What Are Land Use Maps?

The land use map is a thematic map that expresses the current status of land resource use, regional differences and classification. It is an important tool and basic data for land use research, and it is also one of the main results of land use investigation and research. Based on the compilation of land use maps, a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the rationality and existing problems of the current use, the potential for further use, and the direction and approach of reasonable use are made. Therefore, the land use map is an important scientific basis for adjusting the structure of land use, adapting to local conditions, such as agriculture, industry and mining and transportation layout, urban construction, regional planning, land remediation, and agricultural zoning.

The land use map reflects the status, extent, and distribution of land use. It is often used in hierarchical classifications, such as urban land, agricultural land, forest land, water bodies, shrubs, grasslands, swamps, and wasteland. Mid-crops, orchards, nurseries, etc. Provide a reference for evaluating the level of agricultural development and formulating the direction and possibility of rational use of land resources ^[1]

Land use maps are divided into large, medium and small scales.

Land use map A map showing the extent and distribution of land use conditions. There are current land use maps and land use plan maps. The International Geographical Union established the World Land Use Committee in 1951 to try to compile maps of the current state of land use in the world and to compile land use map specifications for countries. Britain's LDStamp comprehensively surveyed the status of land use in Britain from 1933 to 1939, and published the British Land Use Map (1 in 3000) in 1947. In the economic construction and development of various countries, special attention has been paid to the preparation of land use maps. Japan cooperated with the Comprehensive Land Development Law promulgated in 1953 to compile land use maps of one in 50,000 nationwide, which became the basis for the preparation of land development work. Land-use maps usually adopt a gradual classification method. China's first-level classification includes urban land, agricultural land, forest land, water bodies, shrub land, grassland, swamp, wasteland, etc. The first-level classification of land use in Japan includes agricultural land, forests, wasteland, water bodies, roads, residential land (residential land, factory land, commercial and office land), and others. The second level is to subdivide the first level classification. For example, agricultural land can be divided into cultivated land, orchards, pastures, and grasslands, etc. ^[4]

Under certain production methods, for certain social and economic purposes, people adopt a set of biological and technical measures to carry out a series of operations such as development, utilization, remediation and protection of land in accordance with the natural and social attributes of the land. Activities are collectively referred to as land use. In a nutshell, land use refers to the process by which humans use the characteristics of land to meet their own needs through certain actions ^[5] .

China's land use research in the 20th century began in the 1930s. In the 1930s and 1940s, a small number of agricultural economists and economic geographers in China began to engage in land use research. For example, in 1931 to 1932, the agricultural economist Zhang Xinyi's "Estimation of China's Agricultural Profile" used field surveys and agricultural statistics. , Compiled national arable land types (paddy fields, dry land) and crop distribution maps and statistical tables, which are the results of earlier research on agricultural land use in modern China. In 1937, the College of Agriculture of Jinling University conducted an extensive survey of agricultural areas in eastern China (excluding the Northeast), and published a book and atlas of "China Land Use", which systematically reflected the situation and problems of land use at that time. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, some scholars from the Department of Geography, such as Central University, Zhejiang University, and Southwest United University, carried out land use surveys and cartographic studies in the southwestern region. Among them, Wu Chuanjun conducted a land use survey in the mountainous area of Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province in 1943, 1944. Land use surveys conducted by Sichuan Lu in the Changshou County reservoir inundated area and Yunnan Lake Dianchi in 2002, and Zunyi County land use survey conducted by Zhejiang University represent the status and progress of land use research in the mid-1940s.

From the 1950s to the early 1980s, China's land use research focused on surveying and mapping research on land use in some areas. From 1949 to 1950, Wu Chuanjun presided over the land use survey and cartographic research in Nanjing, and used 10,000 topographic maps for field mapping, and finally compiled and published Nanjing Land Use Maps (1: 40,000), which is 50 An important achievement of land use research in the early 1950s has important reference value for later research on land use change in Nanjing. From 1956 to 1960, during the comprehensive survey of the Heilongjiang River Basin, Wu Chuanjun and others compiled 1: 3 million land use maps, which reflected the land use types, structures, and distribution characteristics of the Heilongjiang River Basin. It was an attempt to compile small-scale land use maps.

From 1958 to 1961, Deng Jingzhong conducted a survey of land use in typical areas in conjunction with agricultural geographic surveys. For example, a survey of land use and crop layout in Macchikou, Changping County, a suburb of Beijing in 1958, a survey of land use in Chengguan Commune and Lijiashan Forest Ranch in Lishi County, Shanxi Province in 1960, and a subtropical hilly area in Tianqing Brigade, Yongxing County, Hunan Province, 1961. Survey on the use of single and double cropping rice, survey of land use and crop layout in the plains and lakes of the Longlong Brigade, Wolong Commune, Xiaolong County, Hubei Province. The above surveys and studies are all centered on agricultural land use, using 1: 5000 maps to fill the plots, and on the basis of analyzing the current land use, they propose suggestions for adjusting land use ^[5] .

In 1962, the Institute of Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Soil Census Office of the Ministry of Agriculture completed the study of "Current Land Zoning in China". This zoning is based on the true reflection of the actual characteristics of land use and agricultural production in various regions as the basic basis, including: the methods and degrees of heat, moisture and land resource use; the characteristics of agricultural management methods, such as farming systems, animal husbandry System; agricultural sector and crop structure and production level; key problems in current land use. At the same time consider natural economic conditions and further development and utilization directions. Based on this, the country is divided into 4 first-level districts, 12 second-level districts, 51 third-level districts, and 129 fourth-level districts. The divisions elaborated the direction and approach of land use and agricultural development. This is the first research result of national land use zoning in China, and it later became an important basis for carrying out national current state zoning of agriculture.

From 1973 to 1978, under the auspices of Wu Chuanjun, he organized various geographical units across the country to carry out the compilation of the "Chinese Agricultural Geography" series. One of the important contents was to study the rational use of land resources in China. The study analyzes the characteristics of the current status of land use in China, the current status and problems of the use of cultivated land, forest land, pasture land and land waters in China, and evaluates the suitable agricultural wasteland resources and the conditions for development and utilization. On this basis, the "Irrigation Land Distribution Map in Northern China", "China Cultivated Land Multiple Cropping Index Map" and "China Land Use Map" (1: 6 million) were compiled. Among them, the "China Land Use Map" divides China's land resources into 10 types of cultivated land, forest land, pasture land, waters, roads, glaciers, permanent snow, deserts, Gobi, alpine deserts and mines. It is China's first Map of land use status across the country.

From 1973 to 1977, the Chinese Academy of Sciences organized scientific and technical personnel to once again go to Heilongjiang and eastern Inner Mongolia to conduct investigation and research on wasteland resources and their development and utilization, and put forward suggestions for the development and utilization of wasteland resources ^[5] .

Since the 1980s, China has entered a new period centered on economic construction. However, unclear land resources, improper use and poor management have become important factors restricting economic development. To this end, investigating the land resources, investigating the status and problems of land use, revealing the potential of land development, exploring the direction and ways of rational land use, has become the basic work for accelerating the development of the national economy and advancing the four modernizations.