A comparison of land cover types in an ecological field survey in Northern England and a remotely sensed land cover map of Great Britain Original Research Article

Earth-orbiting remote sensing satellites have important roles to play in resource assessment and monitoring changes in land cover. However, there will often be a need to relate the land cover types identified from the classification of satellite imagery to other classifications of land cover, and particularly those familiar to practical conservationists working in the field. This paper compares the land cover types recognised in the first remotely sensed land cover map of Great Britain with those of a widely used ecological field survey method (the Phase-1 survey technique of the former Nature Conservancy Council of Great Britain) within a sample area of 188 km2 in Northern England. Digitised field maps were combined with the remotely sensed land cover map within a geographical information system (GIS) to produce a matrix of correspondence linking the two classifications. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the factors underlying the observed differences between the two sets of map data. Two potential applications of the land cover map are investigated — first in the mapping of dwarf shrub vegetation (a habitat which has declined over the last 50 years), and second in the detection of coniferous afforestation (a significant cause of semi-natural habitat loss in upland Britain).