Relative Wilderness Index for the Eastern United States Based on Six Land Attributes

A geospatial dataset mapping relative wilderness across the eastern United States based on six attributes: solitude, remoteness, uncontrolled process, natural composition, unaltered structure, and pollution. The data was developed by The Wilderness Society (TWS) as part of an effort to define and map wildness to support the creation of a national network of wildlands. The index is a unitless relative rank, representing a continuum of wildness present in all landscapes.

Use Cases

• Create hard copy and digital maps of relative wildness across a landscape based on the six defined attributes.
• Assess the continuum of wilderness in urban and undeveloped areas for conservation planning.
• Use the wildness index as input for other environmental modeling processes where relative wildness is a factor.
• Analyze the distribution of land attributes like solitude and remoteness to inform wilderness protection strategies.

Strengths

• Based on a defined conceptual framework of six wilderness attributes documented in a scientific proceeding.
• Covers the entire eastern United States, providing a broad regional analysis.
• Developed by The Wilderness Society (TWS) in support of a strategic conservation goal.

Limitations

• The index is a unitless relative rank (ordinal data); values cannot be compared arithmetically (e.g., a rank of 30 is not twice as wild as 15).
• Column-level documentation and sample data are unavailable, limiting pre-download assessment of data structure.
• The last update date and specific file formats are unknown.

Provenance

Source

The Wilderness Society (TWS), via NASA Earthdata platform.

Collection Method

Combination of data representing six attributes of land contributing to wildness, mapped for the eastern United States.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Eastern United States