Habitat mapping and quality assessment of heathlands using a modified kernel-based reclassification technique

Publication Type:

Conference Paper

Source:

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2010 IEEE International, Honolulu, HI, USA, p.2707 - 2710 (2010)

ISBN:

978-1-4244-9565-8

Keywords:

Belgium, environmental factors, geophysical image processing, geophysical techniques, habitat mapping, heathland vegetation, image classification, Kalmthoutse Heide, kernel-based reclassification technique, quality assessment, terrain mapping, thematic land cover maps, vegetation mapping

Abstract:

This article presents a method for acquiring habitat maps, intended for monitoring and evaluating the conservation status of heathland vegetation, starting from thematic land cover maps. The procedure is a modified kernel-based reclassification technique, that fits into a complete habitat quality assessment framework. Part one of the procedure shifts a small square kernel over the land cover map and assigns a habitat type to each position that complies with a single set of expert rules, related to the land cover composition in that position. Part two fills the gaps, by assigning a habitat type to any of the map positions that don't conform to any of the rules, or to more than one set of rules, by using a distance measure. The technique is tested on real data from a heathland site and shows some promising results.

Research area: