you
through the process of region analysis.
F IGURE 11 Open Region Analysis Wiz-
ard Window
If the same comparison has already been performed previously, the result will be loaded immediately.
From the first card of the wizard window (Figure 12), you can
define the interested region by either drawing polygons on the
map (method 1), uploading a Google Earth KML file with predefined region (method 2) or combining both methods. You
13
can also save the defined region to a KML file for future use.
Just follow the instructions on the wizard window.
D RAW / EDIT P OLYGONS ON THE M AP (M ETHOD 1)
F IGURE 12 Region Analysis Wizard Window
You can maximise, restore, move, close or open the wizard
window anytime. The state of the window will be remained.
The following screenshots will familiarise yourself with the
process. Please beware of those hints shown on the wizard window.
Clicking Draw will keep it pressed, which means that you are in drawing
mode. You can draw a polygon by clicking its vertices (blue-green color in
the figure). Click Undo/Redo to undo/redo last vertices. Clicking Draw
again will unpress it and exit drawing mode.
14
U PLOAD M Y O WN G OOGLE E ARTH KML F ILE
(M ETHOD 2)
Clicking Select will keep it pressed, which means that you are in selecting
mode. You can select a polygon by clicking its inside area (blue color in
the figure), and deselect it by clicking outside. When a polygon is selected,
click Erase to delete it. Clicking Reset to delete all polygons. Clicking Select
again will un-press it and exit selecting mode.
Clicking Browse to select your KML file. After the selection, the region defined in the KML file will be drawn on the map, and the map will be
zoomed in to that region. You can also click Back to add new polygons or
edit existing ones.
15
D OWNLOAD THE D EFINED R EGION AS A G OOGLE
S HOW /H IDE S ELECTED R EGION
E ARTH KML F ILE FOR F UTURE U SE
Copy and paste the code here to form a KML file, which you can use the
method 2 to import into the map in the future.
On the Layer Panel, there is a layer called Selected Region. This is the layer
where those polygons reside. You can check/uncheck it to show/hide the
layer or change the layer’s opacity value, just like you do with other layers.
16
P ROCESSING
After you have defined the region using either methods, you can click
NEXT to start processing. The card shown above will appear, showing a
live progress of the processing.
V IEWING R ESULT
When the processing is finished, the result will be shown as a PDF file in
the viewer shown above, where you can zoom in/out, pan, search and
download (by clicking the upper right button) the PDF result.
17
S ECTION 5
Support
Your feedback is precious and valuable to us. Please email any
issues or suggestions to [email protected] (Jonathan Arundel). Make sure you CC (Carbon copy)
[email protected] (Stephan Winter),
[email protected] (Guan Gui) and
[email protected] (Joseph John Leach Henry) as well.
Thank you!
18
Bibliography
[1] Department of Sustainability and Environment. Native vegetation information. http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/
__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/97323/NV_spatial_datasets.pdf
xix
BeeBox Application User Manual
By Stephan Winter
Pub. No. 13/061
The objective of this research was to systemize knowledge about floral resource availability from a
number of underlying datasets, and present this information to beekeepers through a web mapping
portal. Beekeepers, supported by such information equally well at home or in the field, will profit from
making better informed planning decisions, moving less, and with less risk.
The project succeeded to demonstrate a correlation between freely available satellite data and
flowering patterns of eucalypt, the resource of main interest for the beekeeping industry. It also set up a
flowering calendar as a dynamic webmapping application, for the use by beekeepers.
RIRDC is a partnership between government and industry to invest in R&D for more productive and
sustainable rural industries. We invest in new and emerging rural industries, a suite of established rural
industries and national rural issues.
Most of the information we produce can be downloaded for free or purchased from our website <www.
rirdc.gov.au>.
RIRDC books can also be purchased by phoning 1300 634 313 for a local call fee.
Phone:
02 6271 4100
Fax:
02 6271 4199
Bookshop:
1300 634 313
Email:
[email protected]
Postal Address: PO Box 4776,
Kingston ACT 2604
Street Address: Level 2, 15 National Circuit,
Barton ACT 2600
www.rirdc.gov.au