Vegetation mapping requires ecologists to draw on archives, survey site records, personal knowledge, hand-made maps, imagery interpretation, and the government’s Vegetation Information System. 

This extensive research helps them to determine Plant Community Types – the base level of vegetation classification - and from there, the higher levels of vegetation classification - Vegetation Class and Vegetation Formation.

A program of annually monitoring the baseline state-wide layer for changes, as well as incorporating refinements from more detailed mapping, provides an evolving picture of the foundational layer of native vegetation in NSW. 

Vegetation mapping is an effort to help the wider community, which often needs better or more up-to-date information on plant life ecology.

 Mapping also influences conservation policy in government as it provides a visual tool to present vegetation types and conservation priorities to decision makers.