Overview

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GLC 2000 - LEGEND
Overview Minimum required classifiers for mapping
vegetation cover at global scale using the
FAO-LCCS tool
hjs/30-Apr-01
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• Remarks to the minimum set of classifiers for
  the use with the FAO-LCCS tool 1/3
• Following the recommendations of the GLC 2000
  Legend meeting in November 2000 at the JRC /
  Ispra a minimum set of classifiers was defined
  for the use with LCCS. It is desirable to have
  this minimum set of classifiers further tested by
  the regional users and to receive their feedback.
• The FAO-LCCS tool is used for establishing the
  legend and the class codes by the regional users
  in a standardized way. LCCS would guarantee
  compatibility of class codes for building a
  global legend from the regional vegetation
  cover classes.
• It is indispensable to check carefully the
  procedures and conventions in the LCCS manual
  provided by FAO
• A vegetation cover consists of one or of a
  mixture of several life forms which can be
  described by further classifiers and attributes.
• The classifiers listed hereafter are considered
  as minimum and must be present when describing
  the single classes or life-forms for example
  when describing a forest cover starting from the
  Life-formTrees, a statement on Cover,
  Spatial distribution and Leaf type has to be
  made.
• Minimum is not at all meant as what should be
  achieved in fact a more detailed description of
  vegetation classes is expected from the users by
  adding LCCS classifiers and attributes.
• For the class agriculture it was decided to
  stop as minimum directly after the dichotomous
  phase. It might be too ambitious to ask at the
  minimum level for further separation between
  trees, shrubs and graminoids, keeping in
  mind the 1km resolution of the data. However,
  this separation should be done whenever possible.
• The single class woody offered for describing
  natural terrestrial and aquatic vegetation should
  only be used if further specification is not
  possible. In general it is expected that trees
  or shrub classifiers are specified and further
  described.

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• Remarks to the minimum set of classifiers for
  the use with the FAO-LCCS tool 2/3
• Man-made forests should be interpreted as
  semi-natural vegetation and would therefore not
  belong to cultivated lands. This would include
  also forest plantations intended for wood
  production (e.g. Pine, Eucalyptus, Teak, Poplar).
  It is proposed to leave also rubber under forests
  as one can find rotation periods up to 40 years
  and also wood production as one objective. Oil
  palm plantations, coconut palms or fruit trees
  would however remain under agriculture / tree.
• If different vertical layers are present it is
  the dominant life form which has to be described
  first - not necessarily the upper layer (please
  refer to manual).
• When using the classifier fragmented for a tree
  cover (fragmented forest) the LCCS software
  expects mixed life-forms, i.e. one has to
  define the life-form for the proportion of the
  class not covered by trees. For this second
  component one could stop as minimum at the
  dichotomous phase of LCCS and specify only
  natural terrestrial vegetation.
• In case one has to remain with the minimum set of
  classifiers for certain life-forms (e.g. shrubs
  or herbaceous) one will have use the skip option
  for some classifiers (e.g. spatial distribution
  or leaf type) in order to reach the next required
  classifier.
• For the class herbaceous one should specify
  whether there is a sparse tree or shrub layer. In
  case one does not have any ancillary information
  on additional layers the layering classifier
  could be dropped. Using the mix option one could
  also specify a sparse layer of shrubs and/or
  trees.
• The class lichens and mosses should only be
  used in case the cover is at least 25. At
  present the LCCS tool does not foresee a second
  layer.
• If a sparse cover of woody vegetation, trees
  or shrubs characterizes the main vegetation
  layer no further classifiers were requested as a
  minimum. In any case there could be nothing
  else than another sparse layer of a different
  life-form, otherwise the latter would become the
  dominant life-form.

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• Remarks to the minimum set of classifiers for
  the use with the FAO-LCCS tool 3/3
• LCCS allows specifying different vertical layers
  of a vegetation cover.
• Apart from that the expression mixed refers to
  a mixture of spatially separated life-forms
  within a mapping unit. This would be coded by the
  LCCS tool as life-form1 / life-form2.
• A thematic mix of life-forms or classifiers in
  one location - also in the sense one or the
  other life-form - is foreseen but not yet
  programmed in the LCCS tool. The present proposal
  is to proceed for the time being with the normal
  mix option and to modify the class code in the
  exported version of the legend by replacing
  manually / by //. It is important however
  to immediately add an annotation in the Users
  label when creating such a class, because LCCS
  does not allow direct editing in the legend in
  use, but only in the exported version.
• This is important for describing e.g. a
  vegetation cover as closed to open a forest
  cover with a density from 40-100 (dense to
  open) requires presently a mix of the life-form
  trees, closed and trees, open. However, in
  order to indicate that this class should not
  describe two spatially separated sub-units one
  has to replace manually / by // in a final
  exported version of the legend.
• In the case of a thematic mix (//) it is for
  the time being recommended to repeat
  sub-sequential classifiers for both components.
• For water bodies the classifiers standing and
  flowing were removed from the minimum set.
• The expected main source of information is
  indicated as the follows

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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
Example of on-screen sequence for agricultural
lands crop type Herbaceous
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LCCS ? Entry
Example of on-screen sequence for forest cover
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Minimum required classifiers for mapping
vegetation cover at global scale for GLC2000
using the FAO-LCCS tool
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
No further classifiers obligatory as
minimum (agricultural cropland)
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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1 / 2
LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
1
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
Note In case of missing ancillary information on
additional sparse layers the classifier
layering could be dropped.
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2 / 2
LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
2
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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LCCS ? Entry
No further classifiers obligatory as minimum
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
Note In case of missing ancillary information on
additional sparse layers the classifier
layering could be dropped.
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
No further classifiers obligatory as
minimum (more information could be derived from
ancillary layers)
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry

• Surface aspect
• Consolidated
• Bare rock
• Hardpan
• Unconsolidated
• Bare Soil
• Loose and shifting sand

Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry
No further classifiers obligatory as
minimum (more information could be derived from
ancillary layers)
Minimum requirements for describing life-forms
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LCCS ? Entry
LCCS ? Entry

• Physical Status
• Water
• Snow
• Ice

Minimum requirements for describing life-forms