C John S. Latham and Antonio Di Gregorio over... · L and C over C on S stem In LCCS it is the same, the classifiers are the words the classification rules are the syntax and the

Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

Class A Liaison Seminar of ISO TC 211

LCCS : An Approach to the Global Harmonisation

of Land Cover

John S. Latham and Antonio Di Gregorio

Environment and Natural Resources Service

Research, Extension and Training Division

Sustainable Development Department

Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m FAO Background

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded in 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and better the condition of rural populations.

FAO is one of the largest specialized agencies of the UN system and the lead agency for agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and rural development. FAO has 184 member countries plus one member organization, the European Community. It works extensively in the development of standards pertaining to food and agriculture and also has a substantive number of activities in the field of spatial information management.

LCCS : an approach to the global harmonisation of Land Cover

ISO TC 211 Class A Liaison Seminar

Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m Application for Class A Liaison Status accepted Thun plenary

Submit a new Work item proposal - NWIP - a draft has been

circulated pertaining to LCCS.

After completion of LCCS - version 2, in January/February

2004, (5 languages) a formal NWIP will be issued in ISO format

Work with Advisory Group on Outreach to develop and

enhance the effectiveness of FAO/UN and ISO joint outreach

through education and training especially through our

Distance Learning Tools - “Resource Kit”. We will be inviting the advisory

Group on outreach to work in a partnership with us on content

standardisation.

Establish a Co-operative Agreement between FAO/UN and

ISO TC 211



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

DefinitionLand cover is the observed (bio)physical cover

on the earth’s surface.It includes vegetation and man-made features as well as bare

rock, bare soil and inland water surfaces.



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

LCCS was created in response to a need for:

• a harmonized and standardized collection of land cover data;

• availability of land cover data for a wide range of applications

and users; and

• comparison and correlation of land cover classes.

LCCS is a comprehensive methodology for description, characterization, classification and comparison of most of land cover features identified anywhere in the world, at

any scale or level of detail.



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

100%

50%

10%

>50m 30m >5m

1 2 3 4 ...

97 9899100

3347

7883

Reference Classification System

DEFINED

GEOGRAPHIC

AREA

Mapping

units

Derivedlegend

Inherent characteristic

of the area determining

the legend classes at a

given scale and data type

Interpretation activity End

users

CLASSIFICATION VERSUS LEGENDS



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m THE OBJECTIVE

To produce a world-wide reference system for land

cover able to combine an high level of flexibility (ability

to describe land cover features all over the world at any

scale or level of detail) with an absolute level of

standardization of the class definition between

different users

THE IDEA

A system that allows a dynamic creation of classes

without to oblige the user to relate to a pre-defined list

of names

THE BASIC CONCEPT

In LCCS the creation of a class is done by a dynamic

combination of land cover diagnostic attributes called

classifiers



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

In LCCS it is the same, the classifiers are the words the

classification rules are the syntax and the land cover

features the concepts to be described.

Like in a language the combination of classifiers trough

the use of the classification rules gives the possibility to

describe a wide variety of land cover features.

The combination of the same classifiers between the

whole different users of the classification system

will result in the same land cover class.

How it works

In any language a semantic concept is expressed using words

regulated by a syntax



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m How to create Land Cover classes in LCCS :

trees

closed

open

shrubs

herbaceous

sparse

evergreenbroadleaved

?

??

Basic concept of a land cover class(the idea)

Use of LCCS method(the language)

Elaboration of the conceptin the codified LCCS

language(the concept expression)

Trees A3

Closed A10

Height 14-7m B6

Needeleaved D2

Evergreen E1

=A3+A10+B6+D2+E1



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

Major advantages of the method

•LCCS gives to the user the possibility to define

a large number of land cover features

(app.200000)

•despite the large number all the classes have

a very distinctive and unambiguous meaning

•LCCS create an absolute level of

standardization between the different users



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m Major possible applications:

•all the land cover/natural resources mapping

activities at any scale in any part of the world

•bridging system between land cover maps

that use local or not standardized legends

•possible link between small scale global

mapping activities and detailed large scale

national mapping programs

•bridging system to link natural resources

statistical census with mapping programs

at national or regional level



Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m

Thank-you for this opportunity to present

LCCS at this Class A liaison Seminar

We seek your support for a future of a mutually

beneficial co-operation

between ISO TC-211 and FAO of the UN

Thank-you

Lan

dC

over

Cla

ssif

icati

on

Syste

m Components

Metadata Server for Geo-referenced data &

Information

Spatial Data & Information

Portal

Services & Online Use

Management

C John S. Latham and Antonio Di Gregorio over... · L and C over C on S stem In LCCS it is the same, the classifiers are the words the classification rules are the syntax and the

Documents