Northern Territory Land Systems

Index:

Metadata
Citation
Description

Dataset Status
Data Quality
Contact Information
Data Dictionary
Supplementary Information

Metadata Details:

Name:AS/NZS ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata, ANZLIC Metadata Profile

Version:1.0

Date Metadata Extracted:2024-11-24

Date Metadata Last Updated:2024-11-12

Current URL (HTML format) : http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=html&metadata_id=E8F8BF2C5667C33DE040CD9B214425A6

Current URL (XML format) : http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=xml&metadata_id=E8F8BF2C5667C33DE040CD9B214425A6

Citation

ANZLIC Identifier:E8F8BF2C5667C33DE040CD9B214425A6

Title: Northern Territory Land Systems

Citation Date:2013-10-18

Date Type:creation

Custodian:Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security

Description

Abstract:

This spatial dataset is a compilation of the Northern Land Systems (scale 1:250 000) and the Southern Land Systems (scale 1:1 000 000).

Land Systems of the Northern Part of the Northern Territory is an amalgamation of 16 existing Land System surveys with modifications to some of the original interpretations. This land system dataset is the Northern Territory contribution to ASRIS (Australian Soil Resource Information System) national soils database at scale 1:250,000.

Land Systems of the Southern Part of the NT (scale 1:1,000,000) is a compilation of 3 existing Land System surveys and the Atlas of Australian Soils (scale 1:2,000,000). It covers the southern part (approx 70%) of the Northern Territory. Published maps were made digital and edited to accommodate overlaps, gaps and mismatching boundaries. Where possible, the land system descriptions have been extrapolated into areas covered by the broader scale Atlas mapping.

The land resource polygons were also aggregated into a separate dataset based on the field, ORIGINAL_SURVEY. Addtional details about the original land resource surveys were added to each record, including a link to the metadata and the technical reports. The dataset is called NTLS_1M_SURVEY_SOURCE.

ANZLIC Search Words:

biota

environment

geoscientificInformation

imageryBaseMapsEarthCover

Spatial Domain:

Bounding Coordinates:

North Bounding Coordinate:-10

South Bounding Coordinate:-26

East Bounding Coordinate:138

West Bounding Coordinate:129

Dataset Status

Dataset ID:

Language:English

Character Set: Latin 1

Progress:completed

Maintenance and Update Frequency:notPlanned

Data Currency Start Date:2011-01-01

Data Currency End Date:2013-10-18

Access Constraint:
Download the spatial data package (contains spatial data, maps and reports) via data.nt.gov.au/

You are licensed to use this Northern Territory Government geospatial product on the terms and conditions set out in: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC BY 4.0) at: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the licensed material, provided that you abide by the licence terms (including Attribution) and attribute the licensed material using the statement:

Copyright Northern Territory Government.

Data Quality

Lineage:NORTH: Land system surveys (1:250,000) have been undertaken in the NT since 1961. These surveys involved mapping boundaries on aerial photographs, collection and collation of extensive field information and ultimately the production of a report and series of maps. In some cases these surveys were very specific to their particular project area and no correlation was made with previous or adjoining work. In amalgamating these surveys modifications to some of the original interpretations has been necessary. There are currently 351 land systems that describe the northern part of the Northern Territory. 257 of these have been taken from published reports, the other 94 have been drafted from other sources and in many cases are interim designations.

SOUTH: Land system surveys (1:1,000,000) have been undertaken in the NT since the 1940's. These surveys involved mapping boundaries on aerial photographs, collection and collation of extensive field information and ultimately the production of a report and series of maps. In some cases these surveys were very specific to their particular project area and no correlation was made with previous or adjoining work. In amalgamating these surveys modifications to some of the original interpretations has been necessary. There are currently 203 land systems that describe the southern part of the Northern Territory. 55 of these are sourced from the Atlas of Australian Soils dataset (1:2,000,000).

Positional Accuracy:The legacy of inaccuracies associated with capturing historical paper mapping is still very much a feature of this coverage. Mapping boundaries have been scanned and digitised from paper maps. When overlain on a satellite image, the intention of the mapped boundaries is apparent, although the positional accuracy is still dependent on original map product.

Attribute Accuracy:Many of the original Land System maps were only attributed with a mapunit (generally an abbreviation of the land system name from the accompanying report).
The attribution of the Northern and Southern land system datasets continues to be a time intensive process involving repetitive perusal of published reports. A number of general purpose fields have been added to the coverage to add to its versatility and purpose, as well as keep account of its derivation and various modifications to it. Some of these are incomplete or still in progress.

