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Farm Mapping
In
March 2003, the Department of Agriculture began the Farm Resource Mapping
project and employed a Farm Mapping Officer for the first time. This was set up
to provide farmers with a tool to aid the management of their land.
GPS units, outline farm maps and a tutorial on the process are available from
the DoA A farm map with accurate fencelines, paddock sizes, etc. is a key tool
for assisting in grazing management systems. Farmers can then use the
information to plan and budget for new fencing and pasture and cropping works.
Information other than fence lines can be recorded on a GPS unit and used in
farm maps, such as corrals, leads, water sources, ditches and areas of interest.
Four layers of data are commonly used when creating farm maps:
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External farm boundary data
collected by the Public Works Department Design Office, with an accuracy of one
metre or less
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Internal fence line data collected
by farmers using handheld GPS units, which have a maximum accuracy of four
metres
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A vegetation classification layer
with data supplied by two Landsat 7 Images (captured between January 2001 and
March 2002), processed at Queens University Belfast after ground truthing was
used to identify vegetation types. The Falkland Islands vegetation was divided
into nine broad vegetation classes. Vegetation classes are based on a number of
sample areas and this data was extrapolated to give Island wide vegetation
analysis. The images, one of East Falkland and one of West Falkland, have a
fifteen metre pixel resolution
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The fourth layer consists of
scanned images, digitally referenced, of the twenty nine Ordinance Survey maps
at 1:50,000 scale
DoA staff are further developing
and offering the mapping services for workshops, visiting specialists and the
Farm Improvement Programme.
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Boundary Map
Vegetation Map
Topography Map
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