Getting started
The 7-tab workflow
How the tabs chain together — each one's output feeds the next.
The plugin is organised as a sequence of seven tabs. Each tab produces an output used by the next, taking you from raw territorial data to a priced route.
| Tab | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Land Use | classified land-cover raster (e.g. COSc) | Flu cost raster |
| Slope | DEM | slope raster → Fs cost raster |
| Crossings | road/rail vector | Fci cost raster + N count raster |
| Corridors | existing pipeline/corridor vector | Fc cost raster |
| Aux | — | helpers: merge vectors, resample, clip (speed-ups) |
| LCP | the four cost rasters + N + origin/destination points | combined cost raster → route (vector) |
| Price Estimation | route + cost rasters + flow/physical parameters | CAPEX |
Two patterns to know
“Populate according to COMET”. Each cost tab has a button that fills its table with the reference values from the COMET model. Every value is editable — use the COMET defaults, or enter your own for a different region.
Optional factors. In the LCP tab, each cost raster (Flu, Fs, Fc, Fci, N) is optional. A factor you don’t provide is treated as neutral (= 1.0) with a warning in the log, so you can start simple and add detail later.
Three conceptual steps
Under the seven tabs, the method is three steps: build a cost surface, trace the least-cost path, then estimate CAPEX. Read those in Concepts, or jump to any tab in the sidebar.