Satellite Earth observation data to identify anthropogenic pressures in selected protected areas

Protected areas are experiencing increased levels of human pressure. To enable appropriate conservation action, it is critical to map and monitor changes in the type and extent of land cover/use and habitat classes, which can be related to human pressures over time. Satellite Earth observation (EO) data and techniques offer the opportunity to detect such changes. Yet association with field information and expert interpretation by ecologists is required to interpret, qualify and link these changes to human pressure. There is thus an urgent need to harmonize the technical background of experts in the field of EO data analysis with the terminology of ecologists, protected area management authorities and policy makers in order to provide meaningful, context-specific value-added EO products. This paper builds on the DPSIR framework, providing a terminology to relate the concepts of state, pressures, and drivers with the application of EO analysis. The type of pressure can be inferred through the detection of changes in state (i.e. changes in land cover and/or habitat type and/or condition). Four broad categories of changes in state are identified, i.e. land cover/habitat conversion, land cover/habitat modification, habitat fragmentation and changes in landscape connectivity, and changes in plant community structure. These categories of change in state can be mapped through EO analyses, with the goal of using expert judgement to relate changes in state to causal direct anthropogenic pressures. Drawing on expert knowledge, a set of protected areas located in diverse socio-ecological contexts and subject to a variety of pressures are analysed to (a) link the four categories of changes in state of land cover/habitats to the drivers (anthropogenic pressure), as relevant to specific target land cover and habitat classes; (b) identify (for pressure mapping) the most appropriate spatial and temporal EO data sources as well as interpretations from ecologists and field data useful in connection with EO data analysis. We provide detailed examples for two protected areas, demonstrating the use of EO data for detection of land cover/habitat change, coupled with expert interpretation to relate such change to specific anthropogenic pressures. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations and feasibility of using EO data and techniques to identify anthropogenic pressures, suggesting additional research efforts required in this direction.     

Choosing pasture maps: An assessment of pasture land classification definitions and a case study of Brazil

Pasture land occupies extensive areas and is increasingly of interest for sustainable intensification, land use diversification, greenhouse gas emission mitigation, and bioenergy expansion. Accurate maps of pasture and other managed land covers are needed for monitoring, intercomparison, assessing potential uses, and planning. Yet, land maps can be generated from different types of classification datasets – i.e. as a land use or land cover type – as well as different sources. In this study our aim was to assess and compare land use and land cover definitions for pasture, and examine variability in the resulting pasture land classification maps. First, we conducted a review of pasture definitions in commonly used mapping databases. We then performed a case study involving Brazil, a dominant global producer of pasture-based livestock. Six geospatial databases were harmonized and compared to each other and to MODIS land cover for Brazil including the Cerrado and Amazon biomes, which are internationally recognized for their ecological value. Total pasture area estimates for Brazil ranged by a factor greater than four, from about 430,000 km² to over 1.7 million km². Our analysis showed high variability in pasture land maps depending on the definitions, methods and underlying datasets used to generate them. The results are illustrative of a symptomatic problem for all manage land datasets, demonstrating the need for land categories studies and geospatial data resources that fully define land terms and describe measurable management attributes. Additionally, the suitability of individual geospatial datasets for different types of land mapping must be better described and reported. These recommendations would help bring more consistency in the consideration of managed lands in research, reporting, and policy development, as demonstrated here for pasture land using six case study datasets from multiple sources.     

StarBorn: Towards making in‐situ land cover data generation fun with a location‐based game

Data contributed by a large number of non‐experts is increasingly used to validate and curate land cover data, with location‐based games (LBGs) developed for this purpose generating particular interest. We here present our findings on StarBorn, a novel LBG with a strong focus on game play. Users conquer game‐tiles by visiting real‐world locations and collecting land cover data. Within three months, StarBorn generated 13,319 land cover classifications by 84 users. Results show that data are concentrated around users’ daily life spaces, agreement among users is highest for urban and industry land cover, and user‐generated land cover classifications exhibit high agreement with an authoritative data set. However, we also observe low user retention rates and negative correlations between number of contributions and agreement rates with an authoritative land cover product. We recommend that future work consider not only game play, but also how motivational aspects influence behavior and data quality. We conclude that LBGs are suitable tools for generating cost‐efficient in‐situ land cover classifications.     

