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3.2 Quiline of the data files 
The Japan Vegetation Data Base 
consists of following data files. 
(1) Relevé Data File 
This is the core of the Japan Vegetation 
Data Base and is made by digitizing the 
currently published releve sheets by word 
processor. At present, work is being 
conducted on the digitalization of the 
relevés gathered from the Basic Survey on 
Natural Environment Conservation carried 
out by the Environment Agency. 
The Basic Survey on Natural 
Environment Conservation is based on the 
Nature Conservation Law and is executed 
approximately every five years to investigate 
the situation of the natural environment of 
Japan broadly and scientifically. In general, 
this survey is called the "Greenery Census." 
The first survey was executed in 1973, the 
second survey 1978-79, the third survey 
1983-87, and the fourth survey has been in 
execution since 1988. 
Concerning Japanese vegetation, the 
"Vegetation Survey" was executed for the 
common plant communities for each 
prefecture and the "Specific Plant 
Community Survey" for the characteristic or 
scarce plant communities. Both surveys 
covered the entire area of Japan during the 
1978-79 survey and the 1983-87 survey. 
More than 10,000 relevé sheets were 
collected, and approximately 1,000 of those 
releve sheets have already been digitized. 
The same data sheet (relevé) is used 
across Japan in the Basic Survey. Table 1 
shows a sample of a reléve. The core of a 
  
    
      
  
     
      
   
      
    
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IMAGE PROCESSING 
(eo : 
Terra-Mar(i80386) 
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
DATA ENTRY 
  
NEC PC-9801FA(1486SX) 
relevé (Aufnahme) is a list of plant species 
(taxa) with an index of cover, abundance, 
etc., per species. This investigation method 
is widely used for plant sociological 
vegetation investigations in Japan. 
Particularly, the data sheet used during 
the Greenery Census includes information of 
the name of the topographical map of 
1/50,000 and the position (right or left, 
upper or lower) on the map where each 
investigation was conducted. Therefore, the 
position can be mechanically specified by 
the  accuracy  of.. the second. grid-cell 
(approximately 10 km x 10 km) of the 
National Grid Code System explained below. 
(2) Grid-Cell Code Data File 
This data file includes the name of the 
topographical map of 1/50,000, the position 
on the map, and the second grid-cell code. 
(3) Natural Environment Data File 
This data file contains various kinds of 
environmental information arranged 
according to the National Grid Code System 
by the accuracy of the third grid-cell 
{approximately 1"km x 1 km), such as 
climatic conditions including mean annual 
temperature, mean monthly temperature of 
the warmest month, mean monthly 
temperature of the coldest month, Kira's 
warmth index, Kira's coldness index, annual 
precipitation, summer precipitation, winter 
precipitation, etc., and edaphic conditions 
including altitude, relief, landform, surface 
geology, soils, etc. 
The position coordinates of this data 
file conform to the National Grid Code 
HardDisk 
DATA ANALYSIS 
OOJOO|JOO|OO 
  
     
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
MainFrameComputer 
(HITAC M682) 
   
Figure 1 Composition of hardware