V. Gardiner

Abstract

Evaluation of land must necessarily be based upon an initial classificationof terrain, and one of the major contributions of the physical geographer to thesolution of applied problems is the differentiation of the earth's surface. Theadoption of numerical methods and systems concepts has adequately equippedgeography to deal with many complex demands of modern society. Furthermore,the availability of funds for applied research and developments in remotesensing and data processing have encouraged the development of land evaluationas an increasingly important geographical research field. Despite the traditionalconcern of the geographer with the environment many problems remainto be solved, thus presenting the geographer with both challenge and opportunity.Land has been defined (Thomas 1969; Christian 1958) by "The term landrefers to all those physical and biological characteristics of the land surfacewhich affect the possibility of land use.", and by the techniques of physicalgeography all of the basic resources implicit in the term "land" may be studied.

V. Gardiner, Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry