A number of .csv files were provided to us (namely iris.csv, countries.csv, emissions.csv from memory) which were made unavailable upon conclusion of this project. We were to create DataFrames, Bar Charts, Scatter Plots, Histograms and other formats of data visualisation, as well as perform actions such as sorting and searching, with a number of Python libraries (panda, numpy, matplotlib etc.) However, due to COVID-19, much of the course (Elements of Data Processing) was disrupted.
Computers can be used to build models of complex real world systems such as the weather, traffic and stockmarkets. Computer models can help us to understand the dynamics of these real world systems, and to make decisions about them. For example, a model that can predict Saturday's weather could help us decide whether to go to the beach or not. A traffic model could help us plan where to build a new road to reduce traffic jams. A model of the stockmarket could help us decide when to buy and sell shares.
In this project, you will build a simple model of a bushfire spreading across a landscape represented as a two-dimensional grid. The speed and direction that a bushfire will spread in is affected by many factors, including the amount and type of fuel (trees) available, the slope of the land, and the direction of the wind. Your model will help forecast how much damage (number of grid squares burnt) a fire will do before it burns out.
Models like this (but much more complicated!) are used to help predict which way a fire might spread, to assess where high risk fires are most likely to occur, and help understand how the damage cause by fires can be reduced via management practices. See Phoenix rapid fire for an example of a much more complex model (developed at the University of Melbourne).
In this project we will look at three different problems related to a bushfire
- How to build a bushfire model from a data file (Question 1)
- How to determine if a cell in a specific location will ignite (Question 2)
- How to model the spread of a bushfire (Question 3)
You will also need to write and submit a set of test cases for evaluating the function in Question 3 (Question 4)
Due to the abundance and complexity of images, the remainder of the project specifications will be detailed in the Instructions pdf in this repo.
Project Credit: Tim Baldwin - Semester 1 for Foundation of Computing
all code in this repo, unless specified as example, are by Betty Lin