Land Use versus Land Cover: Geo-Analysis of National Roads and Synchronisation Algorithms

Katarzyna Kocur-Bera,Agnieszka Dawidowicz

doi:10.3390/rs11243053

Abstract

Technological progress in Earth surface observation provides a vast range of information on the land and methods of its use. This enables property owners, users and administrators to monitor the state of the boundaries of the land they own/administer. The land cover, monitored directly on the ground, is not always consistent with the land use entered in the Land and Property Registry (LPR). Discrepancies between these data are often found in former communist countries. One of the reasons for this was the rapid process of land privatisation, which took place in Poland, without updating information on the plot geodetic boundaries. The study examined and compared the land use (entered in the LPR) with the land cover (on the ground) for national roads (acr. LU-LC). The most frequent discrepancies were selected, using CLC2018, digital orthophotomaps (using the Web Map Service (WMS) browsing service compliant with Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards), cadastral data, statistical modelling and an updated survey of the right-of-way. Subsequently, six algorithms were proposed to synchronise the land use and land cover when the right-of-way was used by unauthorised persons, and two algorithms for cases of unauthorised use of land by the road administrator. Currently, it is difficult to synchronise the land cover with the land use from the administrative, legal and social points of view. The results of analyses show that full synchronisation of land use and land cover is complicated and time-consuming, although desired.

Highlights

Changes in the population’s lifestyle and increases in their mobility and the consumption and transfer of goods on the local and global scale have significantly increased road transport
A public road administrator has a number of responsibilities, from the stage of the road network planning, through its construction and maintenance, until the moment when it falls into disuse
In 14% of LU-LC discrepancies, the land was used for crop growing

Summary

Introduction

Changes in the population’s lifestyle and increases in their mobility and the consumption and transfer of goods on the local and global scale have significantly increased road transport This applies to the countries that joined the European Union during the past two decades, when the road infrastructure was backward compared to the other EU countries. In some people’s perception, it opens the possibility of using road infrastructure, public space or forests for one’s private purposes Such an approach has its consequences because—as this study shows—some public roads are used for non-transport purposes. This lack of coincidence of land use (the spatial range of public property administration) and land cover

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion