Northern Territory Vegetation Site Database (VSD)

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:2024-04-25

Date Metadata Last Updated:2021-12-13

Current URL (HTML format) : http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=html&metadata_id=106CB8F612C2E339E050CD9B214430AB

Current URL (XML format) : http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=xml&metadata_id=106CB8F612C2E339E050CD9B214430AB

Citation

ANZLIC Identifier:106CB8F612C2E339E050CD9B214430AB

Title:Northern Territory Vegetation Site Database (VSD)

Citation Date:2009-01-01

Date Type:creation

Custodian:Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security

Description

Abstract:

The Vegetation Sites Database (VSD) is a vegetation and land information system for managing systematically collected site based data and point source records (i.e. threatened species). It is used to store information on the floristics and structure of site based surveys as well as both fine and broader scale environmental attributes. VSD accommodates data requirements of DEPWS and outside agencies (including environmental consultants). VSD has the ability to contain vegetation site data that has been collected for numerous purposes such as mapping, monitoring, habitat recognition, floristic inventory, rare and threatened species and development assessment.

Extracts from a range of data fields in the VSD database have been compiled into a single Northern Territory spatial dataset. This dataset will be regularly updated and is available to the public. The vegetation sites may be viewed and exported via NR Maps. https://nrmaps.nt.gov.au/nrmaps.html See folder: Vegetation.

ANZLIC Search Words:

biota

location

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:onGoing

Maintenance and Update Frequency:continual

Data Currency Start Date:2009-01-01

Data Currency End Date:2021-05-07

Access Constraint:The spatial point dataset may be downloaded via data.nt.gov.au/

You are licensed to use the geospatial products 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
If you do not agree to the terms and conditions you must not use the geospatial products.
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:

Supplied by the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security. Copyright Northern Territory Government.

Data Quality

Lineage:Information has been collected from general field surveys or targeted threatened species surveys.
The VSD database supersedes the RAVS database and has been expanded to include survey data from multiple contributors across the Department.

Positional Accuracy:Accuracy varies according to the source and age of the data - new data is typically accurate to 10m and most data is typically 100/1000 m. Some older records are rounded to nearest degree. The accuracy of a record is sometimes indicated in the 'Geometry Precision' field. The accuracy of all data needs to be treated with caution.

Attribute Accuracy:Detail varies from survey to survey. Not all data has been transcribed from field recordings on site sheets. Some old surveys did not collect the same information collected today but the sites have been included for completeness and awareness that a survey was conducted in that area.

Logical Consistency:

Completeness:VSD is updated intermittently following a field survey. The taxonomy is linked to the HOLTZE taxon table which is maintained by the Darwin North Australia Herbarium. Taxon name changes are dynamically updated where possible.
The extracted spatial dataset will be updated regularly for public access.

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

01. ID ID is an autogenerated unique identifier

02. SURVEYNAME Alias: Survey name
An agreed survey name entered into the VSD. For example: Upper Mary River Catchment. Mary River Resource Assessment and Degradation Survey.

03. SURVEYCODE Alias: Survey code
The survey code is an abbreviation of the survey name. For example: MRC

04. SITECODE Alias: Site code
A code is used to describe each site assessed as part of the survey. For example: 38

05. SITEDATE Alias: Site date
The date that the site information was described in the field. For example 16/04/2000

06. SITETYPE Alias: Site Type
value list: Bounded - circular, Bounded - square, Plotless, Point, Pop Genetics, Transect, Other.

07. SITEPHOTOS Alias: Site photos
Link to view the site photo. The image name is created using the values: SurveyCode, SiteCode, ObservationCode, AnyArbitary-string, ImageNo.

08. U_STRATUM Alias: Upper Stratum
Up to three dominant species for the upper stratum based on canopy cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

09. M_STRATUM Alias: Mid Stratum
Up to three dominant species for the mid stratum based on foliage projective cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

10. G_STRATUM Alias: Ground Stratum
Up to three dominant species for the ground stratum based on percentage cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

11. STRUCFORM Alias: Structural Formation
The structural formation is a description of the vegetation structure. It is auto generated by the growth form, cover and height of the dominant stratum. For example: low open woodland. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 2 - Structural Formation. Sometimes this field is generated by the ranking value applied to the dominant stratum when field data is not comprehensive.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

12. NVISLEVEL Alias: NVIS Level
NVIS level values: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4/5, Level 6. Additional values included in VSD are Dominant Species, Floristic Inventory, Species Specific, NO DATA, blank. The National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) framework is based on an information hierarchy of six levels and a structural classification system. The purpose of the hierarchy is to define and standardise structural and floristic map unit information, provide a framework for quality control and assurance of vegetation description information and generate outputs at various levels.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

13. NVISCODE Alias: NVIS Code
The NVIS code contains 3 parts: growth form, height class and cover class. For example T7i. T refers to growth form Tree; 7 is the height class code for tree range 10-30m; i refers to cover class code Foliage cover 10-30% - Crown cover 20-50% - Ground cover 10-30%.
Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)

14. PURPOSE Alias: Survey Purpose
value list: Biodiversity Survey, Development Assessment, Fire, Floristic Inventory, Habitat Recognition, Map Validation, Mapping, Monitoring, Other, Rare and Threatened Species, Weeds.

