Mapping Methods
The procedure for mapping land use in the Northern Territory involved successive stages of data collation, interpretation (including the production of draft land use maps), verification (involving field checking and editing), independent validation and the production of final outputs (land use data, metadata and validation results).
These procedures are detailed in the technical handbook prepared to support land use mapping in Australia – Land Use Mapping at Catchment Scale: Principles, Procedures and Definitions, Edition 2 (Bureau of Rural Sciences, 2002).
The principles that underpin the ALUM Classification / Baxter-Russell (1994) approach include:
Level of intervention - The classification is based on identification and delineation of types and levels of intervention in the landscape, rather than descriptions of land use based on outputs.
Generality - The classification is designed to provide for users who are interested in both processes (eg land management practices) and outputs (eg commodities).
Hierarchical structure - The hierarchical structure provides for and promotes aggregation/disaggregation of related land uses, the addition of levels or classes and relevance at a range of scales.
Prime use / Ancillary use – Parcels of land may be subject to a number of concurrent land uses. A multiple use production forest, for example, has as its main management objective the production of timber, although it also may also provide conservation, recreation, grazing and water catchment services. Land use class allocations based on prime use are based on the primary land management objective of the nominated land manager.
In mapping the Land use of the Northern Territory (link in right column), the minimum level of attribution was the Secondary level (see Appendix 1) and generally, mapping was completed to the Tertiary level only where pre-existing data was available. The attribution of multiple uses in separate database fields, using Australian Land Use and Management (ALUM) Classification (version 5), occurred only where such information was likely to be of particular relevance to local/regional planning and/or management.
