Several methods have been developed to evaluate the most appropriate and fitting use of land among various options. One such type of land evaluation is a suitability analysis. ‘Consult the Genius of the place in all,’ Alexander Pope (1688–1744) suggested, and this is an apt definition of suitability analysis.
There are several more recent, and rather more wordy and cumbersome, definitions. Often, capability and suitabilityare two words that are used interchangeably; however, there is enough subtle variation in how these terms have been adapted for the purpose of land evaluation classification that it would be useful to define each of them. To be capable is to have the ability or strength to be qualified or fitted or to be susceptible or open to the influence or effect of. To be suitable is to be appropriate, fitting, or becoming. Various definitions for land-capability analysis have been proposed. Land-capability classification has been defined by soil scientists as a grouping of...
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Steiner, F.W. (1999). Land evaluation, suitability analysis. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_197
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_197
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