地表覆盖遥感产品更新完善的研究动向

近年来,多尺度地表覆盖遥感产品的不断涌现,为环境变化研究、地球系统模拟、地理国(世)情监测和可持续发展规划等提供了重要科学数据。为更好地满足广大用户日益增长的应用需求,应对地表覆盖遥感产品进行持续更新完善,保持其时效性、增强时序性、丰富多样性。针对大面积地表覆盖遥感产品更新完善所面临的主要问题,介绍和评述了国内外有关研究动向,包括影像与众源信息相结合的更新、数据类型细化与完善、地表覆盖真实性验证,并作了简要展望。     

Enhancing the performance of regional land cover mapping

Different pixel-based, object-based and subpixel-based methods such as time-series analysis, decision-tree, and different supervised approaches have been proposed to conduct land use/cover classification. However, despite their proven advantages in small dataset tests, their performance is variable and less satisfactory while dealing with large datasets, particularly, for regional-scale mapping with high resolution data due to the complexity and diversity in landscapes and land cover patterns, and the unacceptably long processing time. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the comparatively highest performance of an operational approach based on integration of multisource information ensuring high mapping accuracy in large areas with acceptable processing time. The information used includes phenologically contrasted multiseasonal and multispectral bands, vegetation index, land surface temperature, and topographic features. The performance of different conventional and machine learning classifiers namely Malahanobis Distance (MD), Maximum Likelihood (ML), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Random Forests (RFs) was compared using the same datasets in the same IDL (Interactive Data Language) environment. An Eastern Mediterranean area with complex landscape and steep climate gradients was selected to test and develop the operational approach. The results showed that SVMs and RFs classifiers produced most accurate mapping at local-scale (up to 96.85% in Overall Accuracy), but were very time-consuming in whole-scene classification (more than five days per scene) whereas ML fulfilled the task rapidly (about 10 min per scene) with satisfying accuracy (94.2–96.4%). Thus, the approach composed of integration of seasonally contrasted multisource data and sampling at subclass level followed by a ML classification is a suitable candidate to become an operational and effective regional land cover mapping method.     

土地覆盖变化信息自适应抽样策略及其精度评估

提出了一种面向土地覆盖变化信息局域精度评估的自适应型抽样策略。结合待研究地图的土地覆盖变化信息局部特征（如土地覆盖变化类别、斑块大小、异质性和优势度）,探讨与土地覆盖变化信息精度显著相关的协变量,以预测精度的标准误差作为判断标准,识别需要提高精度预测结果可靠性的区域,以自适应地和逐步定位的方式进行样本采集。基于武汉地区的精度评价结果,自适应的抽取增加100个训练样本使得预测精度的确定系数提高了50.66%,而简单随机抽取的增加样本使得预测精度的确定系数提高了17.22%。试验表明,自适应型抽样策略能显著提高土地覆盖变化信息局域精度预测的抽样效益,减少预测精度的不确定性。模型选择的结果表明,土地覆盖变化类别和优势度指数是最优的协变量组合。     

