Abstract
Abstract. The Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) is an evenly spaced in situ land cover and land use ground survey exercise that extends over the whole of the European Union. LUCAS was carried out in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018. A new LUCAS module specifically tailored to Earth observation (EO) was introduced in 2018: the LUCAS Copernicus module. The module surveys the land cover extent up to 51 m in four cardinal directions around a point of observation, offering in situ data compatible with the spatial resolution of high-resolution sensors. However, the use of the Copernicus module being marginal, the goal of the paper is to facilitate its uptake by the EO community. First, the paper summarizes the LUCAS Copernicus protocol to collect homogeneous land cover on a surface area of up to 0.52 ha. Secondly, it proposes a methodology to create a ready-to-use dataset for Earth observation land cover and land use applications with high-resolution satellite imagery. As a result, a total of 63 364 LUCAS points distributed over 26 level-2 land cover classes were surveyed on the ground. Using homogeneous extent information in the four cardinal directions, a polygon was delineated for each of these points. Through geospatial analysis and by semantically linking the LUCAS core and Copernicus module land cover observations, 58 426 polygons are provided with level-3 land cover (66 specific classes including crop type) and land use (38 classes) information as inherited from the LUCAS core observation. The open-access dataset supplied with this paper (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12382667.v4 d'Andrimont, 2020) provides a unique opportunity to train and validate decametric sensor-based products such as those obtained from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites. A follow-up of the LUCAS Copernicus module is already planned for 2022. In 2022, a simplified version of the LUCAS Copernicus module will be carried out on 150 000 LUCAS points for which in situ surveying is planned. This guarantees a continuity in the effort to find synergies between statistical in situ surveying and the need to collect in situ data relevant for Earth observation in the European Union.
Highlights
The Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) is an evenly spaced in situ land cover and land use data collection exercise that extends over the whole of the European Union (EU) (Gallego and Delincé, 2010; Eurostat, 2018c)
In 2022, a simplified version of the LUCAS Copernicus module will be carried out on 150 000 LUCAS points for which in situ surveying is planned. This guarantees a continuity in the effort to find synergies between statistical in situ surveying and the need to collect in situ data relevant for Earth observation in the European Union
The Copernicus module gives the opportunity to further integrate the classical LUCAS survey purpose of collecting statistically representative information with the need to collect in situ data to produce better EOderived products, for the EU’s Copernicus program
Summary
The Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS) is an evenly spaced in situ land cover and land use data collection exercise that extends over the whole of the European Union (EU) (Gallego and Delincé, 2010; Eurostat, 2018c). LUCAS has been carried out in 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018 During these five campaigns, a total of 1 351 293 points at 651 780 unique locations were surveyed and 5.4 million photos were collected. A total of 1 351 293 points at 651 780 unique locations were surveyed and 5.4 million photos were collected On each of these surveyed points, observations were recorded on up to 109 variables. The combination of the information collected in the five LUCAS surveys has resulted in the most comprehensive in situ database on land cover and land use in the EU (d’Andrimont et al, 2020). LUCAS in situ data collection was designed for EU-wide standardized reporting of land cover and land use area statistics and not for training and validation of remote sensing data algorithms. Five HRLs describe some of the main land cover characteristics: impervious (sealed) surfaces (e.g., roads and built-up areas), forest areas, grasslands, water and wetlands, and small woody features
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