Harmonization of land use class sets to facilitate compatibility and comparability of data across space and time

Abstract

Harmonization of land use class sets should consider both space and time, as the objective should include harmonization of land use change to analyse environmental processes and problems. Analysis of major class sets reveals that a parametric approach with two parameters may suffice: ‘function’ that describes land use in an economic context and ‘activity’ that is defined as the combination of actions resulting in a certain type of product.