BACK
TO INDEX
Data
Collection
For this project I used data from the Africa folder on the SIS drive. I had originally tried looking for data elsewhere, but had no luck as most of the data I found was in vector format or was not in the proper format for the version of Idrisi I was using. I chose to use a variety of raster layers for reclassification and analysis. These layers were:
1) Mean Annual
Potential Evapo-Transpiration (PET) = Afpetann
2) Severity
of Chemical Deterioration of the Soil = Chemical
3) Over-Exploitation
of Vegetation = Exploit
4) Areas
Affected by Overgrazing = Grazing
5) Severity
of Physical Deterioration of the Soil = Physical
6) Severity
of Water Erosion = Watersev
7) Rates
of Comprehensive Degradation = Rate
8) Severity
of Wind Effects on the Soil = Windsev
9) Severity
of Soil Degradation = Severity
10) Estimated
Population Density (per square km) = Popdens
11) Soils
Affected by Agricultural Practices = Agri
These layers
all corresponded to the project outline, therefore they were all important
to my analysis. I had wanted to use layers for temperature, rainfall
and elevation as well, however, they were of a different resolution, and
changing the cell-size did not help matters because the original size and
shape would be distorted leaving me with no choice but to do without them.
Other layers were used as a substitution though because they closely matched
patterns of temperature, rainfall or elevation. Layers such as "Estimated
Population Density" could substitute for temperature and elevation because
most people do not live in the hottest regions (such as the deserts), simply
because of lack of water and overwhelming heat. High population densities
are also not found in the higher elevations because it is too cold in these
regions and distance from population centres is too great or unachievable.
Lastly, "Mean Annual Potential Evapo-Transpiration" substituted for the
rainfall layer because low rates of evapo-transpiration are found in areas
where greater amounts of rainfall exist, and where there are high rates
of evapo-transpiration, there is little to no rainfall whatsoever.