Dasymetric Mapping Using High Resolution Address Point Datasets

Mismatching sets of boundaries present a persistent problem in spatial analysis for many different applications. Dasymetric mapping techniques can be employed to estimate population characteristics of small areas that do not correspond to census enumeration boundaries. Several types of ancillary data have been used in dasymetric mapping but performance is often limited by their relatively coarse resolution and moderate correspondence to actual population counts. The current research examines the performance of using high resolution ancillary data in the form of individual address point datasets which represent the locations of all addressable units within a jurisdiction. The performance of address points was compared with several other techniques, including areal weighting, land cover, imperviousness, road density and nighttime lights. Datasets from 16 counties in Ohio were used in the analysis, reflecting a range of different population densities. For each technique the ancillary data sources were employed to estimate census block group population counts using census tracts as source zones, and the results were compared with the known block group population counts. Results indicate that address points perform significantly better compared with other types of ancillary data. The overall error for all block groups (n = 683) using address points is 4.9% compared with 10.8% for imperviousness, 11.6% for land cover, 13.3% for road density, 18.6% for nighttime lights and 21.2% for areal weighting. Using only residential address points rather than all types of locations further reduces this error to 4.2%. Analysis of the spatial patterns in the relative performance of the various techniques revealed that address points perform particularly well in low density rural areas, which typically present challenges for traditional dasymetric mapping techniques using land cover datasets. These results provide very strong support for the use of address points for small area population estimates. Current developments in the growing availability of address point datasets and the implications for spatial demographic analyses are discussed.     

顾及栅格空间拓扑关系的地表覆盖时空目标不一致性探测方法

地表覆盖与更新是地理国情监测、环境变化评估、生态系统保护等不可或缺的基础地理信息。遥感制图技术已成为地表覆盖信息提取的重要手段,但因地物光谱、纹理及时相等特征复杂性,地表覆盖更新数据往往存在错分、漏分,从而导致地表覆盖时空目标不一致。现有地表覆盖更新数据不一致性探测主要以人工检查为主、部分自动化为辅的方式,生产实践中需要大量的作业人员与时间,缺乏行之有效的不一致性自动化探测工具。本文研究分析了栅格地表覆盖更新数据不一致性检查面临的挑战,提出了基于复合逻辑量词的栅格空间拓扑关系计算方法、基于置信区间的更新期地表覆盖错分目标初判规则构建,以及利用空间约束多重匹配的更新期错分目标后验判断,形成了“关系-规则-判断”的地表覆盖时空目标不一致性探测体系。试验以山东临朐、垦利GlobeLand30数据为研究对象,经与统计一致性检核方法对比分析、参照真实地表影像数据,实现了地表覆盖时空目标不一致性探测与有效性检验,验证了探测方法可行性。     

Using control data to determine the reliability of volunteered geographic information about land cover

There is much interest in using volunteered geographic information (VGI) in formal scientific analyses. This analysis uses VGI describing land cover that was captured using a web-based interface, linked to Google Earth. A number of control points, for which the land cover had been determined by experts allowed measures of the reliability of each volunteer in relation to each land cover class to be calculated. Geographically weighted kernels were used to estimate surfaces of volunteered land cover information accuracy and then to develop spatially distributed correspondences between the volunteer land cover class and land cover from 3 contemporary global datasets (GLC-2000, GlobCover and MODIS v.5). Specifically, a geographically weighted approach calculated local confusion matrices (correspondences) at each location in a central African study area and generated spatial distributions of user's, producer's, portmanteau, and partial portmanteau accuracies. These were used to evaluate the global datasets and to infer which of them was 'best’ at describing Tree cover at each location in the study area. The resulting maps show where specific global datasets are recommended for analyses requiring Tree cover information. The methods presented in this research suggest that some of the concerns about the quality of VGI can be addressed through careful data collection, the use of control points to evaluate volunteer performance and spatially explicit analyses. A research agenda for the use and analysis of VGI about land cover is outlined.     

Assessing the potential of integrated Landsat 8 thermal bands,with the traditional reflective bands and derived vegetation indices in classifying urban landscapes

Reliable and up-to-date urban land cover information is valuable in urban planning and policy development. Due to the increasing demand for reliable land cover information there has been a growing need for robust methods and datasets to improve the classification accuracy from remotely sensed imagery. This study sought to assess the potential of the newly launched Landsat 8 sensor’s thermal bands and derived vegetation indices in improving land cover classification in a complex urban landscape using the support vector machine classifier. This study compared the individual and combined performance of Landsat 8’s reflective, thermal bands and vegetation indices in classifying urban land use-land cover. The integration of Landsat 8 reflective bands, derived vegetation indices and thermal bands overall produced significantly higher accuracy classification results than using traditional bands as standalone (i.e. overall, user and producer accuracies). An overall accuracy above 89.33% and a kappa index of 0.86, significantly higher than the one obtained with the use of the traditional reflective bands as a standalone data-set and other analysis stages. On average, the results also indicate high producer and user accuracies (i.e. above 80%) for most of the classes with a McNemar’s Z score of 9.00 at 95% confidence interval showing significant improvement compared with classification using reflective bands as standalone. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the integration of the Landsat 8’s OLI and TIR data presents an invaluable potential for accurate and robust land cover classification in a complex urban landscape, especially in areas where the availability of high resolution datasets remains a challenge.     

