Authoritative, comprehensive information on Tasmania's natural values
About
The
Natural Values Atlas offers an easy to use web interface which provides access to authoritative and comprehensive natural values information. It draws together, in one centralised location, data on Tasmanian flora and fauna including threatened species and weeds as well as Tasmanian geodiversity and soil survey data. It also incorporates access to other essential data sets such as TASVEG and Threatened Communities. The Natural Values Atlas is a supported information tool that ensures knowledge about Tasmania's valuable natural assets is readily available and quickly obtained. This information informs planning and decision making processes across all levels of government, industry and the general public, assisting to improve conservation outcomes for natural values in the State.
Photographers: Philip Herron, Adam Smith & Oberon Carter
Species
The Natural Values Atlas allows observations of plants and animals from various sources to be viewed, recorded and analysed. It can be used to search for information on over 50,000 plant and animal species from Tasmania, Australia and can display maps showing their location and extent. There are currently around 4.1 million observations of plants and animals recorded in the Natural Values Atlas which have been collected by a variety of custodians. This information has been generated through general species surveys and projects undertaken for scientific research, environmental assessments and other purposes throughout the State since the 1800's.
The application maintains species taxonomy, attributes and conservation values and provides access to images, related web sites and management documents such as listing statements and recovery plans. Range Boundaries are also available for a number of high priority threatened fauna species. Information sourced from monitoring individual flora and fauna species is accessible as well as samples and analysis which allows information about samples that are associated with an observation to be recorded and tracked.
Vegetation
The Natural Values Atlas provides users access to a number of vegetation community data sets including the TASVEG statewide vegetation map, the Threatened Native Vegetation Communities data and vegetation condition assessments. Users can also use The Natural Values Atlas can now enable users submit suggested changes to the TASVEG mapping via the TASVEG notification service, and provides an interface for entry of Vegetation Condition Assessment (VCA) data.
Geodiversity
The Natural Values Atlas can be used to find and download information about sites that are listed in the
Tasmanian Geodiversty Database either for their geology, geomorphology or soil conservation values. The database contains descriptions of the sites and the geodiverstiy values they encompass, their significance to conservation, sensitivity to disturbance, and advice as to appropriate site management. The Natural Values Atlas can display maps showing the location and extent of sites.
Soils
Natural Values Atlas users can search for, view and download data about soil research sites contained in the NVA Soils Database. The database contains descriptions of over 6000 soil sites and information about the characteristics of the soils at those sites.
Locations
Locations and activities are another important area of the Natural Values Atlas which provide access to data about locations where activities are being undertaken to control, monitor, manage or maintain natural values. Examples include 1080 baits, traps, nests, nest boxes and monitoring plots.
Photographers: Adam Smith Projects
All data stored in the Natural Values Atlas is organised under a Project. This component of the Natural Values Atlas contains information regarding the custodian responsible for the project, specific project details such as the people involved in the project or the methodology used to collect the data. Associated reports, links and images can also be found in this area. It provides metadata for each project data set.
Conservation Information System
The Conservation Information System (CIS) contains data that assists with conservation planning at the landscape scale. The CIS Conservation Analysis interface allows you to apply your own weightings for a particular conservation value to create a map of areas that have a high density of the natural values of interest.
Natural Values Reports
Natural Values Reports enable multiple data sets to be brought together in the one integrated document providing a resource that can be used for desktop assessments of natural values for specific areas. Some of the data sets which can be incorporated into the Natural Values Report include:
raptor nest locations,
threatened species records,
other species of conservation significance,
weed data,
geodiversity sites,
TASVEG communities,
threatened vegetation communities,
the
Tasmanian Reserve Estate,
prescribed burning advice, and
some identified biosecurity risks.
Separate Raptor Reports which detail raptor nest locations and nest observations are also available as well as a Biosecurity Report that details selected biosecurity values, threats and mitigation options so that biosecurity risk for an area can be easily assessed.
Quality Assurance
New data is loaded into the Natural Values Atlas daily and existing data is regularly reviewed and updated as required. All data in the Natural Values Atlas is carefully scrutinized by the NVA team who draw on the support of relevant experts to ensure that the data is of the highest quality. This is an ongoing task for which the NVA team welcomes feedback and input from NVA users to continually improve the quality of the data.
The NVA is supported by Metadata and Business Rules. These are available from within the NVA or on request. The Natural Values Atlas undergoes constant review and improvement where existing functionality is streamlined and new functionality is added as required. New versions are regularly released. The Natural Values Atlas Message Board informs users of changes to the system.
How to access the Natural Values Atlas
Go to www.naturalvaluesatlas.tas.gov.au and select the Register button. Fill in and submit the form. You should receive an email with a link which allows you to activate your account.
Simplified species observation information is available via theLIST
Management and conservation advice on Tasmania's threatened species is is available via the Threatened Species Link. Observation data presented in the Threatened Species Link is derived from the Natural Values Atlas database.
Natural Values Atlas Newsletter
The NVA team produce a newsletter twice a year. The newsletter aims to inform current and potential users of NVA system changes/upgrades, significant new data additions, user tips and other news relating to natural values management in Tasmania.
NVA Newsletter Summer 2022 (PDF 596Kb)
NVA Newsletter Summer 2021 (PDF 667Kb)
NVA Newsletter Winter 2020 (PDF 509Kb)
NVA Newsletter Winter 2019 (PDF 797Kb)
NVA Newsletter Summer 2019 (PDF 466Kb)
Support
There is online help embedded in the Natural Values Atlas which instructs users on how to operate the database and make use of the various functions available. If you would like further help or advice, or you are interested in attending a training session then please contact the NVA team to find out what is available.