THE NATIONAL LAND COVER DATABASE OF THE NETHERLANDS

Abstract

Because of the lack of suitable land cover/use data for environmental studies it is was decided in 1987 to produce a national land cover/use database of The Netherlands (‘LGN data base’) using satellite images (Landsat TM and SPOT) and ancillary data. Today, three versions of the database are available (LGN1, 2 and 3), based on satellite images from respectively 1986, 1992/’94 and 1995/’97. During the up-dating of the LGN database the classification method improved considerably, resulting in a sharp increase of classification accuracy and number of land cover/use classes. The classification procedure of the LGN3 database is based upon an integrated approach using multi-temporal satellite imagery, digital and analogue ancillary data, reference data and expert knowledge. A combination of automatic and interactive classification was used. The LGN3 database consists of 39 classes. For most non-agricultural LGN3 classes the minimum required classification result of 90% and 70% for respectively level I and level II classes is amply reached. In general, the classification results of most agricultural crops in the LGN3 database are high (> 70%), unless the total acreage of a crop in an ‘agricultural stratum’ is relatively low or the concerning crops show a large spectral variability.