Testing the Effects of Thematic Uncertainty on Spatial Decision-making

Dasymetric mapping techniques can be employed to estimate population characteristics of small areas that do not correspond to census enumeration areas. Land cover has been the most widely used source of ancillary data in dasymetric mapping. The current research examines the performance of alternative sources of ancillary data, including imperviousness, road networks, and nighttime lights. Nationally available datasets were used in the analysis to allow for replicability. The performance of the techniques used to examine these sources was compared to areal weighting and traditional land cover techniques. Four states were used in the analysis, representing a range of different geographic regions: Connecticut, New Mexico, Oregon, and South Carolina. Ancillary data sources were used to estimate census block group population counts using census tracts as source zones, and the results were compared to the known block group population counts. Results indicate that the performance of dasymetric methods varies substantially among study areas, and no single technique consistently outperforms all others. The three best techniques are imperviousness with values greater than 75 percent removed, imperviousness with values greater than 60 percent removed, and land cover. Total imperviousness and roads perform slightly worse, with nighttime lights performing the worst compared to all other ancillary data types. All techniques performed better than areal weighting.     

Characterizing and monitoring global landscapes using GlobeLand30 datasets: the first decade of the twenty-first century

Global land cover maps are important sources of information for a wide range of studies including land change analysis and climate change research. While the global land cover maps attempt to present a consistent and homogenous data in terms of the production process, the existing datasets offer coarse resolution data, e.g. 1000 m for IGBP DISCover and 300 m for GlobeCover 2009 that is oftentimes challenging. Recently, GlobeLand30 data based on Landsat archive for two timestamps of 2000 and 2010 has been released. It presents a finer spatial resolution of 30 m, which provides numerous opportunities for a wide range of studies. The main objective of this study is to use this dataset for characterizing global land cover patterns, monitoring, and identifying extreme land change cases with their types and magnitude. The findings reveal massive land change patterns including deforestation, desertification, shrinkage of water bodies, and urbanization across the globe. The results and discussions of this research can help policy-makers, environmental planners, ecosystem services providers and climate change researchers to gain finer insights about the forms of global land change. Future research calls for further investigation of the underlying causes of the massive changes and their consequences on our ecosystems and human populations.     

地表覆盖分类数据对区域森林叶面积指数反演的影响

以江西省吉安市为研究区,将5种全球地表覆盖分类数据(包括美国地质调查局(USGS)、马里兰大学(UMD)和波士顿大学(BU)生成的3套数据和欧洲生成的2套数据)以及由TM影像生成的区域地表覆盖分类数据,分别与MODIS1km反射率资料结合,利用基于4尺度几何光学模型的LAI反演方法生成研究区的LAI。在1km和4km两种尺度上将反演的LAI与TM资料生成的LAI进行比较,评价地表覆盖分类数据对LAI反演结果的影响。结果表明,TM和欧洲太空局的GLOBCOVER地表覆盖分类数据用于反演LAI的结果较好,在1km尺度上,反演的LAI与统计模型估算的TMLAI相关的R2分别为0.44和0.40,在4km尺度上的R2分别为0.57和0.54;其次为波士顿大学的MODIS地表覆盖分类数据,据其反演的LAI与TMLAI相关的R2在1km和4km尺度上分别为0.38和0.51;而马里兰大学的UMD和欧洲的GLC2000地表覆盖分类数据会导致反演的LAI存在较大误差,据其反演的LAI与TMLAI之间的一致性较差,在1km和4km两种尺度上平均偏低20%左右;LAI的反演结果对聚集度系数具有强的敏感性。该研究表明,为了提高区域/全球LAI反演精度,需要有高质量的地表覆盖分类数据。     

