Abstract
Abstract. Land Cover (LC) maps represent key resources to understand, model and address many global and local dynamics affecting our planet. They are usually derived from the classification of satellite imagery, after which a validation or intercomparison process is performed to assess their accuracy. This paper presents the project “Capacity Building for High-Resolution Land Cover Intercomparison and Validation”, an educational initiative funded by the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and mainly targeting developing countries. First, with the help of two open surveys, an analysis of the state of the art was performed which assessed the overall good awareness on LC maps and the needs and requirements for validating and comparing them, as well as the rich availability of educational material on this topic. The second task, currently under finalization, is the development of new educational material, based on open source software and released under an open access license, consisting of: an introduction to the GlobeLand30 (GL30) LC map and its online platform; a desktop GIS procedure showing two use cases on GL30 validation; and an application to collect LC data on the field to be used for validation. Finally, this educational material will be tested in practice in three workshops during the second half of the project, two of which held in developing countries: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.
Highlights
It is well known that we live in a rapidly changing world, where, compared to the past, it is much harder to model, control and forecast natural as well as anthropogenic dynamics
Land Cover (LC) maps represent a key class of global geospatial datasets, which are used as input for a variety of models to monitor biodiversity and distribution of species, run climate models and assess environmental changes such as deforestation, desertification and urban expansion
The first task consists of an analysis of the current state of the art, which is meant as the combination of two separate analyses: on one side, the assessment of the awareness on the existence and importance of LC maps and the analysis of the needs, requirements and limiting factors in using and validating LC maps from a user’s perspective, with special focus on developing countries; on the other side, the assessment and classification of the available educational material on the intercomparison and validation of high-resolution LC maps
Summary
It is well known that we live in a rapidly changing world, where, compared to the past, it is much harder to model, control and forecast natural as well as anthropogenic dynamics. Providers of geospatial datasets should satisfy the demand for global, high-resolution (both spatial and temporal) and openlylicensed products, while the scientific community should provide robust, verified and replicable procedures for the assessment and validation of these products. Traditionally courseresolution LC products are giving way to more detailed maps at a 30-m resolution such as the FROM-GLC (Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring of Global Land Cover; Gong et al, 2013) and the GlobeLand (GL30; Chen et al, 2015) These high-resolution global LC maps still require validation at the international level to determine if they are useful for different applications. The project “Capacity Building for High-Resolution Land Cover Intercomparison and Validation”, described in this paper, addresses this need by developing outputs in the form of software solutions and educational material on the validation and intercomparison of high-resolution LC maps.
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