Provided by: grass-doc_8.3.0-1_all 
NAME
r.cost - Creates a raster map showing the cumulative cost of moving between different
geographic locations on an input raster map whose cell category values represent cost.
KEYWORDS
raster, cost surface, cumulative costs, cost allocation
SYNOPSIS
r.cost
r.cost --help
r.cost [-knrib] input=name output=name [solver=name] [nearest=name] [outdir=name]
[start_points=name] [stop_points=name] [start_raster=name]
[start_coordinates=east,north[,east,north,...]]
[stop_coordinates=east,north[,east,north,...]] [max_cost=value] [null_cost=value]
[memory=memory in MB] [--overwrite] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]
Flags:
-k
Use the ’Knight’s move’; slower, but more accurate
-n
Keep null values in output raster map
-r
Start with values in raster map
-i
Print info about disk space and memory requirements and exit
-b
Create bitmask encoded directions
--overwrite
Allow output files to overwrite existing files
--help
Print usage summary
--verbose
Verbose module output
--quiet
Quiet module output
--ui
Force launching GUI dialog
Parameters:
input=name [required]
Name of input raster map containing grid cell cost information
output=name [required]
Name for output raster map
solver=name
Name of input raster map solving equal costs
Helper variable to pick a direction if two directions have equal cumulative costs
(smaller is better)
nearest=name
Name for output raster map with nearest start point
outdir=name
Name for output raster map to contain movement directions
start_points=name
Name of starting vector points map
Or data source for direct OGR access
stop_points=name
Name of stopping vector points map
Or data source for direct OGR access
start_raster=name
Name of starting raster points map
start_coordinates=east,north[,east,north,...]
Coordinates of starting point(s) (E,N)
stop_coordinates=east,north[,east,north,...]
Coordinates of stopping point(s) (E,N)
max_cost=value
Maximum cumulative cost
Default: 0
null_cost=value
Cost assigned to null cells. By default, null cells are excluded
memory=memory in MB
Maximum memory to be used (in MB)
Cache size for raster rows
Default: 300
DESCRIPTION
r.cost determines the cumulative cost of moving to each cell on a cost surface (the input
raster map) from other user-specified cell(s) whose locations are specified by their
geographic coordinate(s). Each cell in the original cost surface map will contain a
category value which represents the cost of traversing that cell. r.cost will produce 1)
an output raster map in which each cell contains the lowest total cost of traversing the
space between each cell and the user-specified points (diagonal costs are multiplied by a
factor that depends on the dimensions of the cell) and 2) a second raster map layer
showing the movement direction to the next cell on the path back to the start point (see
Movement Direction). This module uses the current geographic region settings. The output
map will be of the same data format as the input map, integer or floating point.
OPTIONS
The input name is the name of a raster map whose category values represent the surface
cost. The output name is the name of the resultant raster map of cumulative cost. The
outdir name is the name of the resultant raster map of movement directions (see Movement
Direction).
r.cost can be run with three different methods of identifying the starting point(s). One
or more points (geographic coordinate pairs) can be provided as specified
start_coordinates on the command line, from a vector points file, or from a raster map.
All non-NULL cells are considered to be starting points.
Each x,y start_coordinates pair gives the geographic location of a point from which the
transportation cost should be figured. As many points as desired can be entered by the
user. These starting points can also be read from a vector points file through the
start_points option or from a raster map through the start_raster option.
r.cost will stop cumulating costs when either max_cost is reached, or one of the stop
points given with stop_coordinates is reached. Alternatively, the stop points can be read
from a vector points file with the stop_points option. During execution, once the
cumulative cost to all stopping points has been determined, processing stops.
Both sites read from a vector points file and those given on the command line will be
processed.
The null cells in the input map can be assigned a (positive floating point) cost with the
null_cost option.
When input map null cells are given a cost with the null_cost option, the corresponding
cells in the output map are no longer null cells. By using the -n flag, the null cells of
the input map are retained as null cells in the output map.
