Land Cover and Change Classification

Urban growth and subsequent loss of agricultural lands, forests and wetlands in metro areas such as the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in Minnesota is a growing concern to citizens and land planning and management agencies.

While aerial photographs of have been used to assist in land planning and management decisions for many years, the expense of photo acquisition and interpretation has generally limited analyses to small geographic areas.

In the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, analysts from the University of Minnesota’s Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis Laboratory are exploring a new approach to acquiring land cover information. They are using digital images capture from satellites, which have multispectral properties that support accurate land use mapping. With images dating back to the mid-1970s, analysts can generate land cover change maps and statistics useful to land managers and policy makers.

There are several benefits to using a satellite-based approach to land cover mapping. First, the synoptic view of the satellite sensor provides coverage of large geographic areas (e.g., an individual image covers 100 x 100 miles). Second, the digital format of the data facilitates more efficient analysis. Third, the classified data are compatible with geographic information systems, eliminating the need to digitize interpreted information. Lastly, land cover maps can be generated at a considerably less cost than other methods.

Satellite-based Approach to Land Cover and Change Classification >>