Efficient Statistical Sample Designs in a GIS for Monitoring the Landscape Changes

Abstract

The process of land planning, addressed to operate the synthesis between development aims and appropriate policies of preservation and management of territorial resources, requires a detailed analysis of the territory carried out by making use of data stored in Geographic Information Systems (GISs). A detailed analysis of changes in the landscape is time consuming, thus it can be carried out only on a sample of the whole territory and an efficient procedure is needed for selecting a sample of area units. In this paper we apply two recently proposed sample selection procedures to a study area for comparing them in terms of efficiency as well as of operational advantages, in order to set up a methodology which enables an efficient estimate of the change in the main landscape features on wide areas.