Wellington Park Digital Geosite Inventory

Comprehensive inventory of 49 geosites in the Wellington Park used to assess geosites for scientific value, educational value, tourism value and degradation risk. Geosites are classified under 7 themes and further subdivided into 29 landform types.

Geoconservation is, at its foundation, a grass-roots movement with geoheritage represented by geosites containing the most scientifically significant and valuable geodiversity elements. Problems arise in the assessment and communication of inventory due in part to inconsistent and traditionally time-consuming, ‘snapshot’ assessments that are difficult to spatially monitor.

The case study of kunanyi/Mount Wellington and the encompassing IUCN Category II Wellington Park Reserve was chosen to explore the complexities of geosite and geodiversity site assessment, detection and communication. Using digital tools, we revised a 25-year-old snapshot inventory, configuring the ESRI ‘Collector for ArcGIS’ app for in-field data collection. Additional digital tools supported spatially accurate, engaging and interactive online inventory including UAV videos and 3D Models.

The opportunities realised in the creation of the digital inventory and assessment process remedy many issues that currently hamper practical Geoconservation, improving cost, consistency and standardisation of the inventory assessment and the quality of geotouristic and educational products. This digital approach could assist protected area managers and geoconservationists to monitor, protect and communicate inventory over the long-term. Additionally, the digital inventory is an engaging tool for public outreach and teaching purposes, which has been accessed via the the public URL over 1200 times since Jul 2, 2019 (accessed May 20, 2022).

Geosites: All data was collected in the field by M.Williams, 2017-2019

Other layers

Geology, MRT, 2010

Tasmanian Geoconservation Database (TGD) geosites, DPIPWE, 2016

Multi-directional Hillshade, M. Williams, 2020

Designed and Compiled by Mark Williams, © University of Tasmania.