By: Catherine Teerhuis
Abstract:
The study deals with the detailing and updating of the Corine (CoOrdination of Information on the Environment) Land Cover database for the Netherlands, which is part of the European project I&CLC2000 (IMAGE2000 & CLC2000). The CLC database uses a unique legend and has consistent production methods used in all participating countries. One of these methods is the use of a smallest mapping unit of 25 hectares, which is the smallest area that is delineated during classification of the satellite images. However, the smallest mapping unit for delineating changes in the database is 5 ha. The use of these two different units can cause a number of problems in the interpretation. Furthermore, since the landscape of the Netherlands is rather fragmentend in some areas, the question arises wether the smallest mapping unit of 25 ha. is suitable for the Netherlands to efficiently detect changes in the landscape. In this study, the effect of a smaller mapping unit on the land cover database and the resulting effect on the change database is examined for two contrasting areas in the Netherlands.