Core+ NatureInsight – Using NatureInsight in a Watershed
After generating the watershed (catchment) you are interested in, you can toggle the “NbS Opportunity Map”. This populates the catchment with the most suitable types of NbS intervention. You can adjust the sliders in the top right of the right sidebar to change the display.
Baseline Data
You can view information about the catchment baseline in the “Baseline data” window of the right sidebar. This provides summary statistics on aspects such as the percentages of land cover types within the catchment area, the percentages coverage of agricultural land classification classes, as well as summary values such as the total baseline carbon sequestration and baseline habitat units across an area. The arrows can be expanded or collapsed to show different statistics of interest.
Note that the baseline information can also be generated for individual grid squares by using the ‘Point Query’ tool. The two can both be displayed in the right sidebar at the same time.
The baseline data summary statistics are calculated/derived from the datasets defined in the NatureInsight Whitepaper. The land cover dataset is available to view in the Dock.
Proposed Mitigation Summary
You can see the Proposed Mitigation Summary for a catchment summarised in the right sidebar. This provides useful information about the NbS interventions displayed on the map, such as the area that would be needed for the NbS, an estimate of how much water they would store, the estimated construction cost, as well as carbon sequestration and habitat units. Two figures are provided for both carbon sequestration and habitat units, the ‘potential’ and the ‘net’. The potential provides the total carbon sequestration/habitat units for the catchment including the baseline values, whereas the net only provides the change of each from their respective baselines.
As well as the Proposed Mitigation Summary for the whole selected catchment area, summaries are provided broken down by NbS intervention type. This information is also available for individual grid squares using the ‘Point Query’ tool. With ‘Point Query’ you can also explore the potential benefits of other possible interventions within each grid square.
You can click on “Show cost graph” which displays the change in net habitat and net carbon for a changing cost. The cost is ordered by the suitability score, and the yellow box summaries can be viewed by moving your cursor over the graph.
Altering the Opportunity Map - Score
In each grid square, the highest scoring (most suitable) NbS is shown above the selected score for a given grid square (or no feature is shown if no NbS scores above this threshold). The selected score can be changed using the ‘Score’ slider located on the right sidebar. Lowering the score threshold reduces the minimum score at which a NbS intervention shows on the map, and similarly increasing the score threshold allows for the highest scoring NbS interventions to be visualised across a catchment. For NatureInsight (v1.0) a score of 75 and above is considered to have ‘very good’ suitability for NbS features. More information on the scoring can be found in the NatureInsight White Paper.
The Intervention Rank slider can be used to toggle between ‘The Best’, ‘The Second’, ‘The Third’, ‘The Fourth, and ‘The Fifth’ best scoring intervention across a catchment area. Across each grid square all NbS interventions are scored, and this function allows you to understand the range of interventions that score above a threshold within a grid square. This feature may be useful for engagement with landowners and project stakeholders. An example of this is shown across a catchment area, where all the interventions score above the defined score threshold for this example.
Altering the Opportunity Map - Prioritisation
The default NbS opportunity mapping is prioritising interventions that target flood risk reduction. There are six prioritisation options. You can see these in the blue dot in image below. This determines what is displayed on the map.
You can also prioritise NbS interventions based on other factors – carbon sequestration and habitat units. The prioritisation can be changed by selecting the drop-down list called ‘Order By’, and changing from the ‘Default (flooding)’ to ‘Net Carbon Sequestration’ or ‘Net Habitat Units’.
Alternatively, if you are interested in the suitability of particular NbS interventions in a catchment, the ‘Selected Interventions’ drop-down list can be used to turn interventions on/off the map. For example, the map can be used to show the potential suitability of just ‘Floodplain Reconnection’ features across a catchment area. This function will display all the areas where the selected intervention scores above the threshold score on the slider.
Altering the Opportunity Map – Grid Square Information
Different information can be visualised in the map depending on the selected NbS interventions. This represents information such as carbon sequestration and habitat units across the grid squares. Information on each option is provided below.
- Selected NbS – Map of the selected NbS features above the score threshold for the selected prioritisation.
- Score – Map of the score ranges, red squares show where there are high scoring interventions, and green squares show where there are low scoring interventions.
- Base Carbon – Map of base carbon, this is estimated and calculated from the existing land cover and does not take into account any NbS interventions. It is solely the base carbon sequestration for the land cover present within the grid square. White squares show low base carbon sequestration, and dark green/blue squares show high base carbon sequestration.
- Net Carbon – Map of net carbon, showing where carbon sequestration could be potentially increased against the baseline through implementing NbS. White squares show where there is no estimated change from the base, and dark green/blue squares show where there would be an increase from the base.
- Base Habitat – Map of base habitat units, this is estimated and calculated from the existing present habitats and does not take into account any NbS interventions. It is solely the base habitat units for the habitats present within the grid square. White squares show low base habitat units, and dark pink squares show high base habitat units.
- Net Habitat - Map of net habitat units, showing where habitat units could be potentially increased against the baseline through implementing NbS. White squares show where there is no estimated change from the base, and dark pink squares show where there would be an increase from the base.
Altering the Opportunity Map – Local Knowledge (Opportunity Map Projects)
You may have local knowledge of a catchment and wish to change the selected NbS intervention in a particular grid square. You can do this by using the ‘Point Query’ tool. For a selected grid square, within the Point Info section in the right sidebar, there is an option to select local knowledge. Prior to making any changes to the opportunity map it is wise to create and save a new project. This means any changes you make can be saved and shared with other NatureInsight users – it also allows you to revert any changes back to default if desired. Start by clicking the water droplet icon in the Dock next to where it says ‘Opportunity Map’. When the window pops up, click ‘New opportunity map’ then click on the pen icon to edit the name (we have named it ‘Demo’). Clicking on the settings cog icon opens ‘Opportunity Map Settings’ where you can add a description of your map, which may be based on discussions with a group of stakeholders or just following a site visit. When finished click ‘Save’ and this will ensure the opportunity mapping project is saved to your NatureInsight profile.
Any changes to the Opportunity Map need to be within a project space, which can be created by navigating to ‘Local Knowledge’ in the ‘Point Info’ area of the right-hand side bar and selecting the name of your opportunity mapping project.
If a project has not been created it will say ‘New project’ in this area, which you need to remember to rename and save (it will appear in the list of projects as ‘unnamed’. Once a project is created for the catchment area, a drop-down list can be used to select the preferred NbS intervention for a grid square (which can include selecting ‘No Opportunity’ – creating an empty grid square).
Once you have updated the map and are happy with the changes, ensure you navigate back to where you created the Opportunity Map Project to save any changes. This then becomes an available space to make as many edits as the user requires. This Project can be renamed, and a description added as required by the user. Projects can also be downloaded (as a shapefile, GeoJSON, MapInfo TAB, DXF, or GeoPackage file) by the user and also shared to other NatureInsight users within SCALGO Live.
Information of what the icons allow a user to change for Opportunity Map Projects is outlined below:
