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The increasing availability of high-quality remote sensing data and advanced technologies has spurred land cover mapping to characterize land change from local to global scales. However, most land change datasets either span multiple decades at a local scale or cover limited time over a larger geographic extent. Here, we present a new land cover and land surface change dataset created by the Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) program over the conterminous United States (CONUS). The LCMAP land cover change dataset consists of annual land cover and land cover change products over the period 1985–2017 at a 30 m resolution using Landsat and other ancillary data via the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm. In this paper, we describe our novel approach to implement the CCDC algorithm to produce the LCMAP product suite composed of five land cover products and five products related to land surface change. The LCMAP land cover products were validated using a collection of ∼25000 reference samples collected independently across CONUS. The overall agreement for all years of the LCMAP primary land cover product reached 82.5 %. The LCMAP products are produced through the LCMAP Information Warehouse and Data Store (IW + DS) and shared Mesos cluster systems that can process, store, and deliver all datasets for public access. To our knowledge, this is the first set of published 30 m annual land change datasets that include land cover, land cover change, and spectral change spanning from the 1980s to the present for the United States. The LCMAP product suite provides useful information for land resource management and facilitates studies to improve the understanding of terrestrial ecosystems and the complex dynamics of the Earth system. The LCMAP system could be implemented to produce global land change products in the future. The LCMAP products introduced in this paper are freely available at 10.5066/P9W1TO6E (LCMAP, 2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing availability of high-quality remote sensing data and advanced technologies have spurred land cover mapping to characterize land change from local to global scales. However, most land change datasets either span multiple decades at a local scale or cover limited time over a larger geographic extent. Here, we present a new land cover and land surface change dataset created by the Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) program over the conterminous United States (CONUS). The LCMAP land cover change dataset consists of annual land cover and land cover change products over the period 1985-2017 at 30-meter resolution using Landsat and other ancillary data via the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm. In this paper, we describe our novel approach to implement the CCDC algorithm to produce the LCMAP product suite composed of five land cover and five land surface change related products. The LCMAP land cover products were validated using a collection of ~25,000 reference samples collected independently across CONUS. The overall agreement for all years of the LCMAP primary land cover product reached 82.5 %. The LCMAP products are produced through the LCMAP Information Warehouse and Data Store (IW+DS) and Shared Mesos Cluster systems that can process, store, and deliver all datasets for public access. To our knowledge, this is the first set of published 30 m annual land cover and land cover change datasets that span from the 1980s to the present for the United States. The LCMAP product suite provides useful information for land resource management and facilitates studies to improve the understanding of terrestrial ecosystems and the complex dynamics of the Earth system. The LCMAP system could be implemented to produce global land change products in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of studies for the analysis of remote sensing images has been growing exponentially in the last two decades. Many studies, however, only report results – in the form of certain performance metrics – by a few selected algorithms on a training and testing sample. While this often yields valuable insights, it tells little about some important aspects. For example, one might be interested in understanding the nature of a study by the interaction of algorithm, features, and the sample as these collectively contribute to the outcome; among these three, which would be a more productive direction in improving a study; how to assess the sample quality or the value of a set of features, etc.. With a focus on land-use classification, we advocate the use of a structured analysis. The output of a study is viewed as the result of interplay among three input dimensions: feature, sample, and algorithm. Similarly, another dimension, the error, can be decomposed into error along each input dimension. Such a structural decomposition of the inputs or error could help better understand the nature of the problem and potentially suggest directions for improvement. We use the analysis of a remote sensing image at a study site in Guangzhou, China, to demonstrate how such a structured analysis could be carried out and what insights it generates. We expect this will inform practice in the analysis of remote sensing images, and help advance the state-of-the-art of land-use classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-cover mapping is an important research topic with broad applicability in the remote-sensing domain. Machine learning algorithms such as Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Random Forest (RF) have been playing an important role in this field for many years, although deep neural networks are experiencing a resurgence of interest. In this article, we demonstrate early efforts to apply deep learning-based classification methods to large-scale land-cover mapping. Based on the Stacked Autoencoder (SAE), one of the deep learning models, we built a classification framework for large-scale remote-sensing image processing. We adjusted and optimized the model parameters based on our test samples. We compared the performance of the SAE-based approach with traditional classification algorithms including RF, SVM, and ANN with multiple performance analytics. Results show that the SAE classifier trained with an entire set of African training samples achieves an overall classification accuracy of 78.99% when assessed by test samples collected independently of training samples, which is higher than the accuracies achieved by the other three classifiers (76.03%, 77.74%, and 77.86% of RF, SVM, and ANN, respectively) based on the same set of test samples. We also demonstrated the advantages of SAE in prediction time and land-cover mapping results in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

High-quality training and validation samples are critical components of land-cover and land-use mapping tasks in remote sensing. For large area mapping it is much more difficult to build such sample sets due to the huge amount of work involved in sample collection and image processing. As more and more satellite data become available, a new trend emerges in land-cover mapping that takes advantage of images acquired beyond the greenest season. This has created the need for constructing sample sets that can be used in classifying images of multiple seasons. On the other hand, seasonal land-cover information is also becoming a new demand in land and climate change studies. Here we produce the first training and validation data sets with seasonal labels in order to support the production of seasonal land-cover data for entire Africa. Nonetheless, for the first time, two classification systems were created for the same set of samples. We adapted the finer resolution observation and monitoring of global land cover (FROM-GLC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Land Cover Classification System legends. Locations of training-sample units of FROM-GLC were repurposed here. Then we designed a process to enlarge the training-sample units to increase the density of samples in the feature space of spectral characteristics of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time-series and Landsat imagery. Finally, we obtained 15,799 training-sample units and 7430 validation-sample units. The land-cover type at each point was recorded at the time of maximum greenness in addition to four seasons in a year. Nearly half of the sample units were also suitable for 500 m resolution MODIS data. We analysed the representativeness of the training and validation sets and then provided some suggestions about their use in improving classification accuracies of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduced major challenges in mapping croplands, settlements, water and wetlands, and discussed challenges in the use of multi-temporal and multi-sensor data. We then summarized some of the on-going efforts in improving qualities of global land cover maps. Existing technologies provide sufficient data for better map making if extra efforts can be made instead of harmonizing and integrating various global land cover products. Developing and selecting better algorithms, including more input variables (new types of data or features) for classification, having representative training samples are among conventional measures generally believed effective in improving mapping accuracies at local scales. We pointed out that data were more important in improving mapping accuracies than algorithms. Finally, we proposed a new paradigm for global land cover mapping, which included a view of vegetation classes based on their types and form, canopy cover and height. The new paradigm suggests that a universally applicable training sample set is not only possible but also effective in improving land cover classification at the continental and global scales. To ensure an easy transition from traditional land cover mapping to the new paradigm, we recommended that an all-in-one data management and analysis system be constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lidar waveform features from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite/Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (ICESat/GLAS) and spectral features from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM)/Enhanced TM Plus (ETM+) were used to discriminate land cover categories for GLAS footprints in Henan Province, China. Fifteen waveform metrics were derived from GLAS data while band ratios and surface spectral reflectance were taken from Landsat TM/ETM+. Random forest (RF) was used in feature selection and classification of footprints along with support vector machines (SVMs). The categories of classification included croplands, forests, shrublands, water bodies, and impervious surfaces. Compared with the use of waveform or spectral features alone in land cover classification, the joint use of waveform and spectral data as inputs improved the classification accuracy of footprints. An overall accuracy (OA) of 91% was achieved by either RF or SVM when features from both GLAS and Landsat sources were used increasing upon an accuracy of 85% if only one source was used. The high accuracy land cover data obtained by the joint use of the two data sources could be used as additional references in large scale land cover mapping when ground truth is hard to obtain. It is believed that the increase in accuracy is largely a result from the inclusion of the additional information of vertical structure offered by waveform lidar. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the launch of the first land-observation satellite (Landsat-1) in 1972, land-cover mapping has accumulated a wide range of knowledge in the peer-reviewed literature. However, this knowledge has never been comprehensively analysed for new discoveries. Here, we developed the first spatialized database of scientific literature in English about land-cover mapping. Using this database, we tried to identify the spatial temporal patterns and spatial hotspots of land-cover mapping research around the world. Among other findings, we observed (1) a significant mismatch between hotspot areas of land-cover mapping and areas that are either hard to map or rich in biodiversity; (2) mapping frequency is positively related to economic conditions; (3) there is no obvious temporal trend showing improvement in mapping accuracy; (4) images with more spectral bands or a combination of data types resulted in increased mapping accuracies; (5) accuracy differences due to algorithm differences are not as large as those due to various types of data used; and (6) the complexity of a classification system decreases its mapping accuracy. We recommend that one way to improve our understanding of the challenges, advances, and applications of previous land-cover mapping is for journals to require area-based information at the time of manuscript submission. In addition, building a standard protocol for systematic assessment of land-cover mapping efforts at the global scale through international collaboration is badly needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]