Using GPS and GIS to evaluate military vehicle traffic patterns for the prediction of vegetation removal

Military vehicle traffic during military training at installations can result in land degradation, vegetation removal, and increased soil erosion in training areas. Multiple vehicle passes (possible column movement) over the same terrain result in more severe damage to the soil and vegetation. Military training area land managers have a responsibility to manage the military lands in a sustainable way and maintain the environmental integrity of the land. This study utilized the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate military vehicle traffic patterns to predict vegetation removal. Investigation included vehicle tracking, estimation of impact during maneuvers, comparison of impacts from different maneuvers, and the development of a procedure to identify column platoon movement.

Vehicle tracking studies, where GPS-based vehicle tracking systems were mounted on military vehicles to record their position every second during training, were conducted at Fort Lewis in October 2005, Fort Riley in May 2005, and Yakima Training Center in October 2001. The maneuver at Fort Riley, Kansas involved more road-side interrogation and less off-road traffic and it was estimated that an average of 1048, 642, and 179 square meters of vegetation was removed per vehicle day for the M1A1 Abrams combat tanks, M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicles, and M998 high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWV) respectively. The maneuver involving Strykers at Fort Lewis involved more off-road traffic than at Fort Riley. This maneuver consisted of urban operations, traveling to firing ranges, and some off-road maneuvering on one of the ranges. It was estimated that on average just over 200 square meters of vegetation was removed by each Stryker per vehicle day during this maneuver.

A GIS method to identify column movement was developed and applied to all of the full platoon moving data collected at Fort Lewis. Charlie Company 1st platoon was identified as having the most column movement. Approximately 7.5 and 1.0 percent of the off-road distance traveled by the platoon was identified as column movement using a 10 m and 1 m buffer, respectively. A sensitivity analysis indicated a smaller buffer size identified less column movement.