Kulturlandschaftsanalyse mit einem katasterbasierten GIS

Against the background of accelerated changes of landscapes and the threatening danger of losses in the quality of landscapes, a number of geo-related scientific disciplines intensified applied and diachronic landscape analysis in the last 20 years. In this context, the expression "cultural landscape" is frequently used. However, this term points to the unsolved problem of how to integrate biotic and abiotic, natural and anthropogenic landscape units, respectively. This problem of a not yet achieved integrated analysis can also be seen in the distinction between nature conservation und preservation of historic monuments. This study seeks to overcome this limitation by developing an interdisciplinary landscape analysis based on a landscape information system, which can be applied in Central Europe. The information system is based, on the one hand, on a physiological modelling of landscapes that derives from the patch-matrix-concept developed by the North American Landscape Ecology.On the other hand, it has roots in the cadastres that were generated in Austria and in the German counties since the 18th century. In addition, the study discusses how to set up and to apply the land-register based geographic information system (KGIS), especially to integrate historical data, to create methods for analysing and evaluating structures of and changes in landscapes, simulating and managing the future development of rural landscapes. The study area, "Northern Franconian Alb" (Bavaria), is located in a moutainous region with a traditional high diversity of mixed agriculture - a typical rural area characterised by agrarian and tourist land use.