Attribute values, as described in the Data Dictionary below, have been added to each polygon.

Logical Consistency:GIS editing tools were used to rectify all overshoots and undershoots in line work. Polygon topology rules applied are; must not overlap, must not have gaps and each polygon has only one label.

Completeness:Complete

Contacts

Name Organisation Position Role Phone Fax Email

Data Requests Officer Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security Geospatial Services Branch (on behalf of department) distributor datarequests.depws@nt.gov.au

Name	Organisation	Position	Role	Phone	Fax	Email
Data Requests Officer	Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security	Geospatial Services Branch (on behalf of department)	distributor			datarequests.depws@nt.gov.au

Data Dictionary

Attribute Attribute Description Possible Code Code Description

ACID_S_S Alias field name: Acid Sulphate Soils
Occurrence of acid sulfate (sulphate) soils Common occurrence Common occurrence of acid sulphate soils on tidal flats, coastal floodplains and some coastal sandplains

Minor occurrence Minor occurrence of acid sulphate soils on coastal sandplains and dunefields

CLASS Alias field name: Landscape Class
The landscape class is based on the geomorphological groupings used in some of the land system reports. These have been derived by grouping land systems based on a combination of the underlying geology, landform and landscape forming processes. CLASS (landscape class) provides a brief summary description useful for map production. A more detailed description is provided in CLASS_DESC (Landscape class description)

CLASS_DESC Alias field name: Landscape Class Description
The landscape class description is based on the geomorphological groupings used in some of the land system reports. These have been derived by grouping land systems based on a combination of the underlying geology

COMP_ID Alias: Compilation Identifier
Department code to describe the 2 existing compilation datasets, NORTH_250 and SOUTH_1M.

COMP_SOURCE Alias: Compilation Data Source
This survey is made up from 2 existing compilation datasets, Northern Land Systems (NORTH_250) and Southern Land Systems (SOUTH_1M).

GEO_ZONE Alias field name: Interim Geomorphic Zone.
This regionalisation is a revisit of some of the earlier options of the IBRA regions using the current land system mapping. It is based on surficial landscape features (geology, landform and soil) and where possible distinct landscape demarcations (escarpments, geology) have been used to align the boundaries with features that are generally recognisable on the ground. In most cases there should be good correlation with the intent of the IBRA regions, which incorporate additional ecological information.

LANDFORM Alias: Landform Description for the Landsystem

LANDSYSTEM Alias field name: Land System
Name of land system. This is the current name of the land system. Generally these are the names used in the original work although some modifications have been necessary to facilitate the amalgamation the various projects.

MAPUNIT Alias field name: Map Unit
This is the current revised code to provide symbols for legends in map production. Generally these are an abbreviation of the land system name, except for the Gulf and Roper surveys. Many of these have been modified from the originals to resolve duplication of some symbols.

ORIGSURVEY Alias field name: Original Survey
The name of the original land resource survey that the polygon is sourced from.

ORIG_LS Alias field name: Original Land System

ORIG_MU Alias field name: Original Mapunit

ORIG_SCALE Alias field name: Original Scale
The mapping scale has been set to a standard scale of 1:250,000. The mapping for the Darwin region, Cobourg Peninsula, Katherine Gorge (1:100,000) and Port Keats (approx.. 1:150,000) have been considered to be equivalent to the majority of the remaining mapping scale. Statements on mapping accuracies are not available, but an indication of the intent and accuracy of the mapping boundaries can be judged when overlain on satellite imagery (Google Earth).

SOIL_ASC Alias: Soil ASC Description
General description of the main soils according to the more recent Australian Soil Classification System (ASC)

SOIL_ORIG Alias: Soil Original Description
This is a general description of the main soils within the land system; includes general terminology and various classification systems that were used at the time of the original project

SURVEY_ID Alias: Survey Identifier
A department code used for storage purposes (often refers to the first five characters in the field soil sheets).

SURVEY_NME Alias: Survey Name
The full name of the spatial dataset.

VEGETATION Alias: Vegetation Description
General description of the vegetation community or communities within the land system.

