GIS404 Remote Sensing - Module 3 Lab Assignments - Land Use Land Cover Classification

Lab three required aerial photo interpretation and delineation of polygons based on selection criteria.

Image 1: This image is a JPEG version of the original .tif file used as the source data.

The image was supplied as a TIF file.  Using ArcCatalog, I was able to create a new shapefile and use the create features tool to digitize a variety of land use and land cover types, based on my understanding of photo interpretation so far.

A cursory examination suggests that there is a large tidal zone dominating the left side of the image.  This is likely a tidal zone due to the presence of tidal flats, and the sinuous quality of the channels.


There is a large road running through the middle right which appears to be a center of commercial activity.  This proximity influenced many of my categorizations of the parcels as "commercial services.

Map 1: Resulting graphic communicating my land cover and land use classifications.

 The final map included a neatline.  I would have preferred to somehow "clip" the edges of the shapefile to the graph.  

I felt confident in characterizing the following land uses and land covers:

• Industrial
• Residential
• Commercial Services
• Other Urban
• Streams and Canals
• Lake
• Bays and Estuaries
• Deciduous Forest Land
• Mixed Forest Land
• Nonforested Wetland
• Forested Wetland

The codes, description, features, and rationale for each of these areas is described in the table that follows.

Code	Description	Features	Decision Points
113	Industrial	Industrial. Large facilities, vehicles	Proximity away from residences, other commercial areas, equipment
111	Residential	Single Family Homes, Driveways, Lawns, School	Proximity to main throroughfare, commercial area, waterways
112	Commercial Services	Business	Proximity to main thoroughfare, parking lots, air conditioners
117	Other Urban	Cemetery	Headstones indicate cemetery
551	Streams and Canals	Linear waterway	Apart from main estuarine environment
552	Lake	Circular water feature	Dark tone, very fine texture, isolated
554	Bays and Estuaries	Large area, sinuous form, tidal areas	Dark tone, fine texture, to boundary of tidal areas.
441	Deciduous Forest Land	Trees of uniform consistency	Very coarse texture, homogenous, uniform color
443	Mixed Forest Land	Trees of varied consitency	Very coarse  texture, heterogenous, varied color
662	Nonforested Wetland	Vegetation and tidal flats of varied color	Fine texture, proximity to water, proximity to estuary
661	Forested Wetland	Shrubs of varied color	Coarse textture, proximity to water, estuary, river