Rainforest Mapping for state-wide Victoria

dataset: RAINFOR
This layer identifies areas mapped as rainforest communities across Victoria. It involved a combination of modelling, using Sentinel satellite composites, species distribution modelling and interpretation and interpretation of high resolution extent of Rainforest across Victoria, excluding the Strzelecki Ranges. Within the Strzelecki Ranges, extent and type have been modelled but these outputs are yet to be confirmedand checked against high resolution aerial photography. The layer identifies five classes of rainforest community: 1. Cool Temperate Rainforest 2. Dry Rainforest 3. Gallery Rainforest 4. Littoral Rainforest 5. Warm Termperate Rainforest
 
Citation proposal Citation proposal
(2020)

Rainforest Mapping for state-wide Victoria

Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning
 

Description

Title
Rainforest Mapping for state-wide Victoria 
Alternate title
RAINFOR 
Resource Type
Dataset  
Purpose
All rainforest communities must be protected from threatening processes such as timber harvesting and fire management activities. Forest Planners across Government and non-Government organisations are encouraged to utilise this new data as part of their risk management plans to protect rainforest communities. For areas of modelled rainforest that have been mapped outside of the formal Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system; forest management planners will need to confirm in the field the presence and extent of the rainforest community prior to any forest or fire management activity commencing. The data provided within RAINFOR is a modelled extent of rainforest based upon the spectral characteristics extractable from the Sentinel satellite imagery. The data has been Quality Assured through a supervised assessment of the classification result to ensure that communities have identified and mapped accurately 
Supplemental Information
Current Design Issues: The layer identifies five classes of rainforest community: 1. Cool Temperate Rainforest 2. Dry Rainforest 3. Gallery Rainforest 4. Littoral Rainforest 5. Warm Termperate Rainforest Related Documents: None 
Status
Completed  
 
 

Temporal

Time period
2018-10-312019-05-30 
 
 

Spatial

Spatial representation type
Vector  
Code
4283 
Description
General - Victoria 
N
S
E
W


 

 

Maintenance

Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned  
 
 

Format

 
 

Contacts

  Point of contact

Cited responsible party  

No information provided.

Cited responsible party  

No information provided.

Cited responsible party  

No information provided.
 
 

Keywords

Topic category
  • Biota
 
 

Resource Constraints

Use limitation
. 
Classification
Unclassified  
 
 

Lineage

Statement
Dataset Source: Sentinel imagery Dataset Originality: Primary 
Description
Collection Method: Model derived from Satellite imagery 
Description
TBA 
 
 

Metadata Constraints

Classification
Unclassified  
 
 

Quality

Attribute Quality
Comments
In this project the modelling has essentially been used to highlight and identify places that may support rainforest and warrant further checking or `truthing' using high resolution aerial photography. As such, the success or otherwise of the modelling is partially qualitative as it relates to `efficient searching' and spatial precision in a context of and elevated sensitivity to false absence or missing extant rainforest stands. In general, the model over predicted the extent of rainforest, misclassifying significant areas of various vegetation types including but not exclusive to, non-Eucalypt dominated vegetation, particularly mesophyll shrublands, urban gardens and exotic broadleaf trees in rural areas, Acacia stands (particularly those dominated by Blackthorn Acacia silvestris), tree-fern dominated gullies and myrtaceous shrublands associated with streams and swamps. These were removed through the hand editing process, but significant regions of these types persist in the modelled rainforest extent in the Strzelecki Ranges. 
Positional Accuracy
Comments
10m 
Conceptual Consistency
Comments
Not Applicable 
Missing Data
Comments
State-wide Victoria Completeness Verification: The extent of rainforest in the Strzelecki Ranges is the only area of the state that hasnt been verified. No field validation of this dataset has been undertaken to date. 
Excess Data
Comments
The Sentinel rainforest products are based on spectral supervised classifications. The training data for rainforest presence were obtained using Aerial Photographic Interpretation (API) with locations selected using contemporary imagery, informed by previous mapping. Rainforest absence data were derived from both the allocation of random or background absence and the deliberate placement of a significant number (around 10,000 in Eastern Victoria and 3000 in the Otway Ranges) of absences in a range of forest types including plantations and regrowth and many within 50 m of the rainforest training polygons. The latter were included accurately render the rainforest, sclerophyll forest boundary. In all, approximately 247,000 training sites were supplied to the eastern Victorian rainforest model comprising approximately 55,000 rainforest sites. The Otway Ranges model was informed by approximately 17,000 training sites, 2,300 of which were Rainforest sites. These training data became `targets' in the respective models. 
 
 

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