An Evaluation of an Object-Oriented Paradigm for Land Use/Land Cover Classification∗

Object-oriented image classification has tremendous potential to improve classification accuracies of land use and land cover (LULC), yet its benefits have only been minimally tested in peer-reviewed studies. We aim to quantify the benefits of an object-oriented method over a traditional pixel-based method for the mixed urban–suburban–agricultural landscape surrounding Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. To do so, we compared a traditional pixel-based classification using maximum likelihood to the object-oriented image classification paradigm embedded in eCognition Professional 4.0 software. This object-oriented paradigm has at least four components not typically used in pixel-based classification: (1) the segmentation procedure, (2) nearest neighbor classifier, (3) the integration of expert knowledge, and (4) feature space optimization. We evaluated each of these components individually to determine the source of any improvement in classification accuracy. We found that the combination of segmentation into image objects, the nearest neighbor classifier, and integration of expert knowledge yields substantially improved classification accuracy for the scene compared to a traditional pixel-based method. However, with the exception of feature space optimization, little or no improvement in classification accuracy is achieved by each of these strategies individually.     

Land Cover Transformation at a Global Level During 2001–2012: Mapping and Analysis of Changes

Presented are the results from taking an inventory and analyzing the land cover transformation during 2001–2012. The study revealed 246 types of transitions between land cover classes according to the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, including 229 types of changes with a change of land cover classes. The density of changes is highest in the taiga and steppe zones of Eurasia and North America, savannas and woodlands of Africa and South America, the Arctic tundras of North America and Eurasia. It was found that the natural zones with a complex structure of land cover (open woodlands, shrublands and savannas of the tropical belt and hard-leaved summer-dry open woodland and shrublands of the subtropical belt) have the largest number of transition types (17) and types of changes (10 and 8, respectively). The contribution from the particular transformation processes to the structure of land cover changes within the natural zones was calculated to show the principal land cover trajectories for each natural zone. The findings provide a means of assessing the degree and nature of land cover transformation within the natural zones and identifying, on this basis, the leading land use trends which would have a considerable influence on the structure and dynamics of present-day land surface landscapes across the globe.     

International Conference on Land Use/Cover Change Dynamics——First Circular Announcement(LUCCD''2001)

Organized by: Beijing Normal University, National Natural Science Foundation of China Hosted by: Institute of Resources Science, Beijing Normal UniversityKey Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disaster, Ministry of Education of ChinaTopics:1) Detecting and monitoring LUCC2) Temporal-spatial characteristics in LUCC3) Driving model for LUCC4) Forecasting and modeling LUCC 5) Phenological and biochemical response on LUCC6) Regional LUCC and microclimate 7) LUCC i…     

Analysis of Drivers of Trends in Groundwater Levels Under Rice–Wheat Ecosystem in Haryana,India

Natural Resources Research - In India, especially in the state of Haryana in the northwestern parts, groundwater is the key source of water supply for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses. In...     

Legal Geographies—Controlling Sexually Oriented Businesses: Law,Licensing, and the Geographies of a Controversial Land Use

In this article, we explore both a neglected geography (the location of sexually oriented business) and a neglected instrument of sociospatial control (premises licensing). Arguing the former is increasingly shaped by the latter, we suggest that licensing provides a flexible means by which the state is able to reconcile the growing demand for "adult entertainment" with concerns about community standards, urban aesthetics, public safety, and property prices. We demonstrate this through an examination of the role of UK licensing legislation in controlling the location and visibility of such controversial businesses in London's West End. It is demonstrated that, in this case, licensing has encouraged the "upscaling" of sex-related businesses while reducing their overall number and visibility. We conclude that licensing, as a means of controlling contentious urban land uses, constitutes a "field of governance" whose legal geographies remain to be adequately theorized and explored.     

