About BioNet Vegetation Classification

Information about NSW Plant Community Types and their relationships within the NSW vegetation classification hierarchy is maintained in the BioNet Vegetation Classification application.

BioNet Web Service performance update

The BioNet Web Service upgrade was completed successfully. However, fails may still occur if the volume of users exceeds system capacity. Please consider running large queries after-hours and let us know the details if your query fails.

SpeciesSightings_CoreData data will be refreshed weekly on Sunday mornings.

Our apologies for this further inconvenience. Watch this space for further updates. 

The application also contains the NSW landscapes data collection.

Plant Community Types (PCTs) are the master community-level typology used in NSW planning and assessment tools and vegetation mapping and management programs. The PCT classification is maintained in the BioNet Vegetation Classification application. This includes PCT descriptions, relationships to higher levels in the NSW vegetation classification hierarchy, associations with threatened biodiversity, vegetation condition benchmarks and estimates of PCT clearing loss.  

PCTs are mapped in the State Vegetation Type Map (SVTM). For more information about the NSW Plant Community Type classification program visit NSW PCT Classification.

What data are maintained in BioNet Vegetation Classification?

The application includes these data collections:

  • Vegetation Classification, including 
  • PCT Classification
  • PCT % Cleared data
  • PCT-Threatened Ecological Community Associations
  • Vegetation Condition Benchmarks
  • Vegetation Class and Vegetation Formation Classification.
  • NSW Landscapes.
Access BioNet Vegetation Classification data

There are two ways to access vegetation classification and NSW Landscapes data. 

Anyone can register online as a public user to search the database for communities and export data. 

Register and log in

Changes to the data in the database can only be made by registered editor users via the BioNet Vegetation Classification Edit User interface.

Log in help

Note that your BioNet Vegetation Classification login details are not the same as your BioNet Atlas log in details.

Use your email address as your 'Login Id' whenever you log in to BioNet Vegetation Classification.

The reCAPTCHA function does not always appear. Image verification may not be required every time you log in.

If you reset your password using the 'Forgot password' option, you will be sent an email with a temporary system-generated password. The first time you log in using this password, you will need to create your password using the 'Manage Registration' tab. Please pay particular attention to the password requirements.

Most data included in BioNet Vegetation Classification can be accessed using BioNet Web Services.

Use the BioNet Vegetation Classification web service to access PCT, Vegetation Class - Vegetation Formation and related data including PCT % cleared values, taxonomic data and vegetation condition benchmarks.

Use the BioNet NSW Landscapes web service to access over-cleared landscapes (Mitchell landscapes) data.

Pre-configured spreadsheets containing refreshable power queries are available for download from the BioNet resources webpage under the Power queries headings.

Access archived datasets

With the commencement of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM) on 25 August 2017, the Vegetation Classification and Threatened Species Profiles (TSP) datasets have evolved.

Archived datasets are available. These can be used to look up, for example, BioMetric Vegetation Type ID (BVT ID) and corresponding PCT ID, CMA-related data including BVT % cleared estimates and vegetation condition benchmark data. 

User resources

BioNet Vegetation Classification User Manual - contains step-by-step instructions on how to search, view and export data from the application

NSW BioNet resources 

BioNet Web Service Quick Guide for how to access the BioNet Web Service using Excel and Power Query  

NSW Plant Community Type classification for information on the classification program

State Vegetation Type Map for maps of PCT locations.