Workflow Narrative

Terrain Constraint and Conflict Analysis

Problem It Solves

Where are terrain constraints likely to create permitting, access, or design conflicts before field mobilization?

Who It Is For

Infrastructure siting teams and engineering predesign analysts.

Primary User

Renewable developers, utilities, and civil engineering consultancies.

What It Does

Builds a harmonized terrain conflict score from slope and optional risk overlays.
Produces conflict classes for early-stage siting and routing screening.

How It Works

Uses DEM-derived slope as the primary terrain constraint signal.
Harmonizes optional wetness, flood-risk, and landcover-penalty rasters to the DEM grid.
Blends constraints into a normalized conflict score and class map.
QA acceptance guidance:
`status=pass` indicates the conflict fraction remained below review threshold.
`diagnostics.acceptance_thresholds.high_conflict_fraction_review` is the baseline threshold for escalation.
Elevated `summary.high_conflict_fraction` should trigger engineering review before downstream routing/siting commitments.
MVP hardening assets:
Benchmark scaffold: `tests/fixtures/terrain_siting_benchmark/`
Promotion guide: `docs/internal/development/TERRAIN_PRECISION_AG_BENCHMARK_PROMOTION_GUIDE_2026_04_14.md`

Inputs

Parameter	Optional	Description
dem	no	Reference DEM raster for terrain conflict analysis.
wetness	yes	Optional wetness raster normalized to [0,1].
flood_risk	yes	Optional flood-risk raster normalized to [0,1].
landcover_penalty	yes	Optional landcover penalty raster normalized to [0,1].
slope_limit_deg	yes	Slope threshold where terrain conflict accelerates.

Outputs

Parameter	Type	Description
conflict_score	GeoTIFF	Continuous terrain conflict score [0,1].
conflict_class	GeoTIFF	Discrete conflict class raster for planning triage.
summary	JSON	Machine-readable summary report containing run metadata, QA diagnostics, and key metrics.
html_report	HTML	Human-readable customer-facing report generated from the summary contract for stakeholder review and QA traceability.

Python Example

import whitebox_workflows as wbw

wbe = wbw.WbEnvironment(include_pro=True, tier="pro")

conflict, classes, summary = wbe.terrain_constraint_and_conflict_analysis(
    dem="data/dem.tif",
    wetness="data/wetness.tif",
    flood_risk="data/flood_risk.tif",
    slope_limit_deg=15.0,
    output_prefix="output/terrain_conflict",
)

print(conflict)
print(classes)
print(summary)

License Notice

Use of this function requires a license for Whitebox Workflows Professional (WbW-Pro). Please visit www.whiteboxgeo.com to purchase a license.

Project Links

WbW Homepage User Manual Learn More