Austria: land use, land cover and the structure of the settlement system

The "Rauminformationssystem Osterreich" ("spatial information system for Austria") consists of a current digital data set concerning land use and land cover classes. The main results of this survey carried out on a medium scale are presented by means of thematic maps with reference to the spatial units of communities and an emphasis on the differences between the Alpine area and the rest of the country. For this purpose the important parameters of the respective shares of woodlands, permanently settled areas and high-altitude areas of the Alps are recorded with the maps clearly depicting the heterogeneity of this mountain range in Austria. Maps showing the distribution of the population and its development over time point to the changes in the Alps' function as a lebensraum, with a clear distinction between tourism regions and the surroundings of regional centres (as well as of the metropolitan area of Vienna), the obvious "winners", and peripheral areas within the Alps, the marked "losers" in this process.