Abstract

The development and use of heritage potential models have increased dramatically in the last few years, driven by the availability of powerful, yet affordable GIS systems, and driven by large scale land developments, primarily forestry. Although there are some common themes in the approaches taken, few practitioners have begun to address such fundamental issues of scale, precision, accuracy, evaluation and modification. Heritage potential models make good straw men and unless these issues are addressed, the primary consumers of these models will begin to lose confidence. This paper addresses these issues from the perspective of a series of interrelated modeling projects in central Saskatchewan. The project began as a series of 10,000 ha test models and over a four year period evolved into a 10,000,000 ha model. As such, it provides an ideal data set for discussing these issues.