InVEST 3.16.0 Released!

Announcements
1

I’m excited to share the InVEST 3.16.0 release! This minor release adds the long awaited and highly anticipated Plugin feature. From the InVEST Workbench users can install a 3rd party InVEST-like model which can be run just like any InVEST model. Plugins will make the InVEST Workbench a home and distribution mechanism for ecosystem service model developers, whether they are NatCap staff or part of the Ecosystem Services community of practitioners. The new feature will make it easier for developers and teams to share their work as an InVEST-like model through the InVEST Workbench without having to worry about dependencies, packaging, and distributing their model themselves. You can find more details about Plugins in our developer documentation and we will announce it more publicly via a web story, video, and social media posts in a few weeks, so stay tuned to help broadcast the news more widely then. Plugins isn’t the only change going into 3.16.0, the Wind Energy and NDR models also got some updates, which can be seen in the Highlights section below. You can find a complete list of changes on GitHub. If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to us here on the forums.

Highlights

  • Added a feature to the NDR model that allows the nutrient load to be entered as an application rate or as an “extensive”/export measured value. Previously, the model’s biophysical table expected the load_[n|p] column to be an “extensive”/export measured value. Now, a new column for both nitrogen and phosphorous, load_type_[n|p], is required with expected values of either application-rate or measured-runoff. See the Data Needs section of the NDR User Guide for more details.
  • The Wind Energy model no longer returns results as rasters; instead, values are written to the output wind_energy_points shapefile for each point. For more details on this check out the Any Decision Record (ADR): ADR-0004: Remove Wind Energy Raster Outputs.
  • InVEST 3.16.0 will be our first software release (that isn’t associated with a peer-reviewed publication) that will include a DOI, including in the suggested citation for the release. We’ll have DOIs for all forthcoming releases as well.

Happy modeling!
~ The NatCap Software Team

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