Land use mapping procedures are outlined in the Guidelines for land use mapping in Australia; principles, procedures and definitions, 4th edition and the Addendum to the Guidelines for land use mapping in Australia: principles, procedures and definitions, 4th Edition. These guidelines provide procedure for planning and performing land use mapping at catchment scale.
Firstly, ancillary datasets are acquired, including reserves and administrative boundaries, cadastre, infrastructure and utilities, hydrology, transport and vegetation. These datasets are then spatially analysed and interpreted with imagery and verification and validation with expert knowledge through stakeholder engagements and field visits.
The development of a modelling process to partially create the dataset allows a repeatable process for future iterations of land use mapping. The land use mapping coverage is available for mixed dates at a scale that varies according to the intensity of land use activities and landscape context.
The dataset structure, as shown below, is specified by Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP) and provides information about prime land use, commodity type, primary source of information (scale, date, data type, and confidence) and other comments.
Dataset Structure
| Attribute | Formata | Description | Example |
| Lu_coden | I 5 5 | Numerical ALUM land use code | 331 |
| Lu_code | C 8 8 | ALUM land use code | 3.3.1 |
| Lu_description | C 45 45 | Description of land use | Cereals |
| Commod_code (optional) | C 8 8 | Commodity code (no standardised list currently available – jurisdictions could use own codes that align with the commodity description) | |
| Commod_desc | C 50 50 | Commodity description | wheat |
| Commod_code2 (optional) | C 8 8 | Commodity code 2 (no standardised list currently available – jurisdictions could use own codes that align with the commodity description) | |
| Commod_desc2 (optional) | C 50 50 | Commodity description 2 | sheep meat |
| Manage_code (optional) | C 8 8 | Management code (no standardised list currently available – jurisdictions could use own codes that align with the management description) | |
| Manage_desc (optional) | C 50 50 | Management description | cropping rotational |
| Manage_code2 (optional) | C 8 8 | Management code (no standardised list currently available – jurisdictions could use own codes that align with the management description) | |
| Manage_desc2 (optional) | C 50 50 | Management description | residues heavily grazed |
| Comments | C 100 100 | Any other comments on land use (can include multiple use uncertainties, classification decisions) | Dorper sheep grazing wheat stubble |
| Source_scale | C 8 8 | Scale of source data | 1:100 000 |
| Source_date | D 8 10 | Date of spatial feature (e.g. image date, air photo date, ancillary data date) | 01/01/2011 (day/month/year) |
| Source_data | C 50 50 | Source data (e.g. field mapping, local knowledge, ancillary dataset, air photo, imagery) | SPOT 5 imagery |
| Confidence | B 4 5 | Confidence in classification of attribute | 1 = Very confident 2 = Confident 3 = Reasonably confident 4 = Not very confident |
| Luc_date | D 8 10 | Date of land use code | 01/01/2011 (day/month/year) |
| [xxxxxx] | [xxxxx] | [Other attributes as required] | |