FARSITE v. 4 landscape file (LCP) is a multi-band raster format used by wildland fire behavior and fire effect simulation models such as FARSITE, FLAMMAP, and FBAT (www.fire.org). The bands of an LCP file store data describing terrain, tree canopy, and surface fuel. The USGS National Map for LANDFIRE distributes data in LCP format, and programs such as FARSITE and LFDAT can create LCP files from a set of input rasters. The GDAL driver for LCP supports reading only.
An LCP file (.lcp) is basically a raw format with a 7,316-byte header described below. The data type for all bands is 16-bit signed integer. Bands are interleaved by pixel. Five bands are required: elevation, slope, aspect, fuel model, and tree canopy cover. Crown fuel bands (canopy height, canopy base height, canopy bulk density), and surface fuel bands (duff, coarse woody debris) are optional.
The LCP driver reads the linear unit, cell size, and extent, but the LCP file does not specify the projection. UTM projections are typical, but other projections are possible.
The GDAL LCP driver reports dataset- and band-level metadata:
LATITUDE: Latitude of the dataset, negative for southern hemisphere
LINEAR_UNIT: Feet or meters
DESCRIPTION: LCP file description
<band>_UNIT or <band>_OPTION: units or options code for the band
<band>_UNIT_NAME or <band>_OPTION_DESC: descriptive name of units/options
<band>_MIN: minimum value
<band>_MAX: maximum value
<band>_NUM_CLASSES: number of classes, -1 if > 100
<band>_VALUES: comma-delimited list of class values (fuel model band only)
<band>_FILE: original input raster file name for the band
Note: The LCP driver derives from the RawDataset helper class declared in gdal/frmts/raw. It should be implemented as gdal/frmts/raw/lcpdataset.cpp.
LCP header format:
| Start byte | No. of bytes | Format | Name | Description |
| 0 | 4 | long | crown fuels | 20 if no crown fuels, 21 if crown fuels exist (crown fuels = canopy height, canopy base height, canopy bulk density) |
| 4 | 4 | long | ground fuels | 20 if no ground fuels, 21 if ground fuels exist (ground fuels = duff loading, coarse woody) |
| 8 | 4 | long | latitude | latitude (negative for southern hemisphere) |
| 12 | 8 | double | loeast | offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days) |
| 20 | 8 | double | hieast | offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days) |
| 28 | 8 | double | lonorth | offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days) |
| 36 | 8 | double | hinorth | offset to preserve coordinate precision (legacy from 16-bit OS days) |
| 44 | 4 | long | loelev | minimum elevation |
| 48 | 4 | long | hielev | maximum elevation |
| 52 | 4 | long | numelev | number of elevation classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 56 | 400 | long | elevation values | list of elevation values as longs |
| 456 | 4 | long | loslope | minimum slope |
| 460 | 4 | long | hislope | maximum slope |
| 464 | 4 | long | numslope | number of slope classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 468 | 400 | long | slope values | list of slope values as longs |
| 868 | 4 | long | loaspect | minimum aspect |
| 872 | 4 | long | hiaspect | maximum aspect |
| 876 | 4 | long | numaspects | number of aspect classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 880 | 400 | long | aspect values | list of aspect values as longs |
| 1280 | 4 | long | lofuel | minimum fuel model value |
| 1284 | 4 | long | hifuel | maximum fuel model value |
| 1288 | 4 | long | numfuel | number of fuel models -1 if > 100 |
| 1292 | 400 | long | fuel values | list of fuel model values as longs |
| 1692 | 4 | long | locover | minimum canopy cover |
| 1696 | 4 | long | hicover | maximum canopy cover |
