ABSTRACT
Consider the situation where a resource manager has a range of spatial information. The information may include elevation, slope and aspect data, soil classes, individual site soil tests, current landownership, drainage and water features, current and historical landuse, the road and rail transport corridors in the area and the power and telephone lines in the area, some of which are depicted in Figure 6.1. Different subsets of this information are used to address different issues. To promote the use of a particular fertiliser requires information on landuse history, soils and land ownership, to locate those farmers that are the target client group. Alternatively, the manager may wish to select a route for a road, power or telecommunications line through an area, where the cost of construction is a function of soil type, topography, water obstacles and land values, as could be assessed from landuse. Integration of these factors will indicate potential corridors that can then be assessed in more detailed analysis. Clearly, each management issue will use a different subset of the available information but there will often be overlaps in the subsets required to address the different questions posed both within the one area of resource management, and across different resource management disciplines.
