Integrated Geospatial Database of the Sarapuí River Basin, São Paulo, Brazil

Repository Overview This repository provides geospatial datasets, cartographic products, databases, and other outputs generated by research projects conducted in the Sarapuí River Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil. Its purpose is to promote open access to the data produced, encouraging their reuse in scientific research, territorial planning, environmental management, and the development of public policies aimed at conservation and sustainable development. A brief description of the Sarapuí Project and the datasets available in this first release of the repository is presented below. New datasets and products will be incorporated periodically as research activities progress. Scientific publications resulting from the project are listed under the Related Works section, providing users with access to methodological details, research findings, and applications developed from the data made available in this repository. Project Description The Sarapuí Project is a long-term research initiative developed by the Geotechnology and Forest Planning Research Group (Geoplan), coordinated by Professor Roberta Averna Valente and affiliated with the Department of Environmental Sciences (DCA) at the Center for Sustainability Science and Technology (CCTS), Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Brazil. The project aims to develop scientific tools and geospatial decision-support frameworks for forest conservation, ecological restoration, and ecosystem services initiatives within the Atlantic Forest biome. The study area comprises the Sarapuí River Basin, located in São Paulo State, Brazil, a predominantly agricultural landscape characterized by intense forest fragmentation and its strategic importance for ecosystem service provision. The project has been developed since 2018 and is structured into two complementary phases. The first phase focused on developing a spatial decision-support model for prioritizing forest conservation areas aimed at protecting water resources. Using Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Fuzzy Logic approaches, environmental criteria related to soils, topography, and hydrological processes were integrated to identify priority areas for maintaining water quantity and quality. This phase also established a hydrological monitoring network in experimental watersheds, generating long-term hydrological datasets. The second phase expanded the analytical scope of the project by incorporating biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and sequestration, land tenure structure, socioeconomic variables, and land-use and land-cover dynamics. Advanced geospatial techniques, including remote sensing, multicriteria analysis, graph theory, and ecosystem service modeling, were applied to identify priority areas for forest conservation and restoration. The resulting products support ecosystem service programs, territorial planning, environmental management, and public policy development aimed at Atlantic Forest conservation. By integrating multiple ecosystem services within a unified analytical framework, the project contributes to identifying areas capable of generating synergistic environmental benefits and supporting evidence-based decision-making. Dataset Description This dataset provides reference geospatial data produced and compiled within the Sarapuí Project for the Sarapuí River Basin, São Paulo State, Brazil. All files are projected in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system, SIRGAS 2000 datum, Zone 23 South. The current version includes the following datasets: basin_limits.rar – Polygon representing the boundary of the Sarapuí River Basin. drainage_network.rar – Drainage network derived from the integration of the São Paulo State hydrographic database, topographic maps produced by the Geographic and Cartographic Institute (IGC), and subsequent correction and updating through on-screen digitization using recent high-resolution imagery. springs.rar – Point dataset representing springs identified during the drainage network mapping and validation process. roads.rar – Road network containing primary and secondary roads within the basin, compiled from DNIT, DER-SP, and MapBiomas Infrastructure databases. DTM_sarapui.rar – Digital Terrain Model (DTM) generated from the processing of ALOS PALSAR satellite data. (See details here) app_hidro.rar – Vector layer representing Permanent Preservation Areas (PPAs) associated with water resources in the Sarapuí River Basin, delineated according to the Brazilian Native Vegetation Protection Law (Law No. 12,651/2012, Brazilian Forest Code), including protected areas surrounding watercourses and springs. This repository constitutes an active and continuously expanding geospatial database. Future releases will incorporate additional environmental, hydrological, socioeconomic, land-use and land-cover, biodiversity, landscape connectivity, forest restoration, and ecosystem service datasets generated through ongoing research activities. Users are encouraged to consult the most recent version of the repository to access updated datasets and metadata.