A spatial comparison of four satellite derived 1 km global land cover datasets

Global change issues are high on the current international political agenda. A variety of global protocols and conventions have been established aimed at mitigating global environmental risks. A system for monitoring, evaluation and compliance of these international agreements is needed, with each component requiring comprehensive analytical work based on consistent datasets. Consequently, scientists and policymakers have put faith in earth observation data for improved global analysis. Land cover provides in many aspects the foundation for environmental monitoring [FAO, 2002a. Proceedings of the FAO/UNEP Expert Consultation on Strategies for Global Land Cover Mapping and Monitoring. FAO, Rome, Italy, 38 pp.]. Despite the significance of land cover as an environmental variable, our knowledge of land cover and its dynamics is poor [Foody, G.M., 2002. Status of land cover classification accuracy assessment. Rem. Sens. Environ. 80, 185–201]. This study compares four satellite derived 1 km land cover datasets freely available from the internet and in wide use among the scientific community. Our analysis shows that while these datasets have in many cases reasonable agreement at a global level in terms of total area and general spatial pattern, there is limited agreement on the spatial distribution of the individual land classes. If global datasets are used at a continental or regional level, agreement in many cases decreases significantly. Reasons for these differences are many—ranging from the classes and thresholds applied, time of data collection, sensor type, classification techniques, use of in situ data, etc., and make comparison difficult. Results of studies based on global land cover datasets are likely influenced by the dataset chosen. Scientists and policymakers should be made aware of the inherent limitations in using current global land cover datasets, and would be wise to utilise multiple datasets for comparison.     

Recent Literature

Development of a temporal geographic information system (GIS) and spatio-temporal data modeling are key to incorporating time into geographic information science. This paper describes how to design and develop temporal GIS that will work with spatio-temporal data represented in various data models, and it introduces a prototype temporal GIS with a case study. In temporal GIS, the integration of multiple spatio-temporal representations is based on common spatial and temporal reference systems. In other words, a map window of temporal GIS visualizes spatio-temporal data valid at the same time within one spatial area. To achieve such visualization, separate data editing and query modules are required for each spatio-temporal data model (STDM). In the temporal query interface, after a user specifies a time, the system automatically hires correspondent modules to retrieve spatio-temporal data valid at that time. Besides temporal queries common to all STDMs, each module may provide additional temporal query capabilities specific to that STDM. In the case study, I implement a prototype temporal GIS for three STDMs. The examples of query and visualization, which use three datasets (census data, land use/land cover, and elevation data) demonstrate the prototype temporal GIS can integrate multiple temporal representations.     

Comparison and relative quality assessment of the GLC2000, GLOBCOVER,MODIS and ECOCLIMAP land cover data sets at the African continental scale

Land cover dynamics at the African continental scale is of great importance for global change studies. Actually, four satellite-derived land cover maps of Africa now available, e.g. ECOCLIMAP, GLC2000, MODIS and GLOBCOVER, are based on images acquired in the 2000s. This study aims at stressing the compliances and the discrepancies between these four land cover classifications systems. Each of them used different mapping initiatives and relies on different mapping standards, which supports the present investigation. In order to do a relative comparison of the four maps, a preamble was to reconcile their thematic legends into more aggregated categories after a projection into the same spatial resolution. Results show that the agreement between the four land cover products is between 56 and 69%. While all these land cover datasets show a reasonable agreement in terms of surface types and spatial distribution patterns, mapping of heterogeneous landscapes in the four products is not very successful. Land cover products based on remote sensing imagery can indeed significantly be improved by using smarter algorithms, better timing of image acquisition, improved class definitions. Either will help to improve the accuracy of future land cover maps at the African continental scale. Data producers may use the areas of spatial agreement for training area selection while users might need to verify the information in the areas of disagreement using additional data sources.     

