Cartography and Geovisualisation Techniques in the Exploratory Study of Geodiversity: Almeria Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to describe some research into geodiversity, and conducted in the Almeria Province from a cartographic and GIS perspective. This is an area of special interest because of its aridity and severe desertification processes. Geodiversity is becoming a research topic of increasing interest among earth scientists as it may play a key role when evaluating the ecological, environmental and social value of a territory. In pursuing that goal many earth scientists use multiple mathematical techniques, such as diversity statistics and models, to end up with summary statistics which best describe the general properties of the phenomena. However, in this study, we have focused on the use of cartography, and GIS concepts and tools, in order to conduct modelling and analysis. In this study the drainage basins were chosen as basic spatial units for the analysis. Supplementary analysis of the environmental variables was conducted in relation to elevation, slope and aspect zones. The multiple and varied geoprocessing tasks enabled us to obtain many 2D and 3D map-like representations that are very useful in identifying general trends and specific patterns.