Question

What are the different data sources used to assess and evaluate land use? Can you speak to the various forms of accuracy (horizontal, attribute, semantic, etc.) of a couple of these popular sources?

Answer 1

Question-What are the different data sources used to assess and evaluate land use? Can you speak to the various forms of accuracy (horizontal, attribute, semantic, etc.) of a couple of these popular sources?

Answer:

Land cover is the type of data that documents how much of a landscape is covered by natural cover like forests, wetlands, or humanmade like impervious surfaces, agriculture etc. Land use, on the other hand, shows how people use the landscape – whether for development, conservation, or mixed-use types. Land cover can be identified by analyzing satellite and aerial imagery. The Land evaluation deals with the assessment of land performance when the same is used for specific purposes.

Several data types could be helpful in the process of land evaluation and come in huge quantity and cost. The process of collection and analysis also involves time and money. There are primarily three different types of data used for land evaluation purposes.

a) Satellite: These included earth observation from a satellite in the form of data and images. The ranges of data that can be identified from satellite images are water resources, vegetation, land use, infrastructure, landform, soils.

b) Aerial images: The data is taken by a camera fixed in an aircraft and flying over a specific region. The range of data includes landform, soils, vegetation, land use, farm boundaries, water resources, crops, infrastructure.

c) Ground-based: These included topographical maps, surveys, questionnaires, and reports. These can identify soil, climate, landform, vegetation, land use, population, social, and economic data.

Ground-based data has higher spatial and attribute accuracy than other types. The ground information and aerial data are used to verify the accuracy of existing maps and satellite images in the process of land classification and evaluation.