Guidance and Tutorials

Example

We have included a Marxan Example Tutorial that can be used with ESRI's ArcView 3x software.

The Conservancy and others have developed further guidance and hands-on tutorials for a more in depth exploration of the use of Marxan and how changing input parameters can affect outputs and results in conservation planning.

Marxan Guidance

A variety of guidance documents that give detailed explanations of specific data preparation techniques and creating input files are available on this site and are briefly explained here.

• Marxan Basic Guidance (.pdf, 1.3MB) and Expert Guidance (.pdf, 1.2MB) documents provide information on Marxan project considerations.
• The Marxan Module (15.7MB .zip file on an ftp site) from the Protected Area Gap Decision Support System Tutorial provides similar guidance on the use of Marxan with examples from the Caribbean.
• The Marxan Guidance (.pdf, 4.1MB) presentation is a visual examination of some of the input and outputs and how Marxan has been used in a case study example in the Caribbean.
• There are also examples of ecoregional assessments that have utilized Marxan and have dedicated sections explaining its use in regional conservation applications. These include Willamette Valley - Puget Trough - Georgia Basin (.pdf, 36.3MB), Carolinian (.pdf, 20.1MB), and Pacific Northwest Coast (.pdf, 5.6MB) ecoregions.

Marxan Tutorials

There are several ways to learn hands-on about how to use the program. The Conservancy has created two tutorials depending on the software available to users.

• Protected Area Gap DSS (.zip file on an ftp site) is a tutorial that provides guidance on using Marxan with the most up to date ArcGIS software from ESRI's Geographic Information System (GIS) software. This tutorial also includes an exercise using the standalone Marxan program.
• TNC Marxan ArcView Tutorial (.zip, 7.1MB ) is a tutorial that recognizes that many users still rely on ArcView (3x) software for their GIS. Follow the instructions on the Marxan Example page for opening the project. Then open the Marxan Guidance powerpoint presentation and try it out.
• The Marxan Manual (.pdf, 268k) from the University of Queensland is a core resource that explains the program.
• CLUZ is an ArcView extension that conduct data preparation and running of Marxan.