We are aware of a lot of modeling efforts using the InVEST Urban Cooling model, which is great! We are also aware that the model has limitations (e.g. the way air mixing is represent, the way the cooling effects of parks is calculated, etc.)
I’m starting a new thread to summarize the key limitations and hopefully some suggestions to improve the model.
Don’t be shy! We have limits on what we can test/implement but we’d love to crowdsource some great ideas to make the tool more useful.
Thanks @Perrine! This way not be your intent for this thread (too basic), but I present a suggestion to potentially improve the location of an output. @swolny and I agree that “T_air_[Suffix].tif” would be better located in the main ‘output’ directory as opposed to in its current location within the ‘intermediate’ subfolder. Our best supporting argument may be that the heat mitigation raster “hm_[Suffix].tif”is in that main ‘output’ folder and “T_air_[Suffix].tif” is derived from that.
Additionally, the cooling capacity (CC) index raster (“cc_[Suffix].tif”) could also be in that top ‘output’ directory. Both the estimated air temperature and CC rasters are quite human-readable and seem very relevant to users, like myself.
Hi everyone,
Although not listed among the model’s limitations in the User guide, I think that not considering either altitude or the presence of the sea (in the case of coastal cities) are other limitations of the model.
In particular I refer to the final result of Tair, which I think should be corrected (perhaps with some ad hoc coefficient) also in function of the two factors mentioned above.