Disaggregating and mapping crop statistics using hypertemporal remote sensing

Governments compile their agricultural statistics in tabular form by administrative area, which gives no clue to the exact locations where specific crops are actually grown. Such data are poorly suited for early warning and assessment of crop production. 10-Daily satellite image time series of Andalucia, Spain, acquired since 1998 by the SPOT Vegetation Instrument in combination with reported crop area statistics were used to produce the required crop maps. Firstly, the 10-daily (1998–2006) 1-km resolution SPOT-Vegetation NDVI-images were used to stratify the study area in 45 map units through an iterative unsupervised classification process. Each unit represents an NDVI-profile showing changes in vegetation greenness over time which is assumed to relate to the types of land cover and land use present. Secondly, the areas of NDVI-units and the reported cropped areas by municipality were used to disaggregate the crop statistics. Adjusted R-squares were 98.8% for rainfed wheat, 97.5% for rainfed sunflower, and 76.5% for barley. Relating statistical data on areas cropped by municipality with the NDVI-based unit map showed that the selected crops were significantly related to specific NDVI-based map units. Other NDVI-profiles did not relate to the studied crops and represented other types of land use or land cover. The results were validated by using primary field data. These data were collected by the Spanish government from 2001 to 2005 through grid sampling within agricultural areas; each grid (block) contains three 700 m × 700 m segments. The validation showed 68%, 31% and 23% variability explained (adjusted R-squares) between the three produced maps and the thousands of segment data. Mainly variability within the delineated NDVI-units caused relatively low values; the units are internally heterogeneous. Variability between units is properly captured. The maps must accordingly be considered “small scale maps”. These maps can be used to monitor crop performance of specific cropped areas because of using hypertemporal images. Early warning thus becomes more location and crop specific because of using hypertemporal remote sensing.     

大尺度土地覆盖数据集在中国及周边区域的精度评价

大尺度土地覆盖数据是全球陆地表层过程研究、生态系统评估、环境建模等科学研究的重要基础,研究现有数据集的特点对数据使用者及生产新的数据集都具有指导意义。本研究以中国及周边区域为研究区,根据不同分类体系对地物的定义,研究不同分类体系中对应地物的相关系数,并将所有分类体系转换为IGBP分类体系;然后,从定性和定量两方面分析现有5种土地覆盖数据集(IGBP DISCover、UMD、GLC2000、MOD12Q1和GlobCover 2005)的空间一致性;并利用Google Earth高分影像选取两期验证样本评价5种土地覆盖数据集的精度。结果表明:同种地物在不同土地覆盖数据集之间的空间分布格局差异较大,且不同土地覆盖数据集之间的总体一致性系数较低;5种土地覆盖数据集中,GLC2000的总体精度和Kappa系数均最高,GlobCover 2005的总体精度和Kappa系数均最低。     

Measuring land-use and land-cover change using the U.S. department of agriculture’s cropland data layer: Cautions and recommendations

Monitoring agricultural land is important for understanding and managing food production, environmental conservation efforts, and climate change. The United States Department of Agriculture's Cropland Data Layer (CDL), an annual satellite imagery-derived land cover map, has been increasingly used for this application since complete coverage of the conterminous United States became available in 2008. However, the CDL is designed and produced with the intent of mapping annual land cover rather than tracking changes over time, and as a result certain precautions are needed in multi-year change analyses to minimize error and misapplication. We highlight scenarios that require special considerations, suggest solutions to key challenges, and propose a set of recommended good practices and general guidelines for CDL-based land change estimation. We also characterize a problematic issue of crop area underestimation bias within the CDL that needs to be accounted for and corrected when calculating changes to crop and cropland areas. When used appropriately and in conjunction with related information, the CDL is a valuable and effective tool for detecting diverse trends in agriculture. By explicitly discussing the methods and techniques for post-classification measurement of land-cover and land-use change using the CDL, we aim to further stimulate the discourse and continued development of suitable methodologies. Recommendations generated here are intended specifically for the CDL but may be broadly applicable to additional remotely-sensed land cover datasets including the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based land cover products, and other regional, national, and global land cover classification maps.