Corangamite Soil Health Knowledge Base
- Authors: Thompson, Helen , Dahlhaus, Peter , MacLeod, Andrew , McKenna, Kirsten
- Type: Text , Dataset
- Full Text: false
- Description: The Corangamite Corangamite soil health knowledge base is part of an interoperable web-GIS maintained by Federation University Australia. The Corangamite soil health knowledge base is a collaborative research project between the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority (CMA) and the Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI) at Federation University Australia (FedUni). The aim of the research is to develop a comprehensive, informative, intuitive-to-use knowledge base of soil health information that will assist the broader community to respect the values of the soils of the Corangamite region. The project was initiated in June 2013. The research is overseen by the Corangamite CMA Land Health Program Steering Committee. The role of the committee in the project is to advise on the function, use and relevance of the data and information sources in the knowledge base, which is an online repository of soil health information and knowledge: including reports, research papers, maps and descriptions related to current and past soil series mapping, land capability and suitability assessments, agricultural trials, and soil research and investigations. Soil health studies in the Corangamite region date from 1936. The most recent document to revisit soil health issues in the Corangamite region is Soils Vision: A 20-year plan to improve broad-acre agricultural soils in south west Victoria, known as the 'south west agricultural soils plan' (SWASP). This community-led initiative brought together a collaboration of farming groups, agricultural industries, government agencies and research institutions to identify the activities required to improve the condition of soils used for agriculture in South West Victoria. The goal of this project is to provide the essential background knowledge required to implement the appropriate SWASP soil health actions customised for each of the 15 Local Catchment Plans in the Corangamite region. Project aim and research questions The overall aim this project is to develop a comprehensive, informative, intuitive-to-use knowledge base of soil health information that will assist the broader community implement the SWASP within the LCPs of the Corangamite region. To achieve this, the following key questions emerge: What information exists and how relevant is it to the current soil health issues? How reliable is the information and to which landscapes does it apply? How can the relevant soil health information be best maintained and disseminated?
Liberating soil data for profitable agriculture and catchment health in the Corangamite region, Australia
- Authors: Dahlhaus, Peter , Nicholson, Cameron , Ryan, Bret , MacLeod, Andrew , Milne, Robert
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 61, no. 3 (2018), p. 333-339
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Detailed soil data has been collected in the Corangamite region of south-east Australia for over 80 years, as a testament to the productive value of the region’s agricultural soils. Soil science over that period has resulted in soil maps, soil investigation sites and archival materials that provide valuable baseline data for the analysis of trends over time. This legacy data has been brought together with contemporary data in the award-winning Soil Health Knowledge Base, an Internet portal based on spatial data infrastructure that interoperably federates data (open data, research data, industry data, sensor data, legacy data, crowdsourced data … any available data). The portal provides the best available data sources for research and consulting, as well as functions for both the private reward and the public good. The ultimate intent is to provide timely decision support for agricultural enterprises and catchment managers to protect, enhance and restore soil health.
Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Knowledge Base
- Authors: Thompson, Helen , Dahlhaus, Peter , MacLeod, Andrew , McKenna, Kirsten
- Type: Text , Dataset
- Full Text: false
- Description: The Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Knowledge Base is part of an interoperable web-GIS maintained by Federation University Australia. The site provides an extensive collection of publications and Datasets on all aspects of the catchment. The collection focuses on information written specifically for the Corangamite Region. The database has been indexed by subject and locality for information retrieval and analysis. Federation University Australia's Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation is hosting the site on behalf of the CCMA. The Federation University Australia Corangamite Catchment Management Authority Knowledge Base was established to ensure the protection and sustainable development of land, vegetation and water resources within a boundary stretching from Geelong to Ballarat and along the coast to Peterborough. About 380,000 people live in the catchment's 13,340 square kilometres of south-western Victoria and 175 kilometres of coastal fringe. The region is defined by four river basins - the Moorabool, Barwon, Lake Corangamite and Otway Coast. It includes all or part of the cities of Ballarat and Greater Geelong, the Borough of Queenscliff and the shires of Moorabool, Surf Coast, Corangamite, Golden Plains, Colac Otway and Moyne. Related initiatives include Soil Health, an online repository of soil health information and knowledge: including reports, research papers, maps and descriptions related to current and past soil series mapping, land capability and suitability assessments, agricultural trials, and soil research and investigations; and, NRM Planning, a pilot project testing how online mapping can be used to match local and regional priorities for catchment management in the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority region.