Using Patch Analysis to number harvest blocks
Applies to: Remsoft Spatial Planning System version 2007.10 and higher.

There are cases where user-defined harvest blocks do not have a block id associated with them, which can lead to a number of issues.  Block id is used throughout RSPS to generate reports and statistics based on unique harvest blocks.  Also, a missing block id can have implications when running Stanley.  Stanley treats all preblocks, if they are missing a block id, as a single block which can have a negative impact when scheduling under a green-up delay.

The purpose of this tech is to describe a process using the spatial utility Patch Analysis to assign user defined harvest blocks a unique block id.

To assign harvest blocks and id do the following:

1. Open the Maps View

2. Right click on the Maps View and select Spatial Utilities > Patch Analysis…

3. On the Setup tab:

a. Click the Eligible polygons down arrow and create a new conditional statement that references the action code(s) of the harvest blocks contained in the shapefile.  For example, if clearcutting is the third action listed in the actions section and you only have clearcut blocks in the shapefile, you would set the Eligible Polygons to ‘Action = 3’.  You may also want to include Preblock = ‘Y’ in the conditional statement if only Preblocks are to be considered.

b. Click the Group by Unique Values of and select the Cut_Period field.

c. Click the Smaller than down arrow and select 0.

d. Click the Larger than down arrow and select “No limit”.

4. On the Proximity tab select the Single proximal distance down arrow and specify the distance that you would use as the Adjacency distance if you were to run Stanley.

5. On the Processing tab select the Current time (cp = 0 ) option.

6. On the Configure Outputs tab:

a. In the I would like to store my patch analysis results section click the for Patches in and enter a file name.

b. Select the I would like to store my results in my shapefile option and using the Field Name option select the Block field. Optionally you can have RSPS automatically draw the patches on the Maps View by selecting Draw the results on my map once analysis is complete.

7. Click the single blue arrow from the Patch Analysis toolbar to run the analysis. 
Patch Analysis will assign each unique block a code consisting of a ‘P’ + a number, for example, ‘P23’.