FAO LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE GLCN

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2 MEDITERRANEAN Workshop
Rome 9 10 June 2008
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THE FAO UNEP LCCS
(LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM)
BY
ANTONIO DI GREGORIO
Environment Management and Assesment Unit
(NRCE) TECHNICAL
SUPERVISOR FAO GLCN (GLOBAL LAND
COVER NETWORK)
antonio.digregorio_at_fao.org
FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
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THE CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

• Despite the great need of COMPATIBILITY and
  COMPARABILITY
• of different land cover data bases
• Current maps exist only (mainly) as indipendent
  datasets

• SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY OF GEOGRAPHIC
  INFORMATION
• is the major cause of geographic information
  compatibility.

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THE CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND

• The semantic problems of data exchange have
  became
• apparent with the increase of data modelling
  commmunity
• GIS is the ultimate tool for data integration but
  do not solve
• the problem of data harmonization
• In this respect is necessary a formal
  specification of a common
• terminology in which shared knowledge can be
  represented

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GLOBAL LAND USE DATA Workshop
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• Many classifications of geographic phenomena are
  often a black
• box to anyone outside the immediate group
  involved in the
• classification process.
• In geographic information truth as in a distinct,
  incontrovertible
• and correct fact cannot exist. Thus L.C.
  information is inherently
• subject to indeterminacy and relativism mostly
  reflected in its
• ontology.
• In the worst cases LULC information are treated
  as data by users
• who dont fully understand its semantics.
• The consequences are a miss use of data bases
  information, a
• situation few users are prepared to acknowledge
  and even more
• difficult to document.

L.C. SEMANTIC THE CORE OF THE PROBLEM
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FOREST LAND IN DIFFERENT GLOBAL LAND COVER DATA
SETS
FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
Forest definitions IGBP legend percent tree
cover gt60 / tree height gt2m GLC2000 legend
percent tree cover gt15 / tree height gt3m
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• A NEW PROSPECTIVE TO CLASSIFY LC
• A classification process deals with the
  structuring of a
• specific knowledge domain in order to create
  consistency
• and stability in communication between users.
• Classification is however a dynamic process
  definitions
• can change over time and prevalence of other
  cultures
• It should be recognized that no classification
  system can
• reflect either the social or the natural world
  fully accurately
• There are and it will be always multiple ways to
  conceptualize
• and communicate knowledge thus inherent ambiguity
  in any
• categorization

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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.
FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
THE
OBJECTIVE To produce a high level meta language
for the formalization of Land Cover meaning

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THE BASIC CONCEPT In LCCS the creation of a class
is done by a dynamic combination of land cover
diagnostic attributed called classifiers

The classifiers act as building blocks and can
be combined to describe the more complex
semantics of each land cover class in any
separate application ontology (classification or
legend)
FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
FORMAL LANGUAGE THEORY
Classifier Quality
Classifier 1 Trees
Classifier 2 Closed
L.C. Class
CLASS ATTRIBUTE
Classifier 3 Broadleaved
Classifier 4 Decidous
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• LCCS IN THE OPERATIONAL CONTEXT

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25 participants from 13 countries Niger, Burkina
Faso, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gambia, Cape Verde,
Benin, Togo, Ghana, Mauritania, Mali, Cameroon,
Nigeria

• West Africa
• 10-14 Nov 2003

36 participants from 16 countries Thailand,
Iran, Viet Nam, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China,
Cambodia, Philippines, Mongolia, Bangladesh,
Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India,
Laos

• South-East Asia
• 1-6 Dec 2003

FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN

• South America
• 15-19 Nov 2004

33 participants from 12 countries Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador,
Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad Tobago,
Uruguay, Venezuela

• Southern Africa
• 13-17 Dec 2004

40 participants from 10 countries Angola,
Botswana, Comoros Islands, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia,
Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe
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• India National
• 15-19 Feb 2005

35 participants from 24 Institutions

35 participants from 17 countries Algeria,
Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

• North Africa/Middle East
• 19-25 Mar 2005

35 participants from 24 Institutions

• RP of China National
• 25-29 Apr 2006

FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN

• Central America
• Fall 2006

9 countries Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El
Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama,
Honduras, Cuba

• NIS/CIS states
• 2007

13 countries Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan
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National Land Cover data bases using LCCS

Completed
In progress
FAO - LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
Only part of the country
Scheduled
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Translations of original national legends in LCCS

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• LCCS THE NEXT STEPS

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• New challenges and needs
• Classifications needs to develop an open,
  transparent
• and dynamic syntax for the formalization of
  meaning as
• UML (Unified Modelling Language), XML
• (Extensible Markup Language) OWL (Ontology Web
• Language) etc.
• No system can remain unchanged during the time
• A transparent robust partecipative approach is
  needed
• to govern the LCCS changes
• ISO through the registration control body
  mechanism
• can offer an adequate answer

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LCCS V. 3

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THE END
LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN
LAND COVER TOPIC CENTRE - GLCN