NatureMaps   Home Photo 1: DWLBC, Photo 2: Peter Canty, DEH
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What's New in NatureMaps

Update 3

Update 2

Update 1

Update 3 - December 2007

Overview

Some new features have been added to NatureMaps. Users can now download any Markup features they create in NatureMaps into ESRI Shapefile format for use in GIS applications.

A new scale slider zoom function has been made available to make zooming even easier.

New documentation has been created to provide more assistance to users. The Add GPS Points user guide provides step by step instructions for adding GPS points to the map, whilst a new Bioregional Profiles Fact Sheet provides more information about the analysed Bioregional Profile (IBRA) layers.

Map Grid of Australia (MGA) grids, often used on Topographic Maps, and Longitude/Latitude graticules have been added. Users can now overlay grid lines on the map to have coordinate references displayed on the map for printing. These layers come in varying interval levels to suit a variety of needs.

SA Marine Parks has been introduced as a new layer and replaces the previous Great Australian Bight Marine Park layer. This layer was created by adding the new Murray and Nelson Marine Reserves to the information contained in the Great Australian Bight Marine Park layer.

Additional aerial photography is now available, which includes: Southern Fleurieu Peninsula 2006, Southern Fleurieu Peninsula Towns 2006 and Kangaroo Island 2006. The Southern Fleurieu Peninsula photography is at 60 cm resolution, the Southern Fleurieu Towns photography at 15cm resolution and the Kangaroo Island photography at 40cm resolution.

New Functionality

New documentation

New Layers

Update 2 - July 2007

Overview

Some additional functionality has been added into NatureMaps. Users can search for layers in NatureMaps by typing in part of a layer name, and all matching layers will be put into a folder at the bottom of the layer list.

Users can now view the coordinates in metres rather than in degrees when using the Measure Area, Measure Distance and Point Markup with Coordinate tools as they are now displayed in Map Grid of Australia 1994 coordinates (UTM coordinates) rather than Longitude and Latitude values, making it easier to relate the coordinates to the area and distance values calculated as they are all in metres, and also to align coordinates with Topographic Maps.

Monitoring data has now been introduced into NatureMaps, with Beach Profile Sample data providing users with the changes in beach sand levels over time, with some profile points monitored regularly since 1975.

New functionality

  • On the Map Layers list there is a "Search for Layers" that allows users to find all layers by typing in part of a layer's name and put them into a folder at the bottom of the Map Layers list. For example, if a user searches for "road", it will find Roads, Roads General and Roadside Veg. If a user turns a layer on/off in this folder, it will be turned on/off in the layer's source folder (eg Roadside Veg in Vegetation Mapping).

  • The coordinates in the Measure Area , Measure Distance and Point Markup with Coordinate tools have been changed to display Map Grid of Australia 1994 coordinates (UTM coordinates), in line with the map centre coordinate displayed at the bottom right of the map, and the coordinate displayed in the Identify Report. Please note that it will not display the zone (eg 52, 53, 54) but is correctly calculating the coordinates even if your Measure points have crossed zone boundaries.

New monitoring data

The Beach Profile sample monitoring data is now available in the Identify Report for Beach Profile Points (Landscapes > Coast & Marine). The Identify Report displays all the dates the Profile Point has been sampled, and when the user selects the small box next to a date, the height information is displayed. Users can also select all profile points sampled in a particular year via the Select Using Query Builder option under the Select Tab.



Update 1 - May 2007

Overview

Some useful new features have been added to NatureMaps. Users can now download selected NatureMaps layers to an ESRI shapefile to use in GIS software for analysis with their own local datasets.

Users can now also quickly and easily view GPS points they have collected on NatureMaps, so they can assess their data in relation to other NatureMaps datasets and create map outputs for reports.

As part of an initiative to add more information as opposed to base data two new analysed layers are now available in NatureMaps. These layers identify the amount of native vegetation remaining (veg cover) and the amount of area of land managed for conservation (reservation) within the IBRA Subregions and Associations.

These and other improvements to NatureMaps are explained in more detail below:

New Functionality

New Analysed Layers

New Data Layers

Layer changes


New functionality

New Analysed Layers

The Interim Biogeographical Regionalisation of Australia (IBRA) provides a biogeographic framework for assessing biological priorities across the landscape. A GIS analysis was undertaken to identify within the IBRA Subregions and Associations the amount of native vegetation remaining (veg cover) and the amount of area of land managed for conservation (reservation). This can be used to identify what are the management issues within a biogeographic region or association.

New Data Layers

Layer changes

  • "Wetlands" changed to "Inventories", as this layer only contains Wetlands mapped during inventories, and moved into a new Wetlands folder under the Landscapes folder.

  • "Bookmark Biosphere" changed to "Biosphere Reserves" due to declaration of additional Biosphere Reserve.

  • IBRA Subregions and IBRA Associations (Landscapes > Land > IBRA folder) now have additional descriptive fields, eg soil, landform, vegetation, etc

  SA Central, Government of South Australia
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