Landscape Management System (LMS)

Landscape Management System Version 2.0 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The following questions and answers are available. Please submit questions for inclusion on this page to help@landscapemanagementsystem.org.

1. General LMS Questions:

• 1.1 - What is an LMS Portfolio?
• 1.2 - I'm having trouble downloading LMS. What should I do?
• 1.3 - How do I change the growth model being used in a portfolio?
• 1.4 - How do I download and install another variant of FVS?
• 1.5 - How do I get summaries for all stands in a portfolio when I don't have a landscape defined?

2. Visualization Questions:

• 2.1 - How are spatial coordinates obtained for stand visualization?
• 2.2 - Why doesn't visualization work on my computer?

3. Scenario Questions:

• 3.1 - Where do planting files belong for scenarios?
• 3.2 - Can a portfolio have stands at different inventory years?

4. Data Issues:

• 4.1 - How do I get my own data into LMS?

1. General LMS Questions:

1.1 - What is an LMS Portfolio?

An LMS Portfolio is the information and file organization used by LMS. The portfolio consists of inventory and spatial information combined with configuration information about the inventory and methods to accomplish certain tasks within LMS.

1.2 - I'm having trouble downloading LMS. What should I do?

Problems downloading LMS are usually caused by busy networks. Try downloading at a different time of the day. Early morning and late evenings tend to be the least busy times of the day. If you continue to have problems downloading the software contact us at lmshelpu.washington.edu or 206-543-0827 and ask to have a CD-ROM mailed.

1.3 - How do I change the growth model being used in a portfolio?

There are two steps required to change the growth model. The first is to make sure the variant of FVS or Organon (eg. ni.exe) you want to use is in the LMS root directory. The distribution copies of LMS contain the northern Idaho and Pacific nortwest variants of FVS to get other variants or models please see Contact Information at the end of Section 1 in the LMS Manual. The second step is to change the model specified in the LMS portfolio. Open the portfolio you are working with then open the portfolio editor with File|LMS Portfolio Editor. Modify the portfolio with File|Modify Portfolio, under methods choose the variant or growth model from the drop down list provided. Click on OK. Save the portfolio File|Save Portfolio and then exit back to LMS. Reload the portfolio File|Open Portfolio) and look to make sure the right model is specified under ProjectionMethod= in the main window.

1.4 - How do I download and install another variant of FVS?

LMS2 is currently distributed with the Pacific Northwest Coast variant of FVS (PN). The other variants can be used by putting a copy of the executable in the LMS2\FVS directory. You can download additional variants of FVS from http://www.fs.fed.us/fmsc/fvs/fvs_varfiles.htm. Download the appropriate file for the variant you want (eg. sedos.exe for the Southeast variant). The file downloaded from the FVS site is a self-extracting executable. To install the actual program file you need to extract the compressed executable from this file. This can be done by double-clicking the file (sedos.exe for example). You will then be able to enter the directory where you want the file located (C:\lms2\fvs would be the location for a default install of LMS2) or if you have WinZip you can click the Run WinZip button to load WinZip. Click the Extract button, browse for the correct directory, click the extract button, and then close WinZip when finished. To use the new FVS variant load LMS2, open a portfolio, and use Tools|Portfolio|Preferences... to modify the portfolio. Select the Stand Projection tab and select the variant just downloaded.

1.5 - How do I get summaries for all stands in a portfolio when I don't have a landscape defined?

Having landscape information (elevation model and stand boundaries) are not required for some types of landscape analysis. The Landscape Summary table will provide summary statistics for all stands in the portfolio. The Landscape Scenario table provides inventory records for all stand in all years, often the most useful table when analyzing alternative management regimes.

2. Visualization Questions:

2.1 - How are spatial coordinates obtained for stand visualization?

Spatial coordinates are generated using uniform random distribution.

2.2 - Why doesn't visualization work on my computer?

3. Scenario Questions:

3.1 - Where do planting files belong for scenarios?

Planting files for scenarios are stored in the portfolio directory.

3.2 - Can a portfolio have stands at different inventory years?

LMS requires that all stands have common inventory years. The stands can be of different ages. If stands are inventoried in different years a growth model should be used to bring all stands to a common year for the LMS portfolio.

4. Data Issues:

4.1 - How do I get my own data into LMS?

The easiest way to get data into LMS is to use the Inventory Wizard, which allows for plot data entry into an Access database.