Mapping the South Pennine Grasslands

Through my volunteering at West Yorkshire Ecology, I got the chance to get involved in a short project with them.  They have the task of mapping the Yorkshire side of the South Pennines National Character Area (36) to identify where grasslands are. 

A couple of other volunteers are also involved in the project, as there are several hundred square kilometers to map. On Friday we had a session together, which was really useful as it introduced us to the project and the MapInfo workspace we will be working with.  It was great to have a refresher on MapInfo as I have not used it since I left the Wildlife Trust, and also nice to meet some of the other volunteers as we usually work on different days.

The task is simple: for this first stage of the project, we are digitising part of the 1990 Phase 1 habitat survey that was done across the UK.  This original paper map is currently a flat image and can't be searched, manipulated or modelled.  For the project, we are combining two map 'layers' and creating a new one that can be used interactively.  The first layer is simply a picture of the Phase 1 survey results - on the screen shot below, this shows as the mainly orange-brown colours with notations. The second layer is a more recent, digital version showing the topography and field boundaries.  I have made these lines bright blue so they are easy to see.

The third layer - the one I am creating - is shown in white with the dotted pattern.  This started as a blank canvas, and I have to copy the shape of each field/area from the topography layer, and then annotate the notes - using the information from the underlying Phase 1 map - to show what habitat this shape represents.  You can see in the 'Info Tool' screen that I have created an area of Semi Improved Neutral Grassland, which has habitat code B2.2.

It is fairly easy to do, but the challenge comes when the areas on the topography map don't align to those on the Phase 1 map, or there are different habitat types annotated within one topographic boundary.  Then I get to test my MapInfo skills further by manipulating the shapes or creating new ones to make sure the representation is as accurate as possible.

At the moment, my new map layer is just showing as white where I have digitised the information. Once complete, a theme will be applied to the map. Using the Phase 1 habitat codes, it will automatically colour in the map so that it looks like the underlying picture. However, although it may look very similar once finished, the digitised version will be much more useful as it can be used to gather information about the coverage of each habitat type, and can be used to model different environmental project scenarios.

I'm pleased to be involved as it keeps my mapping skills up-to-date and contributes to a large and interesting project.