Forest map of New Caledonia

Version 1.0 - December 1, 2022

This dataset contains the shapefile of the Caledonian forest produced by digitization at a scale of 1:3,000 from a mosaic of satellite images (Sentinel 2, Quickbird, Pléiades) and aerial photographs provided by the department of infrastructure, topography and land transport (DITTT) of the government of New Caledonia and available on the georep map server (georep.nc). Satellite images and aerial photographs were taken between 2009 and 2021 with a maximum spatial resolution of 0.5 m. We interpreted vegetation as forest when the trees (which should be taller than 5 m) formed a continuous canopy cover, obscuring the ground surface for a minimum of 0.5 ha (FAO 2020). The minimum distance between two polygons is 10 m. Below the polygons were merged

The polygons were verified through databases of plant occurrences collected in the forest, in particular the Herbarium of New Caledonia database (NOU) and the Network of plant inventories and permanent plots of New Caledonia (NC-PIPPN). So this dataset is periodically updated with corrections made by field observations and the addition of new expert interpretations, especially on small islands that have not been digitized before. We plan to produce the whole map step by step

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Currently, only the North and South provinces are available, an area of 16,395 km² out of a total of 18,345 km². Digitization of the Loyaulties Islands will be available soon.

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The file contains the 6 files required for the GIS and can be uploaded to a spatial database such as PostgreSQL/PostGis
The attribute table displays information on features of forest polygons. Each row in the table represents a forest fragment (a polygon) with associated fields :

• id (INTEGER) = unique identifier
• created_by (TEXT)= The creator of the data
• created_for (TEXT)= The recipient and funder
• area_ha (NUMERIC) = area of the polygon in hectare
• ps (BOOLEAN) = True or False the polygon overlaps the Southern province
• pn (BOOLEAN) = True or False the polygon overlaps the Northern province
• pil (BOOLEAN) = True or False the polygon overlaps the Islands province (Loyaulties islands)
• geom (geometry(polygon,4326)) = Polygon type geometry and datum EPSG: 4326 (= WGS 84– World Geodetic System 1984)