As r.cost can run for a very long time, it can be useful to use the --v verbose flag to
track progress.
The Knight’s move (-k flag) may be used to improve the accuracy of the output. In the
diagram below, the center location (O) represents a grid cell from which cumulative
distances are calculated. Those neighbors marked with an X are always considered for
cumulative cost updates. With the -k option, the neighbors marked with a K are also
considered.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . K . . K . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . K . X . X . X . K . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . X . O . X . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . K . X . X . X . K . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . K . . K . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Knight’s move example:
Flat cost surface without (left pane) and with the knight’s
move (right pane). The default is to grow the cost outwards
in 8 directions. Using the knight’s move grows it outwards
in 16 directions.
If the nearest output parameter is specified, the module will calculate for each cell its
nearest starting point based on the minimized accumulative cost while moving over the cost
map.
The solver option helps to select a particular direction in case of multiple directions
with equal costs. Sometimes fields with equal cumulative costs exist and multiple paths
with equal costs would lead from a start point to a stop point. By default, a path along
the edge of such a field would be produced or multiple paths of equal costs with the -b
flag. An additional variable can be supplied with the solver option to help the algorithm
pick a particular direction.
Example for solving multiple directions:
A field of equal cumulative costs with multiple paths
(black). By default a path along the edge will be selected
(red). Path selection can be controlled with the solver
option (blue).
Multiple directions can be solved as in the above example with the following steps:
1 Create multiple directions with r.cost/r.walk using the -b flag
2 Extract paths using r.path format=bitmask
3 Calculate the distance from NULL cells to paths using r.grow.distance -n
input=<paths from r.path>
4 Invert the sign of the distances with r.mapcalc because for the solver smaller is
better, and here we want to get the center of an area with multiple directions
5 Use these negative distances as solver for a second pass of r.cost
6 Extract paths again with r.path to get a geometrically optimized solution
NULL CELLS
By default null cells in the input raster map are excluded from the algorithm, and thus
retained in the output map.
If one wants r.cost to transparently cross any region of null cells, the null_cost=0.0
option should be used. Then null cells just propagate the adjacent costs. These cells can
be retained as null cells in the output map by using the -n flag.
NOTES
Paths from any point to the nearest starting point of r.cost can be extracted with r.path
by using the direction output map of r.cost.
Algorithm notes
The fundamental approach to calculating minimum travel cost is as follows:
The user generates a raster map indicating the cost of traversing each cell in the
north-south and east-west directions. This map, along with a set of starting points are
submitted to r.cost. The starting points are put into a heap of cells from which costs to
the adjacent cells are to be calculated. The cell on the heap with the lowest cumulative
cost is selected for computing costs to the neighboring cells. Costs are computed and
those cells are put on the heap and the originating cell is finalized. This process of
selecting the lowest cumulative cost cell, computing costs to the neighbors, putting the
neighbors on the heap and removing the originating cell from the heap continues until the
heap is empty.
The most time consuming aspect of this algorithm is the management of the heap of cells
for which cumulative costs have been at least initially computed. r.cost uses a minimum
heap for efficiently tracking the next cell with the lowest cumulative costs.
r.cost, like most all GRASS raster programs, is also made to be run on maps larger that
can fit in available computer memory. As the algorithm works through the dynamic heap of
cells it can move almost randomly around the entire area. r.cost divides the entire area
into a number of pieces and swaps these pieces in and out of memory (to and from disk) as
needed. This provides a virtual memory approach optimally designed for 2-D raster maps.
The amount of memory to be used by r.cost can be controlled with the memory option,
default is 300 MB. For systems with less memory this value will have to be set to a lower
value.
EXAMPLES
Consider the following example:
Input:
COST SURFACE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . 5 . 5 . 5 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 2 . 2 . 8 . 8 . 5 . 2 . 1 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 7 . 1 . 1 . 8 . 2 . 2 . 2 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 8 . 7 . 8 . 8 . 8 . 8 . 5 .
