Objective
The Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) have been undertaking a data enhancement program to improve accessibility to existing groundwater data and understand the uncertainties in data used to inform management decisions. The challenge to date is that historical data sets (recharge and aquifer properties) are not readily accessible, have varied levels of attribution of the data in regard to the method, formats (e.g. vector, raster, text), units (e.g. mm/year vs % rainfall), and project extents and coordinate systems (e.g. AGD84, GDA94, MGA).
This paper presents a semi-automated methodology by which the variability in formats and units of recharge and aquifer property data sets are organized such that they are consistent (e.g. data formats/scales/units), mapped spatially and presented in an interactive manner, including the ability to determine the reliability of the data sets. This mapping project builds on work undertaken to develop a statewide groundwater inventory.
Design and Methodology
This challenge was tackled by developing visual products for recharge and aquifer properties data sets, the approach included
Results
The end product was a mapping product that includes:
Conclusion
The outputs of this project can inform groundwater resource assessments and groundwater management decisions now and in the future for Victoria.