The Proposal

	Project Summary
	Study Site
	Project Objectives
	Nature of Problem/Issues to be Addressed
	Approach and Methods

Project Summary

We will create, using geographic information systems (GIS) and virtual reality (VR) technology, a portable environment for landscape simulation which allows stakeholders to propose alternative land cover configurations, walk/drive/fly through realistic renderings of teh consequent landscape and review outcomes on a variety of environmental, economic and social scales. This will be possible in an individual or group decision making situation. People will sketch changes onto maps or aerial photographs, or directly manipulate landscape elements in 3D view. These changes will be analysed using simplified models to determine probable consequences of the changes (eg. jobs, amenity, water quality and quantity). People can then determine if the probable changes accord with their values and adjust the extent or nature of the change accordingly. Using questionnaires and a series of community workshops we will also learn a great deal about local landscape knowledge and values and the effects that clear presentation of options may have on learning and understanding.
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Study Site

Cudgewa Valley, North-eastern Victoria

Project Objectives

1. To develop a computer system linking geographic information systems, virtual environment technology and new techniques for the input of land use change options.
2. integrate environmental, economic and demographic data, existing scientific knowledge and local knowledge with the technology to produce a virtual landscape simualation environment which will allow communities to express their values and explore the consequences of land use change.
3. To develop additional procedures for eliciting and integrating values and choices from individual and groups in a public foum.
4. To better understand the dynamic relationship between landscape change and personal values and hence provide assistance in learning and understanding landscape interactions.
5. To apply the tools and demonstrate their effectiveness in a case study in NE Victoria.

Nature of Problem/Issue to be Addressed

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The Australian landscape is shaped by the values of the inhabitants. The coming era of landscape change will be no exception. There is growing recognition that the landscape provides multiple benefits - water, biodiversity, recreation, aesthetics - and people's values change with their changing perceptions and understanding of the landscape. Yet their values can remain inappropriate to the fragility of the environment. The complex interaction between values and outcomes is clear in the current need to address salinity and water quality issues through landscape change and the associated social and economic implications.

The proposed case study area in north-eastern Victoria is of national significance since the landscapes of the Murray (Vic and NSW), Ovens and Kiewa catchments supply over 50% of the entire fresh water to the Murray-Darling Basin. In this, and many areas of the country, livestock production is the dominant enterprise. However, there is pressure for change in many areas as tourism and lifestyle development push land prices higher or forestry becomes more economic. As a result, both the structure of rural communities and the visual landscape will change markedly in the next 20 years. This change, which cannot be deferred indefinitely, should also not be purely driven by economic necessity without consideration of both local and wider community values - that is people's expectations for the visual character of the region and for its environmental health.

Individual and community values are also often poorly communicated and understood. This project will develop, using geographic information systems and virtual reality technology, techniques that help people learn about their local landscape, examine the consequences of application of their own values (or those of others) and support informed decisions about land use. Identification of community perceptions and values will also help to contribute to policy development at all levels of policy making, from the catchment to the nation.

Approach and Methods

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Understand the nature and consequences of land use change can be approached though the publication of reports, maps and statistics. This approach is often adequate for communicating small sets of possible outcomes to an expert or well versed audience. A further level of sophistication is possible through the use of geographic information systems and associated models allowing exploration of a wide range of options in the available decision space. However even this may not be accessible for the wider community. Many farmers are highly visual people. They do not generally respond well to written documents and plans but are more likely to respond well to detailed and effective visualisation. Since the landholders are the people most directly involved in the process of land use change (both as those who may best implement changes and as those who are most affected by the changes) we need tools which meet these needs.

The addition of an environmental visualisation capability to GIS and modelling allows local people of any background to participate in the exploration of options for change. The visualisation will include realistic views of the study area, from any ground or aerial viewpoint, under different scenarios and icon based indicators of the non-visual outcome (eg. water quality) of changes in land use. The greater the degree of realism and interactivity in the system, the more people are likely to become engaged with the process. Key aspects of interactivity are:

1. the ability to move through the environment;
2. mechanisms for input of land use change scenarios; and
3. individual or group specification of values and preferences.

Exploration in a workshop environment will require multiple input devices and mechanisms for integrating individual inputs. Personal digital assistant (PDA) technology will be used with a wireless network to make the input process as natural as possible.

Through this system which provides immediate visual feedback on any scenario of change and an ability to record and respond to multiple inputs from stakeholders, the level of landscape understanding and environmental values of the community can be explored. Appropriate strategies for implementation of programs for change can then be developed.

Broadly, the project involves a development phase and a case study phase. The development work includes new procedures for change input (eg. drawing a rough line on a map to indicate a new forest plantation site), simplified effects modelling (eg. if land use is intensified in this area, will water quality deteriorate?), value or preference specification (eg. I prefer this outcome) and outcome presentation. The case study takes the Cudgewa Creek catchment - located west of Corryong - and develops a detailed three dimensional visual model of the region, identifies scenarios for change which can be explored and amended by the community and assesses community landscape knowledge and values through this process. Development work, which is case study specific, will also be able to be generalised over similar sub-catchments in high rainfall zones withing the NE Victorian, Murray, Goulburn Broken adn Murrumbidgee catchments because the nature and impacts of land use change in the Cudgewa area are very similar to those across the whole region.