Land Cover Map Of Great Britain Research Articles

The characterisation and measurement of land cover change through remote sensing: problems in operational applications?

This paper examines issues surrounding the detection, measurement and characterisation of landscape changes by remote sensing and other means. First it compares the remotely sensed Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB), 1990, with the UK Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000). Then it considers the more general circumstances where users compare any two thematic maps incorporating independent inaccuracies, to record changes. The paper concludes that the measurement of small to medium scale changes over large areas requires levels of precision in mapping which are near impossible to achieve with satellite image classifications alone; indeed they may be difficult to achieve in any form of survey unless it is tailor-made and rigorously applied specifically to the recording of real changes. The paper argues that users of all such data products therefore need to treat with extreme caution their maps of differences and their conclusions about change. It suggests that users need also to develop intelligent approaches, which draw upon a broader knowledge of the directions, patterns and scale of the changes to be recorded, in order to refine their assessments.

The UK Land Cover Map 2000: Construction of a Parcel-Based Vector Map from Satellite Images

Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000) is a thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. The map updates and substantially upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB), made in 1990–92. This paper outlines the character of the map through a description of its specification, production and outputs. The paper is aimed at users of LCM2000 and derived data who need to understand more of the map and its characteristics. The paper also outlines plans for making data available to researchers and applied users.The most important development in LCM2000 was the spectral segmentation of images to generate vector land parcels. Land cover was then identified by the spectral classification of the image data in these parcels. Classification used specially developed procedures which exploited known spatial, spectral and contextual characteristics of land cover. The resultant GIS incorporates, within its vector structure, detailed attribute data which record parcel-based land cover, plus information on class probabilities, data on within-parcel heterogeneity, information on landscape structure and context, cover information from LCMGB, together with a record of each parcel's processing history.

The UK Land Cover Map 2000: Construction of a Parcel-Based Vector Map from Satellite Images

Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000) is a thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. The map updates and substantially upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB), made in 1990–92. This paper outlines the character of the map through a description of its specification, production and outputs. The paper is aimed at users of LCM2000 and derived data who need to understand more of the map and its characteristics. The paper also outlines plans for making data available to researchers and applied users.The most important development in LCM2000 was the spectral segmentation of images to generate vector land parcels. Land cover was then identified by the spectral classification of the image data in these parcels. Classification used specially developed procedures which exploited known spatial, spectral and contextual characteristics of land cover. The resultant GIS incorporates, within its vector structure, detailed attribute data which record parcel-based land cover, plus information on class probabilities, data on within-parcel heterogeneity, information on landscape structure and context, cover information from LCMGB, together with a record of each parcel's processing history.

Mapping of Land Use Classes Within the CORINE Land Cover Map of Great Britain

This paper describes the construction of land use classes during semi-automated generalization of a land cover map. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has been responsible for the creation of the CORINE Land Cover Map of Great Britain (CLCMGB), using the ITE Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) as the primary input. Several of the CORINE land cover classes are more accurately described as 'land use' classes, (e.g. airports and construction sites). Since a land cover class (as identified on the LCMGB) could be related to several uses, the CORINE land use classes had to be identified separately from the CORINE land cover classes, within the generalization procedure. This was done using traditional methods of visual image interpretation, combined with the extensive, use of ancillary land use information. The interactive creation of the land use classes described in this paper is the main component that did not use wholly automated methods; 95% of the CLCMGB was created using automated methods. This paper describes the mapping of the land use classes in detail.

A CORINE map of Great Britain by automated means. Techniques for automatic generalization of the Land Cover Map of Great Britain.

The European Commission (EC) programme ‘Co–ordination of Information on the Environment’ (CORINE) includes a project to map the land cover of member states. The CORINE map is essentially one which combines land cover and land use, giving 44 separate classes, in vector, displayed at a scale of 1:100000 with a minimum mappable unit of 25 ha. The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) has compiled a digital land cover map of Great Britain (LCMGB) from classification of Landsat–TM data, resampled to a 25 m raster, with a minimum mappable unit of 0.125 ha and 25 cover types. This paper describes a pilot study which demonstrates the successful spatial generalisation with contextual interpretation to convert the LCMGB to CORINE specifications using semi–automated techniques within a GIS environment.