Gibbsian T-tessellation model for agricultural landscape characterization

Overview & Synopsis

A new class of planar tessellations, named T-tessellations, was introduced in ([10]). A model was proposed to be considered as a completely random T-tessellation model (CRTT) and its Gibbsian variants were discussed. A general simulation algorithm of Metropolis-Hastings-Green type was derived for model simulation, involving three local transformations of T-tessellations. The current paper focuses on statistical inference for Gibbs models of T-tessellations. Statistical methods originated from point pattern analysis are implemented on the example of three agricultural landscapes approximated by T-tessellations. The choice of model statistics is guided by their capacity to highlight the differences between the landscape patterns. Model parameters are estimated by Monte Carlo Maximum Likelihood method, yielding a baseline for landscapes comparison. In the last part of the paper a global envelope test based on the empty-space function is proposed for assessing the goodness-of-fit of the model.