. . . . . . . . . . _____ . .
. 8 . 8 . 1 . 1 . 5 | 3 | 9 .
. . . . . . . . . . |___| . .
. 8 . 1 . 1 . 2 . 5 . 3 . 9 .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Output (using -k): Output (not using -k):
CUMULATIVE COST SURFACE CUMULATIVE COST SURFACE
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * . . . . . .
. 21. 21. 20. 19. 17. 15. 14. . 22. 21* 21* 20* 17. 15. 14.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * . . . . . .
. 20. 19. 22. 19. 15. 12. 11. . 20. 19. 22* 20* 15. 12. 11.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * . . . .
. 22. 18. 17. 17. 12. 11. 9. . 22. 18. 17* 18* 13* 11. 9.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * * * * * . . . .
. 21. 14. 13. 12. 8. 6. 6. . 21. 14. 13. 12. 8. 6. 6.
. . . . . . . . . . _____. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 16. 13. 8. 7. 4 | 0 | 6. . 16. 13. 8. 7 . 4. 0. 6.
. . . . . . . . . . |___|. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 14. 9. 8. 9. 6. 3. 8. . 14. 9. 8. 9 . 6. 3. 8.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The user-provided starting location in the above example is the boxed 3 in the above input
map. The costs in the output map represent the total cost of moving from each box ("cell")
to one or more (here, only one) starting location(s). Cells surrounded by asterisks are
those that are different between operations using and not using the Knight’s move (-k)
option.
Output analysis
The output map can be viewed, for example, as an elevation model in which the starting
location(s) is/are the lowest point(s). Outputs from r.cost can be used as inputs to
r.path , in order to trace the least-cost path given by this model between any given cell
and the r.cost starting location(s). The two programs, when used together, generate
least-cost paths or corridors between any two map locations (cells).
Shortest distance surfaces
The r.cost module allows for computing the shortest distance of each pixel from raster
lines, such as determining the shortest distances of households to the nearby road. For
this cost surfaces with cost value 1 are used. The calculation is done with r.cost as
follows (example for Spearfish region):
g.region raster=roads -p
r.mapcalc "area.one = 1"
r.cost -k input=area.one output=distance start_raster=roads
d.rast distance
d.rast.num distance
#transform to metric distance from cell distance using the raster resolution:
r.mapcalc "dist_meters = distance * (ewres()+nsres())/2."
d.rast dist_meters
Movement Direction
The movement direction surface is created to record the sequence of movements that created
the cost accumulation surface. This movement direction surface can be used by r.path to
recover a path from an end point back to the start point. The direction of each cell
points towards the next cell. The directions are recorded as degrees CCW from East:
112.5 67.5 i.e. a cell with the value 135
157.5 135 90 45 22.5 means the next cell is to the north-west
180 x 360
202.5 225 270 315 337.5
247.5 292.5
Cost allocation
Example: calculation of the cost allocation map "costalloc" and the cumulative cost map
"costsurf" for given starting points (map "sources") and given cost raster map "costs":
r.cost input=costs start_raster=sources output=costsurf nearest=costalloc
Find the minimum cost path
Once r.cost computes the cumulative cost map and an associated movement direction map,
r.path can be used to find the minimum cost path.
SEE ALSO
r.walk, r.path, r.in.ascii, r.mapcalc, r.out.ascii
AUTHORS
Antony Awaida, Intelligent Engineering Systems Laboratory, M.I.T.
James Westervelt, U.S.Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
Updated for Grass 5 by Pierre de Mouveaux (pmx@audiovu.com)
Markus Metz
Multiple path directions sponsored by mundialis
SOURCE CODE
Available at: r.cost source code (history)
Accessed: Tuesday Jun 27 11:12:47 2023
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© 2003-2023 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.3.0 Reference Manual