Delineating boundaries of environmental units for land management using a geomorphological approach and GIS: A study in Baja California, Mexico

A geomorphological approach was applied to delineate environmental terrains in the study area, using a Geographic Information System. Such units were used as main spatial framework to search the land use suitability for landscape sets. A hierarchical structure was developed using ecological considerations with broad to specific scales. Thirty-two landscapes were delineated. The use of GIS for collecting, storing, and processing the spatial database was useful to interpret and determine the boundaries of environmental units, particularly in the interactive process of on-screen digitizing. In this process different thematic information layers were selected and overlaid on the hillshading map generated from a digital terrain model. The landscape units map was cross-tabulated against several thematic maps to obtain a database that describes area and cover percentage of each thematic class for each landscape. The landscape units map and its database led, in further phases, to our interpreting land use suitabilities related to an environmental land management approach.