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Developments in land information systems: examples demonstrating land resource management capabilities and options
Author(s) -
Hallett S. H.,
Sakrabani R.,
Keay C. A.,
Hannam J. A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
soil use and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.709
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1475-2743
pISSN - 0266-0032
DOI - 10.1111/sum.12380
Subject(s) - thematic map , geospatial analysis , land information system , metadata , land management , land use , computer science , environmental resource management , information system , remote sensing , resource (disambiguation) , natural resource , geographic information system , cadastre , geography , environmental science , world wide web , cartography , engineering , civil engineering , ecology , computer network , electrical engineering , biology
Land Information Systems ( LIS ) provide a foundation for supporting decision‐making across a broad spectrum of natural resource applications: agronomic, environmental, engineering and public good. Typically, LIS constitute a computerized database repository holding geospatial components, ‘mapping unit’ geometry and related georeferenced materials such as satellite imagery, meteorological observations and predictions and scanned legacy mapping. Coupled with the geospatial data are associated property, semantic and metadata, representing a range of thematic properties and characteristics of the land and environment. This paper provides examples of recent developments of national and regional LIS , presenting applications for land resource capabilities and management. These focus on the ‘Land Information System’ (Land IS ) for England and Wales, and the ‘World Soil Survey Archive and Catalogue’ ( WOSSAC ) and consider Agricultural Land Classification in Wales, an Irish land and soil information system, and a scheme to optimize land suitability for application of palm oil biofertilizers in Malaysia. Land Information Systems support purposeful environmental interpretations, drawing on soil and related thematic data, offering insight into land properties, capabilities and characteristics. The examples highlight the practical transferability and extensibility of technical and methodological approaches across geographical contexts. This assessment identifies the value of legacy‐based natural resource inventories that can be interoperated with other contemporary sources of information, such as satellite imagery.