Integration of Sparse Geologic Information in Gold Targeting Using Logistic Regression Analysis in the Hutti–Maski Schist Belt,Raichur, Karnataka,India—A Case Study

Logistic regression has been used in the study to integrate indicator patterns for estimation of the probability of occurrence of gold deposits in a part of the auriferous Archaean Hutti–Maski schist belt. Data used consist of categorical and continuous variables obtained from a coded lineament map and geochemical anomaly maps of the pathfinder elements of gold in soil and groundwater. Main effects and interactions of the variables studied were used in formulating the logistic regression model. Regression models using lineament-proximity data, combined with soil and groundwater geochemical anomalies were tested on parts of the schist belt with data not used in estimation of model parameters. Predicted probabilities greater than 0.9 identified known deposit locations in the area.     

Land cover changes in the rural-urban interaction of Xi＇an region using Landsat TM/ETM data

Landsat ETM/TM data and an artificial neural network （ANN） were applied to analyse the expansion of the city of Xi＇an and land use/cover change of its surrounding area between 2000 and 2003. Supervised classification and normalized difference barren index （NDBI） were used respectively to retrieve its urban boundary. Results showed that the urban area increased by an annual rate of 12.3%, with area expansion from 253.37 km^2 in 2000 to 358.60 km^2 in 2003. Large areas of farmland in the north and southwest were converted into urban construction land. The land use/cover changes of Xi＇an were mainly caused by fast development of urban economy, population immigration from countryside, great development of infrastructure such as transportation, and huge demands for urban market. In addition, affected by the government policy of “returning farmland to woodland”, some farmland was converted into economic woodland, such as Chinese goosebeerv garden, vineyard etc.     

Where Are Potential Regions for the Reallocation of Wheat in the Context of Chinese Land Fallow and Food Security Policies? Findings from Spatio-temporal Changes in Area and Production Between 1990 and 2014

One of the aims of the recently initiated land fallow policy is to encourage winter wheat abandonment in order to recover the groundwater environment of the North China Plain (NCP); although this also threatens a national secure supply of this crop, as the NCP is the major wheat producing area in China. It is therefore necessary to consider regional wheat reallocation in order to meet the twin challenges of production and water conservation. An evaluation of spatiotemporal changes in wheat area and production across China in recent years may shed light on the regions that have the potential for reallocation; such trends are analyzed in this study using agricultural statistical data. Three over-arching principles are proposed that reallocation must be naturally suitable, economically feasible, and socially acceptable, and together with the result of the spatiotemporal analysis, two continuous areas are recommended as potentially suitable for wheat reallocation—alongside the Huai River and the cold region of northeastern China. We also present strategies to improve wheat yields as well as policies for farmers, aiming to encourage the reallocation of wheat to the regions highlighted in this study.     

Origin of Lower Cretaceous quartzose arenites in northern India and the Indus Basins of Pakistan—The result of provenance composition,weathering or diagenesis?

Lower Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) sandstones of the Ghaggar-Hakra Formation in the Barmer Basin of northwest Rajasthan, India, have a complex depositional history which is confusing given they are quartzose arenites. The heavy mineral grains are very well-rounded, and the assemblage is dominated by zircon and rutile grains suggesting that the sediments have been recycled multiple times, whilst the presence of staurolite indicates a metapelite provenance component. Petrographical analysis suggests that extreme diagenesis cannot account for the quartzose arenite composition, despite Early Cretaceous soil formation and at least two periods of subsequent telogenetic modification. An alternative explanation to extreme chemical weathering in the provenance area is that the Ghaggar-Hakra sandstones are multi-cycle sediments derived, at least in part, from the quartzose arenites of the Cambrian Jodhpur Group. This analysis suggests that variations in detrital mineralogy across the Western India Rift System and Indus Basins are the result of transcontinental fluvial transport systems sourcing sediment from specific basement highs (Nagar Parker High, Devikot High, Deodar Ridge and Aravalli Mountain Range) mixed with varying proportions of sediment derived from sandstones of the Jodhpur Group. Consequently, we suggest that Cretaceous fluvial systems were controlled by the local palaeogeographies within the failed rifts of the Barmer and Cambay Basins and that both basins formed barriers to sediment transport from the Aravalli Mountain Range across the northwest Indian plate and into surrounding basins.