openModeller Desktop version 1.0.5 Released

It is our great pleasure to announce the immediate availability of openModeller Desktop Version 1.0.5 openModelleris a generic framework for carrying out fundamental niche modelling experiments - typically used to predict species distribution given a set of environmental raster layers. The openModeller Desktop application builds on the openModeller library by providing a user friendly graphical user interface for carrying out niche modelling experiments. This release introduces several new features including improved reporting, automated retrieval of locality data from online databases such as GBIF, Mac OS X build, and many other enhancements. The release also includes numerous bug fixes and stability improvements. openModeller Desktop is available in source form, and as binary executables for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and as a GNU/Linux distribution independent application bundle. All versions can be obtained from our download page. As an open source project, we provide support for using openModeller via our mailing lists and bug tracker:

• For general enquiries subscribe to our users mailing list.
• For developer related enquiries subscribe to our separate developers list.
• If you think you have found a bug, please report it using our bug tracker. When reporting bugs, please include some contact information in case we need help with replicating your issue.

Report view for a completed experience (Mac OS X version)

Released version 0.4.1 of the library

A new version of the openModeller library is available. This release (0.4.1) includes some changes and new features:

• New algorithm EnvironmentalDistance supporting three different metrics: Euclidean, Mahalanobis and Gower. When used with Gower and maximum distance of 1, this algorithm should be equivalent to DOMAIN.
• It is now possible to specify absence points in the localities file, which has a new format: four mandatory columns (id, label, longitude and latitude) and one optional column (abundance). Absences are indicated with abundance equal to zero. All values must now be separated by TABs, so labels (usually scientific names) can contain spaces. The new column "id" is used to identify the individual records.
• For developers, there's initial support to cmake (should compile on GNU/Linux and Mac OS X).

Source code migration from CVS to Subversion

Today we have finally migrated the openModeller source code from CVS to Subversion. This change affects developers only. Subversion will allow improved management of the openModeller source code. The instructions under the resources page have been updated with subversion specific details.

Please let us know if you have any problems accessing the source code via Subversion.

openModeller Desktop version 1.0.4 Released

We are very pleased to announce the immediate availability of openModeler Desktop version 1.0.4. This release contains a critical bug fix for the layerset manager in the 1.0.3 release and includes no new features. We encourage you to upgrade to this version at the first possible opportunity!

Currently the openModeller Desktop application is available as a Microsoft Windows setup file or in source form. Future releases will include binaries for GNU / Linux and Mac OS X.

We invite you to join our mailing lists, IRC channel and other community resources if you need help using the openModeller Desktop application, or would like to discuss issues relating to openModeller.

openModeller Desktop version 1.0.3 Released

We are very pleased to announce the immediate availability of openModeler Desktop version 1.0.3. This release contains several bug fixes and adds some two new features:

• The extracted environmental variables for the occurrence sites used in a given model can be exported as a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file.
• The occurrence sites are displayed as an overlay on top of the probability surface in the model map display.

We encourage you to upgrade from version 1.0.2 if you installed it since this version also fixes some issues that caused the application to crash when changing the modelling plugin.

Currently the openModeller Desktop application is available as a Microsoft Windows setup file or in source form. Future releases will include binaries for GNU / Linux and Mac OS X.

We invite you to join our mailing lists, IRC channel and other community resources if you need help using the openModeller Desktop application, or would like to discuss issues relating to openModeller.

openModeller Desktop version 1.0.2 Released

The openModeller team is pleased to announce version 1.0.2 of the openModeller Desktop graphical user interface for openModeller. This is the first public release of the new user interface which replaces the previous wizard based version.

Main Features

• A layerset manager. This is for creating named collections of layers for use in modelling experiments. Having layers organised in named sets removes the tedium of repeatedly having to select layers from the file system for different model runs.
• An algorithm profile manager. Algorithm profiles let you store the custom parameters you use for running models in a reusable way.
• An experiment designer. The experiment designer allows you to set up an experiment consisting of multiple species and algorithm profiles.
• An experiment browser. Once an experiment is completed the experiment browser presents the list of algorithm profiles and the species names in a tree view. Clicking on an item in the experiment tree shows a detailed report for that model. The report includes all the details of which algorithm was used, which parameters for the algorithm were changed, which layers were used, the model duration and so on.
• A map browser. The map browser allows you to pan and zoom on the model's map image.
• Translations. The openModeller Desktop application is available with Brazillian Portuguese and English translations.
• Modelling Plugins. The actual modelling work is managed by plugins. This release includes a 'local' plugin that uses the recent 0.4.0 openModeller library release, and a 'web service' plugin that allows models to be run on a remote server.*

Note: The web service plugin is still considered experimental.

Availability

The software is available in source form (all platforms) and as a binary installer package for Microsoft Windows. In future releases we will make binaries available for Mac OS X and GNU/Linux. If you are an Ubuntu Linux user, step by step instructions for building the application on your system are available.

Screenshots

The Layer Set Manager Window

The Algorithm Profile Manager

The Experiment Designer Window

The Experiment Browser / Main Window

The Map Viewer

Tutorial Video

A tutorial video is available (~124mb!) which will help in getting started with openModeller Desktop.

Known Issues

This is a first public release and the software has some known issues. These include application crash when switching plugins. Restart the application when ever you switch plugins and it should function normally after the restart. We encourage you to report any bugs you find on the project bug tracker. You can also use the bug tracker to browse the list of known issues.

Released version 0.4 of the library

A new release of the openModeller library is now available. Version 0.4 contains major feature enhancements and also some bugfixes. This release includes integration with TerraLib, which is a complete framework for developing GIS tools. The main changes are:

• In addition to GDAL, openModeller's IO functions now work with Terralib raster and point data.
• Refactoring of the SOAP interface which now covers all modelling functionality, allowing remote interaction with a modelling service.
• The new version of GARP (v3) has been re-enabled.
• The default output map file type was changed to ERDAS Imagine ".img" to achieve wider compatibility with GIS software. This format provides a floating-point representation in each raster cell (reflecting probability of presence).
• Several fixes in the SWIG-Python binding.
• An installation issue with the RPM packages was fixed.

The work has been funded by FAPESP.