Methodology and Interpretation

PFF9 - Probability of forest cell having neighboring forest cell
Probability of a forest cell having a neighboring forest cell is calculated using a moving 270 meter square window (9 pixels x 9 pixels) across the land cover. The boundaries between all pixel pairs where at least one pixel was forest were examined in the window. The metric is the number of boundaries where both pixels were forest divided by the total number of forest boundaries (regardless of neighbor land cover type). This metric gives a measure of how well the forest is connected within the window, with high values being better connected than low values.

Quantile: Each class contains an approximately equal number (count) of features. A quantile classification is well-suited to linearly distributed data. Because features are grouped by the number within each class, the resulting map can be misleading, in that similar features can be separated into adjacent classes, or features with widely different values can be lumped into the same class. This distortion can be minimized by increasing the number of classes.

Natural Breaks: Classes are based on natural groupings of data values. Natural break points are identified by looking for groupings and patterns inherent in the data. The features are divided into classes whose boundaries are set where there are relatively large jumps in the distribution of data values.

* EMAP-West Landscape Metrics Metadata (FGDC)