| 1700 | 4 | long | numcover | number of canopy cover classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 1704 | 400 | long | cover values | list of canopy cover values as longs |
| 2104 | 4 | long | loheight | minimum canopy height |
| 2108 | 4 | long | hiheight | maximum canopy height |
| 2112 | 4 | long | numheight | number of canopy height classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 2116 | 400 | long | height values | list of canopy height values as longs |
| 2516 | 4 | long | lobase | minimum canopy base height |
| 2520 | 4 | long | hibase | maximum canopy base height |
| 2524 | 4 | long | numbase | number of canopy base height classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 2528 | 400 | long | base values | list of canopy base height values as longs |
| 2928 | 4 | long | lodensity | minimum canopy bulk density |
| 2932 | 4 | long | hidensity | maximum canopy bulk density |
| 2936 | 4 | long | numdensity | number of canopy bulk density classes, -1 if >100 |
| 2940 | 400 | long | density values | list of canopy bulk density values as longs |
| 3340 | 4 | long | loduff | minimum duff |
| 3344 | 4 | long | hiduff | maximum duff |
| 3348 | 4 | long | numduff | number of duff classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 3352 | 400 | long | duff values | list of duff values as longs |
| 3752 | 4 | long | lowoody | minimum coarse woody |
| 3756 | 4 | long | hiwoody | maximum coarse woody |
| 3760 | 4 | long | numwoodies | number of coarse woody classes, -1 if > 100 |
| 3764 | 400 | long | woody values | list of coarse woody values as longs |
| 4164 | 4 | long | numeast | number of raster columns |
| 4168 | 4 | long | numnorth | number of raster rows |
| 4172 | 8 | double | EastUtm | max X |
| 4180 | 8 | double | WestUtm | min X |
| 4188 | 8 | double | NorthUtm | max Y |
| 4196 | 8 | double | SouthUtm | min Y |
| 4204 | 4 | long | GridUnits | linear unit: 0 = meters, 1 = feet, 2 = kilometers |
| 4208 | 8 | double | XResol | cell size width in GridUnits |
| 4216 | 8 | double | YResol | cell size height in GridUnits |
| 4224 | 2 | short | EUnits | elevation units: 0 = meters, 1 = feet |
| 4226 | 2 | short | SUnits | slope units: 0 = degrees, 1 = percent |
| 4228 | 2 | short | AUnits | aspect units: 0 = Grass categories, 1 = Grass degrees, 2 = azimuth degrees |
| 4230 | 2 | short | FOptions | fuel model options: 0 = no custom models AND no conversion file, 1 = custom models BUT no conversion file, 2 = no custom models BUT conversion file, 3 = custom models AND conversion file needed |
| 4232 | 2 | short | CUnits | canopy cover units: 0 = categories (0-4), 1 = percent |
| 4234 | 2 | short | HUnits | canopy height units: 1 = meters, 2 = feet, 3 = m x 10, 4 = ft x 10 |
| 4236 | 2 | short | BUnits | canopy base height units: 1 = meters, 2 = feet, 3 = m x 10, 4 = ft x 10 |
| 4238 | 2 | short | PUnits | canopy bulk density units: 1 = kg/m^3, 2 = lb/ft^3, 3 = kg/m^3 x 100, 4 = lb/ft^3 x 1000 |
| 4240 | 2 | short | DUnits | duff units: 1 = Mg/ha x 10, 2 = t/ac x 10 |
| 4242 | 2 | short | WOptions | coarse woody options (1 if coarse woody band is present) |
| 4244 | 256 | char[] | ElevFile | elevation file name |
| 4500 | 256 | char[] | SlopeFile | slope file name |
| 4756 | 256 | char[] | AspectFile | aspect file name |
| 5012 | 256 | char[] | FuelFile | fuel model file name |
| 5268 | 256 | char[] | CoverFile | canopy cover file name |
| 5524 | 256 | char[] | HeightFile | canopy height file name |
| 5780 | 256 | char[] | BaseFile | canopy base file name |
| 6036 | 256 | char[] | DensityFile | canopy bulk density file name |
| 6292 | 256 | char[] | DuffFile | duff file name |
| 6548 | 256 | char[] | WoodyFile | coarse woody file name |
| 6804 | 512 | char[] | Description | LCP file description |
Chris Toney, 2009-02-14