15. OBSCODE Alias: Observation Code
A department/division code either identical to the SITECODE (for example: 38) or for some surveys it is 'A'. For Surveys that are for monitoring purposes, the OBSCODE will be different to the SITECODE.

16. DISTURB Alias: Disturbance
Listing of disturbance types includes various animal species, gravel pit, fire, flood, erosion, gravel pit, tracks, wallows, weeds.

17. SOILSITE Alias: Soil Site
Has a soil site been described?
value: 1 = yes
value: blank = no

Refer to Speight (2009) Landform In: Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, CSIRO Publishing (Yellow Book)

18. LF_ELEMENT Alias: Landform Element
Landform element describes the land surface within a 20 metre radius of a site.
For example; the site is located on/by a stream channel (element) within a floodplain landform (pattern). Source SALI table: LANDFORM_ELEMENT_TYPE

18. LF_PATTERN Alias: Landform Pattern
Landform pattern describes the land surface usually within 300 metres of a site.
For example; the landform that the site is located on is a floodplain (pattern). Source SALI table: LANDFORM_PATT_TYPE

20. LF_EROS Alias: Erosional landform pattern
Erosional landform pattern records both accelerated erosion and natural erosion. For example; steep low hills 30-90m 3-10%.
Refer to Speight (2009) Landform In: Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, CSIRO Publishing (Yellow Book).
Source SALI table: LANDFORM_PATTERN_REL_MS (landform pattern based on relief and modal slope)

21. LATITUDE The Latitude value is the position of site location in geographic coordinates using datum GDA94 south of the equator. (the y coordinate) Coordinate format is decimal degrees. Example: -13.234567

22. LONGITUDE The Longitude value is the position of site location in Geographic coordinates using datum GDA94 east of the prime meridian. (the x coordinate) Coordinate format is decimal degrees. Example: 133.234567

23. PRECISION Alias: Geo precision (m)
A precision record notes the accuracy of the recorded site location. (metres)
Refer to VSD Manual Appendix 3 (Mackarous et al 2021)

24. AGENCY The Agency list includes the predecessor departments of DEPWS: NRETA, DLRM, DENR.
It also includes other NTG agencies i.e. DIPL and previous Commonwealth section NAQS and Environmental Consultants ENVIROCON.

25. DIVISION The Division value list includes the Divisions within each predecessor of the department DEPWS. For example: (LVA) Land Assessment Branch.
The individual Evironmental Consultants are also listed as Divisions. For example: ECOZ

