Task

With an area of 172 km², the Swiss National Park (SNP) is the largest wildlife protection area in Switzerland. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) classifies the park as a category I (highest protection class) reserve. The SNP is located in eastern Switzerland in the Canton Graubünden's Engadin and Münstertal valleys.

The Swiss National Park is renowned for its alpine species richness and untouched landscape and attracts approximately 150,000 visitors per year. The park administration would like to install new, visually appealing information boards for the visitors. These information boards should show potential habitats for different animal species and give background information about the animals. To provide a range of displays to choose from, your task is to:

1. spatially and quantitatively capture the potential habitats of two species of your choice using a Geographic Information System (GIS)
2. prepare your results as thematic maps for the information boards
3. present your approach and results at an interim and a closing event.

1. GIS data

The following GIS-data have been made available to the GITTA consortium by the Swiss National Park. Interested none-GITTA partners please contact the GITTA coordinator (coordinator@gitta.info).

DEM	Raster	Spatial resolution: 10 x 10 m Compiled by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Water network	Coverage	Geostat data
Road network	Coverage	Main streets Compiled by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Hiking trails	Coverage	Mapped by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Park huts	Coverage	Mapped by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Park boundary	Coverage	Mapped by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Geology	Coverage	Mapped by the SNP's GIS workgroup
Vegetation	Coverage, dbf-Datei	Mapped by the SNP's GIS workgroup, based on (1995)

2. Information on habitats

Informations on potential habitat requirements is available for the following species: Rock Ptarmigan, Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Hazel Grouse, chamois, marmot, mountain hare.

Download: Habitats.zip

3. Additional information and literature

See list of references (bibliography).