Applications & Software

I develop open-source tools for remote sensing, spatial analysis, and environmental monitoring. These tools are designed to make complex analyses accessible to researchers and practitioners working on conservation and sustainability challenges.

Featured Projects

Trends.Earth

Primary Developer | GitHub

An open-source tool for calculating indicators of land degradation using satellite imagery and cloud computing. Available as a QGIS plugin with over 10,000 registered users.

  • Calculates land degradation indicators aligned with SDG 15.3.1
  • Integrates with Google Earth Engine for cloud-based processing
  • Referenced in multiple decisions by the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
  • Supports land degradation neutrality (LDN) reporting and target setting

glcm

Primary Developer | CRAN | GitHub

R package for calculating image textures based on the Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM). Useful for extracting texture features from remote sensing imagery for classification and analysis.

Key Features:

  • Calculates multiple texture statistics (contrast, homogeneity, entropy, etc.)
  • Supports rotation-invariant texture calculation
  • Optimized for processing large raster datasets

gfcanalysis

Original Author | CRAN | GitHub

R package for analyzing Global Forest Change data from Hansen et al. Facilitates downloading, processing, and analyzing annual forest change data at local to regional scales.

Capabilities:

  • Download and mosaic Hansen forest change tiles
  • Calculate forest loss and gain statistics
  • Generate annual forest cover maps

teamlucc (no longer maintained)

Primary Developer | GitHub

Collection of R tools for analyzing satellite imagery and performing automated image classifications. Developed to support the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) Network.

Features:

  • Landsat surface reflectance preprocessing
  • Cloud removal and gap filling
  • Automated image classification workflows
  • Time series analysis

PyABM (no longer maintained)

Primary Developer | GitHub

Python framework for agent-based modeling. Provides a foundation for building agent-based models with spatial components.

ChitwanABM (no longer maintained)

Primary Developer | GitHub

Agent-based model of population and land use dynamics in the Chitwan Valley, Nepal. Developed as part of my dissertation research to explore feedbacks between demographic decision-making and land cover change.

wrspathrow (no longer maintained)

Primary Developer | CRAN | GitHub

R package for working with Landsat Worldwide Reference System (WRS) path/row designations. Useful for identifying which Landsat scenes cover a given area of interest.

Development Philosophy

All of my software tools are developed with these principles in mind:

  1. Open Source: All code is freely available under permissive licenses
  2. Reproducibility: Tools enable reproducible research workflows
  3. Accessibility: Designed for users with varying levels of technical expertise
  4. Scalability: Built to handle analyses from local to global scales

Get Involved

I welcome contributions to any of these projects. Feel free to:

  • Report issues or suggest features on GitHub
  • Submit pull requests with improvements
  • Reach out with questions about using the tools

Visit my GitHub profile to explore all repositories.