About Us#
AcATaMa is developed and maintained by the Forest and Carbon Monitoring System (SMByC) at the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM) in Colombia. SMByC is responsible for measuring and ensuring the accuracy of the official national forest figures in Colombia, as well as activity data related to forest cover change for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions reporting in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
As part of the SMByC, we identified the need to not only establish a systematic and rigorous approach, but also to streamline and optimize the accuracy assessment procedure [Galindo et al., 2014]. To address this gap, we developed AcATaMa, an open-source QGIS plugin specifically designed for the accuracy assessment of thematic raster maps in alignment with international guidance and good practice, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) principles of transparency, completeness, consistency, comparability, and accuracy.
AcATaMa is an official component of our Digital Image Processing Protocol for Quantifying Deforestation in Colombia [Galindo et al., 2014], where it plays a central role in our accuracy assessment workflows. We use AcATaMa to conduct systematic evaluations of thematic maps, ensuring that our forest monitoring products meet the accuracy standards required for national reporting.
Acknowledgments#
This work was fully funded by the SMByC at IDEAM, Colombia. We thank the SMByC team for their support in testing and product verification, and for the invaluable feedback they provided throughout the development process. Their contributions were essential in refining AcATaMa and ensuring its reliability.
How to Cite#
If you use AcATaMa in your research, please cite it as:
Llano, X. C., Vergara, L. K., Arias, J. A., & Galindo, G. (2026). AcATaMa: A QGIS plugin for accuracy assessment and area estimation. Applied Computing and Geosciences, 31, Article 100389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acags.2026.100389
BibTeX:
@article{LLANO2026100389,
title = {AcATaMa: A QGIS plugin for accuracy assessment and area estimation},
journal = {Applied Computing and Geosciences},
volume = {31},
pages = {100389},
year = {2026},
issn = {2590-1974},
doi = {10.1016/j.acags.2026.100389},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019742600073X},
author = {X.C. Llano and L.K. Vergara and J.A. Arias and G. Galindo},
}
Contact#
For questions, suggestions, or bug reports, please use the GitHub issues or discussions page.