IMAGE2006: A component of the GMES precursor fast track service on land monitoring

The European land-cover database was last updated in the year 2000 creating the CLC2000 product, the European land-cover changes database (tracking land-cover changes from 1990), the national land-cover changes databases in which 30 European countries participated, and the IMAGE2000 product. Based on these successes and the realisation that land-cover changes in Europe were advancing at a significant rate, it was decided that the European land-cover database be updated sooner rather than later. The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative through its precursor Fast Track Service on Land Monitoring (FTS-LM) is making such an update possible. The GMES precursor FTS-LM officially began in June 2006 as a collaboration between the European Commission (EC), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). The ESA Directorate of Earth Observation and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) agreed to share the various tasks necessary to successfully complete this project. ESA is responsible for providing the necessary satellite imagery, including ortho-rectification (which is also a product of IMAGE2006) whereas the JRC is responsible for the coordination of the IMAGE2006 component. IMAGE2006 is based on SPOT 4/5 and IRS-P6 fine spatial resolution optical satellite imagery and used to produce ortho-rectified national coverages in 38 different national cartographic projections (one for each participating country) as well as a multi-purpose European mosaic in the European projection system. The national coverages will be used to produce thematic land-cover products whereas the European mosaic will provide an updated spatial representation of Europe to be used for the creation of a variety of thematic layers. This paper presents the current state of the IMAGE2006 component of the GMES precursor FTS-LM and provides background to some of the decisions made.