Attribute	Attribute Description	Possible Code	Code Description
01. ID	ID is an autogenerated unique identifier
02. SURVEYNAME	Alias: Survey name An agreed survey name entered into the VSD. For example: Upper Mary River Catchment. Mary River Resource Assessment and Degradation Survey.
03. SURVEYCODE	Alias: Survey code The survey code is an abbreviation of the survey name. For example: MRC
04. SITECODE	Alias: Site code A code is used to describe each site assessed as part of the survey. For example: 38
05. SITEDATE	Alias: Site date The date that the site information was described in the field. For example 16/04/2000
06. SITETYPE	Alias: Site Type value list: Bounded - circular, Bounded - square, Plotless, Point, Pop Genetics, Transect, Other.
07. SITEPHOTOS	Alias: Site photos Link to view the site photo. The image name is created using the values: SurveyCode, SiteCode, ObservationCode, AnyArbitary-string, ImageNo.
08. U_STRATUM	Alias: Upper Stratum Up to three dominant species for the upper stratum based on canopy cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
09. M_STRATUM	Alias: Mid Stratum Up to three dominant species for the mid stratum based on foliage projective cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
10. G_STRATUM	Alias: Ground Stratum Up to three dominant species for the ground stratum based on percentage cover values or dominance rank. NOTE: this field is sometimes not completed as a result of the data collection method. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 5 - Association. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
11. STRUCFORM	Alias: Structural Formation The structural formation is a description of the vegetation structure. It is auto generated by the growth form, cover and height of the dominant stratum. For example: low open woodland. It is equivalent to an NVIS Level 2 - Structural Formation. Sometimes this field is generated by the ranking value applied to the dominant stratum when field data is not comprehensive. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
12. NVISLEVEL	Alias: NVIS Level NVIS level values: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4/5, Level 6. Additional values included in VSD are Dominant Species, Floristic Inventory, Species Specific, NO DATA, blank. The National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) framework is based on an information hierarchy of six levels and a structural classification system. The purpose of the hierarchy is to define and standardise structural and floristic map unit information, provide a framework for quality control and assurance of vegetation description information and generate outputs at various levels. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
13. NVISCODE	Alias: NVIS Code The NVIS code contains 3 parts: growth form, height class and cover class. For example T7i. T refers to growth form Tree; 7 is the height class code for tree range 10-30m; i refers to cover class code Foliage cover 10-30% - Crown cover 20-50% - Ground cover 10-30%. Refer to NT Guidelines and Field Methodology for Vegetation Survey and Mapping. (Brocklehurst et al 2007)
14. PURPOSE	Alias: Survey Purpose value list: Biodiversity Survey, Development Assessment, Fire, Floristic Inventory, Habitat Recognition, Map Validation, Mapping, Monitoring, Other, Rare and Threatened Species, Weeds.
15. OBSCODE	Alias: Observation Code A department/division code either identical to the SITECODE (for example: 38) or for some surveys it is 'A'. For Surveys that are for monitoring purposes, the OBSCODE will be different to the SITECODE.
16. DISTURB	Alias: Disturbance Listing of disturbance types includes various animal species, gravel pit, fire, flood, erosion, gravel pit, tracks, wallows, weeds.
17. SOILSITE	Alias: Soil Site Has a soil site been described? value: 1 = yes value: blank = no Refer to Speight (2009) Landform In: Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, CSIRO Publishing (Yellow Book)
18. LF_ELEMENT	Alias: Landform Element Landform element describes the land surface within a 20 metre radius of a site. For example; the site is located on/by a stream channel (element) within a floodplain landform (pattern). Source SALI table: LANDFORM_ELEMENT_TYPE
18. LF_PATTERN	Alias: Landform Pattern Landform pattern describes the land surface usually within 300 metres of a site. For example; the landform that the site is located on is a floodplain (pattern). Source SALI table: LANDFORM_PATT_TYPE
20. LF_EROS	Alias: Erosional landform pattern Erosional landform pattern records both accelerated erosion and natural erosion. For example; steep low hills 30-90m 3-10%. Refer to Speight (2009) Landform In: Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook, CSIRO Publishing (Yellow Book). Source SALI table: LANDFORM_PATTERN_REL_MS (landform pattern based on relief and modal slope)
21. LATITUDE	The Latitude value is the position of site location in geographic coordinates using datum GDA94 south of the equator. (the y coordinate) Coordinate format is decimal degrees. Example: -13.234567
22. LONGITUDE	The Longitude value is the position of site location in Geographic coordinates using datum GDA94 east of the prime meridian. (the x coordinate) Coordinate format is decimal degrees. Example: 133.234567
23. PRECISION	Alias: Geo precision (m) A precision record notes the accuracy of the recorded site location. (metres) Refer to VSD Manual Appendix 3 (Mackarous et al 2021)
24. AGENCY	The Agency list includes the predecessor departments of DEPWS: NRETA, DLRM, DENR. It also includes other NTG agencies i.e. DIPL and previous Commonwealth section NAQS and Environmental Consultants ENVIROCON.
25. DIVISION	The Division value list includes the Divisions within each predecessor of the department DEPWS. For example: (LVA) Land Assessment Branch. The individual Evironmental Consultants are also listed as Divisions. For example: ECOZ

Supplementary Information

References:

Brocklehurst P, Lewis D, Napier D, Lynch D (2007) Northern Territory guidelines and field methodology for vegetation survey and mapping (Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, Darwin).
Download from NT Library: hdl.handle.net/10070/237908

Lewis, D., Brocklehurst, B. & Napier, D. (2007). Technical Specifications for Vegetation Map Unit Core Attributes. Technical Report No. 15/2007D. Department of Natural Resources Environment and the Arts, Palmerston, Northern Territory.
Download from NT Library: hdl.handle.net/10070/228504

Lewis, D., Brocklehurst, B. & Napier, D. (2007). Technical Specifications for Vegetation Map Unit Core Attributes. Technical Report No. 15/2007D. Department of Natural Resources Environment and the Arts, Palmerston, Northern Territory.
Download report: hdl.handle.net/10070/228504

Lewis, D. Brocklehurst, P., Milne, D., Cowie, I. & Cuff, N. (2021). Overview and compatibility of Northern Territory plot-based vegetation data with the National Vegetation Classification System and future vegetation typologies. Australian Journal of Botany.
Download report: doi.org/10.1071/BT20031

National Vegetation Information System (NVIS)
www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/australian-vegetation-attribute-manual-version-7

Mackarous, K., Lewis, D., Nugraeni N., Milne, D. (2020) Northern Territory Vegetation Site Database User Manual (NTVSD). Technical Report xx/2021. Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security, Palmerston, Northern Territory.

Soil and Land Information System (SALI) - refer to metadata record www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/metadata/export_data?type=html&metadata_id=2DBCB771214A06B6E040CD9B0F274EFE.
The soil sites may be viewed in NR Maps. https://nrmaps.nt.gov.au/nrmaps.html See location: Land > Land Resources > Soils.

Speight, J. G. (2009) Landform. In: McDonald, R. C., Isbell, R. F., Speight, J. G., Walker, J. & Hopkins, M. S. Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook. Second Edition (Yellow Book). CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, pp. 15-72.

Thackway R, Neldner VJ, Bolton MP (2008/9) Australian Soil and Land Survey Handbook: Guidelines for Surveying Soil and Land Resources. (Eds McKenzie NJ, Grundy MJ, Webster R, Ringrose-Voase AJ) (CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne).

This record maintained using the NTLIS Metadata Tool

Metadata : Northern Territory Vegetation Site Database (VSD)