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 ter rains in the study area, using a Geographic Information System. Such u nits were used as main spatial framework to search the land use suitab ility for landscape sets. A hierarchical structure was developed using ecological considerations with broad to specific scales. Thirty-two l andscapes 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 interactiv e process of on-screen digitizing. In this process different thematic information layers were selected and overlaid on the hillshading map g enerated from a digital terrain model. The landscape units map was cro ss-tabulated against several thematic maps to obtain a database that d escribes area and cover percentage of each thematic class for each lan dscape. The landscape units map and its database led, in further phase s, to our interpreting land use suitabilities related to an environmen tal land management approach.