silviculture laboratory university of washington, college of forest resources
cfr home spacer image cfr directoriescfr search

Silviculture Laboratory Home Projects Staff/Graduates Links Internal

Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel Project Page

 

Contents:
- Introduction
- Features
- Example
- System Requirements
-

Download
- Installing
- Support
- Known Issues
- Version History
 

 

Introduction

The Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel provides an interface to the Stand Visualization System (SVS) for creating stand level visualization from tree information in Excel worksheets. The Stand Visualization Add-In will create SVS visualizations, generate bitmaps, and generate web pages with images captured using SVS, re-format data, and provides tools for managing SVS treeforms. The Add-In can also generate and display visualizations using EnVision.

Top

Features

The Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel provides the following enhancements over SVS alone:

Item Description
Enhanced tree form support The Add-In provides support for 4 crown classes for live trees (Dominant, Codominant, Intermediate, Suppressed) ; 3 classes for dying trees (1-3); and 5 classes (1-5) for snags.  Any of these can be standing, down, or broken.  In addition live trees can have broken or dead tops.
Multi-component trees The Add-In provides support for multi-component trees: broken, broken top, dead top, root wads, and dwarf mistletoe.  These more complex trees are created using multiple "trees" to make up one multi-component tree.
Automatic bitmap creation The Add-In can generate bitmaps of the visualizations for all plots in a worksheet.
Web site generation The Add-In can generate a web page with visualizations for all plots in a worksheet.
Generate Legend Webpage for SVS Treeform File This command will generate a legend web page showing the plant classes defined in the treeform file.  Use this to inspect what species and tree forms are available in a given treeform file.
Convert existing SVS Treeform files The Add-In comes with a function to convert existing SVS Treeform files by adding treeforms for the enhanced treeforms mentioned above.
Extensive Help The Add-In comes with an help file that describes how to use the Add-In, provides a reference for the codes used in the worksheet, describes the format used in the worksheet, and provides additional technical information about the Add-In.
Configurable A variety of features of the Add-In can be confgured using a custom dialog interface.

Top

Example

The Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel operates by providing the Stand Visualization menu (shown below) when running Excel 2002 or newer. A visualization can be made of properly formatted tree information from the current Excel worksheet by simply selecting the Stand Visualization/SVS.../Generate SVS Pictures... menu command.

The spreadsheet shown below demonstrates many of the visualization features supported by the Add-In. It includes standing live trees, standing dying trees, broken live trees, down live trees, down dead trees, broken dead trees, and stumps. It also demonstrates support for four live tree classes (Dominant, Codominant, Intermediate, and Suppressed), three dying tree classes (1-3), and 5 dead tree classes (1-5). The height of broken trees can be specified along with the direction the broken section is leaning. The resulting visualization is shown below.

Example composit image showing spreadsheet, menu, and visualization

 

Additional Examples of Visualizations created using the Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel

Top

System Requirements

The recommended system configuration for the Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel is provided in the table below:

Component Recommended Requirements
Excel Microsoft Excel 2002 or newer is required. Excel may exist as a stand alone application or as part of Microsoft Office.
Hard Disk The Add-In requires about 4 MB of disk space.
SVS The Add-In requires that the Stand Visualization System (SVS) is installed on the computer.
EnVision EnVision is not required. If EnVision is not installed several features will be disabled.

Top

Download

The following download are avaialable:

Installation
Updated
 Description
StandViz-Addin-Setup.exe
11/30/2006
 Installation for Stand Visualization Add-In only. SVS needs to already be installed on your computer.
StandViz-Addin-SVS-Setup.exe
11/30/2006
 Installation for Stand Visualization Add-In and SVS combined.
winsvs-3.36.exe
9/16/2002
 Stand alone installation for WinSVS Version 3.36.

Top

Installing

Download one or more of the above install packages in proparation for installation of the Stand Visualization Add-In. If you already have SVS installed on your computer just download the StandViz-Addin-Setup.exe file and save it to a convienient temporary directory on your computer. Locate the file in Windows Explorer and run the file. After the instalation is run you will have a new Program Group Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel which contains the Example-Data.xls, ReadMe.html, and Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel Help File items.

The Stand Visualization Add-In files will be installed in one of two directories, depending on what computer privledges you have on your computer.

User Account Privledges Installation Location
User C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\StandViz-Addin
Power User or Administrator C:\Program Files\StandViz-Addin

The Power User or Administrator install is preferred if you want to share the Stand Visualization Add-In with other users on the computer.

Note: When upgrading from a previous version run the install program once and you will be prompted to Modify, Repair, or Remove the StandViz-Addin. You will need to select Remove and then run the install program again to complete the upgrade.

Top

Support

The Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel was created by: James B. McCarter, Research Scientist, Rural Technology Initiative, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-2100.

If you have any problems using the tool, questions, or suggestions for improvement contact me by email at email jmacat sign imageu.washington.edu or phone 919-610-2851.

Top

Known Issues

Issue Description
Expanded Envision support The interface to EnVision can be used to create visualizations, but automatic bitmap capture and webpage generation are not yet supported.
Mistletoe Add support for hardwood mistletoe in addition to dwarf mistletoe.
Fill in missing height and crown A future release will fill in height and crown information by running a growth model (if available).
Season Support Add option to select season to quickly create fall and/or winter color visualizations.

Top

Version History

  • Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel - Version 1.3 - November 30, 2006
  • Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel - Version 1.2 - September 26, 2006
  • Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel - Version 1.1 - March 15, 2006
  • Stand Visualization Add-In for Excel - Version 1.0 - March 6, 2006

Top

     

University of Washington

Last Updated: Friday, December 1, 2006