COVERING THE GROUND
Field survey must cover the ground in sufficient detail to allow well-informed decisions to be made about the identification of discrete landscape types and/or areas, and to provide the basis for meaningful descriptions and illustrations of character. Formal field recording should be carried out at each identified survey point - normally three in each discrete area identified, depending on its size. This is particularly important in the early stages of the survey when those involved are feeling their way and becoming familiar with the patterns in the landscape. When surveyors are more experienced it may be acceptable to complete one formal field record sheet for each discrete character type and/or area, based on a summative view gained by travelling through it.

KEEPING APPROPRIATE RECORDS
Landscape Character Assessment is now being used in circumstances where the results are subject to public scrutiny and debate, such as public inquiries into special area designations, or into development plan policies and proposals. The results of an assessment must be robust enough to stand up to such scrutiny and the existence of comprehensive, accessible and consistent survey records plays an important part in this. Time and resources can inevitably limit the scale of field survey work. Within reason, however, it is better to have too much survey information than too little, provided that it is appropriate to the purpose of the work and the level of detail required, and that it is properly recorded in an accessible way.