National Wilderness Inventory
Australia: Our national stories
Australian Heritage Commission, 2003
ISBN 0 642 23561 9
2. Principles of the New Methodology
2.1 The Wilderness Indicators
The Wilderness Indicators Wilderness survey work is implemented by measuring variation in wilderness quality across the landscape using four wilderness quality 'indicators' that represent the two essential attributes of wilderness; remoteness and naturalness.
These are derived from the definition of wilderness quality as the extent to which a location is remote from and undisturbed by the influence of modern technological society. These indicators are:
Remoteness from Settlement
remoteness from places of permanent occupation;
Remoteness from Access
remoteness from established access routes;
Apparent Naturalness
the degree to which the landscape is free from the presence of permanent structures associated with modern technological society;
Biophysical Naturalness
the degree to which the natural environment is free from biophysical disturbance caused by the influence of modern technological society.
The substance of NWI survey work centres on the creation of two databases: a primary database and a wilderness database. The primary database consists of the wide range of geographical information required for the calculation of wilderness indicator values. GIS-based modelling techniques are then applied to the primary database to produce a second database, the wilderness database.