Attribute	Attribute Description	Possible Code	Code Description
ACID_S_S	Alias field name: Acid Sulphate Soils Occurrence of acid sulfate (sulphate) soils	Common occurrence	Common occurrence of acid sulphate soils on tidal flats, coastal floodplains and some coastal sandplains
		Minor occurrence	Minor occurrence of acid sulphate soils on coastal sandplains and dunefields
CLASS	Alias field name: Landscape Class The landscape class is based on the geomorphological groupings used in some of the land system reports. These have been derived by grouping land systems based on a combination of the underlying geology, landform and landscape forming processes. CLASS (landscape class) provides a brief summary description useful for map production. A more detailed description is provided in CLASS_DESC (Landscape class description)
CLASS_DESC	Alias field name: Landscape Class Description The landscape class description is based on the geomorphological groupings used in some of the land system reports. These have been derived by grouping land systems based on a combination of the underlying geology
COMP_ID	Alias: Compilation Identifier Department code to describe the 2 existing compilation datasets, NORTH_250 and SOUTH_1M.
COMP_SOURCE	Alias: Compilation Data Source This survey is made up from 2 existing compilation datasets, Northern Land Systems (NORTH_250) and Southern Land Systems (SOUTH_1M).
GEO_ZONE	Alias field name: Interim Geomorphic Zone. This regionalisation is a revisit of some of the earlier options of the IBRA regions using the current land system mapping. It is based on surficial landscape features (geology, landform and soil) and where possible distinct landscape demarcations (escarpments, geology) have been used to align the boundaries with features that are generally recognisable on the ground. In most cases there should be good correlation with the intent of the IBRA regions, which incorporate additional ecological information.
LANDFORM	Alias: Landform Description for the Landsystem
LANDSYSTEM	Alias field name: Land System Name of land system. This is the current name of the land system. Generally these are the names used in the original work although some modifications have been necessary to facilitate the amalgamation the various projects.
MAPUNIT	Alias field name: Map Unit This is the current revised code to provide symbols for legends in map production. Generally these are an abbreviation of the land system name, except for the Gulf and Roper surveys. Many of these have been modified from the originals to resolve duplication of some symbols.
ORIGSURVEY	Alias field name: Original Survey The name of the original land resource survey that the polygon is sourced from.
ORIG_LS	Alias field name: Original Land System
ORIG_MU	Alias field name: Original Mapunit
ORIG_SCALE	Alias field name: Original Scale The mapping scale has been set to a standard scale of 1:250,000. The mapping for the Darwin region, Cobourg Peninsula, Katherine Gorge (1:100,000) and Port Keats (approx.. 1:150,000) have been considered to be equivalent to the majority of the remaining mapping scale. Statements on mapping accuracies are not available, but an indication of the intent and accuracy of the mapping boundaries can be judged when overlain on satellite imagery (Google Earth).
SOIL_ASC	Alias: Soil ASC Description General description of the main soils according to the more recent Australian Soil Classification System (ASC)
SOIL_ORIG	Alias: Soil Original Description This is a general description of the main soils within the land system; includes general terminology and various classification systems that were used at the time of the original project
SURVEY_ID	Alias: Survey Identifier A department code used for storage purposes (often refers to the first five characters in the field soil sheets).
SURVEY_NME	Alias: Survey Name The full name of the spatial dataset.
VEGETATION	Alias: Vegetation Description General description of the vegetation community or communities within the land system.

Supplementary Information

Department Survey Code: Land Systems NTLS_1M
Compilation Source: Northern Land Systems (NORTH_250) and Southern Land Systems (SOUTH_1M)
Metadata NORTH_250: www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=html&metadata_id=8E85C28F9C9285EBE040CD9B21447F57
Metadata SOUTH_1M: www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=html&metadata_id=A80055845E20EFA5E040CD9B21441034

NORTH_250 A technical report (18.5 mb) and also a summary of the land system descriptions (1.3 mb) may be downloaded (pdf) from the Northern Territory Library; hdl.handle.net/10070/253063
Bibliographic References: Lynch B., Cuff N., Green C. (Oct, 2012); Summary of the Origin and Derivation of the 1:250,000 Land System Descriptions for the Northern Part of the Northern Territory, DRAFT.; Land Resource Assessment Unit, Department of Land Resource Management, Palmerston, Northern Territory

For more information about ASRIS, www.asris.csiro.au/index_ie.html

This record maintained using the NTLIS Metadata Tool

Metadata : Northern Territory Land Systems