THE USE OF SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING FOR LAND COVER MAPPING IN EUROPE la 
Jacques Mégier (Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy) and le 
Peter Winkler (FÓMI Remote Sensing Centre, Budapest, Hungary) SC 
Wi 
ar 
KEY WORDS: Earth observation, CORINE Land Cover, High resolution, Low resolution mapping in 
Ni 
ABSTRACT: cl 
The use of Earth observation satellites for producing a large scale general land cover map in Europe is described. An ë 
overview of the recent stage of the CORINE Land Cover programme, some examples of its application and a short Se 
description of the experimental, extended refined version for national and regional level information is given. High resolution te 
mapping by making maximum use of automatic procedures and low resolution mapping on the base of AVHRR data at th 
continental level are shortly presented. lo 
pr 
in 
ai 
1. CORINE Land Cover and associated projects around the Mediterranean Basin in Turkey, Tunisia and R 
The use of satellite Earth observation data for producing M ps ssh LE Shi re aa el 
large scale general land cover maps in Europe can be Programme) and MEDSPA (Mediterrenean Space) In 
viewed from three main points of view: the type of data programme. In 1991 it was decided to extend the a 
(visible-IR data or radar SAR data), the spatial ground CORINE Land Cover inventories to the Central and to 
fesolution (high fesolutien from. 10.40: 30 mor low Eastern European countries as part of the PHARE al 
esousion groung d KR) in qum Sonnerie io ihe Scale Regional Environmental Programme. The project started fo 
envisaged, and the type of processing utilized (mainly in 1993 in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland pl 
visual interpretation or automatic classification and Slovak Republic and Romania and Will be completed at al 
mapping, the end of 1996. s 
m 
ES ARR à EE en) At first Landsat MSS (resolution around 80 m) data, then i: 
reis - thanks to high spectral and geometric resolution (7 E 
land gover glasses (Say, at RR ten is sla rosearem bands and 30 m respectively) Landsat Thematic Mapper 
Ed RUE CORR SIR pire m data were used as input data for photointerpretation. A T 
Radarsat and the Japanese JERS-1 all deliver high standen. methodology for dota collection. aid B 
DE '9 presentation has been developed for Europe. The T 
on aot TCR Wi prove fo te dors and mers CORINE Land Cover includes 44 land cover classes di 
usefuf fortniat purpose in coming vears. embedded in a 3-level hierarchical system (11 classes a 
The CORINE (Coordination of Information on the for "artificial surfaces" and for "agricultural areas", 12 for te 
Environment) programme of the Commission of the "forest and semi-natural areas" and 5 for "wetland" and d 
European Communities is "an experimental project for for "water bodies") at a nominal scale of 1/100.000. Such D 
gathering, coordinating and ensuring the consistency of a detailed legend was only expected as being feasible by b 
information on the state of environmental and natural visual interpretation (although aided by computer L 
resources in the Community" (CORINE Land Cover, procedures), with the simultaneous consultation of ni 
EUR 12585, 1993). The Land Cover project is part of the ancillary data (maps, aerial photographs, statistics). The D 
[ CORINE programme. Its aim is to provide up to date minimum "interpretation unit" of 25ha was adopted and " 
i information on land cover at the scale of 1/100.000 for refined to 5ha in some cases. Field visits constitute an tl 
p the whole Europe. integral part of the project either for resolving ambiguities a 
ij or for general checking of the photointerpretation. The d 
: This prototype of large of land cover mapping land cover data is collected by different national teams, u 
| applications in Europe using high resolution data was and integrated into a seamless European database in 
I launched in 1985 (Cornaert, Maes, 1992) by the General according to the GISCO standards (Steenmans, C. c 
à Directorate XI. (Environment and Civil Protection) of the 1996). The CORINE land cover data base has recently re 
| European Commission and is now continued by the become available for a large part of the European : 
I en Environment Agency within the frame of the territory. Although its exploitation is just starting, there > 
li opic Centre” on Land Cover. exist many encouraging applications of the land cover 1 
i The CORINE Land Cover project began on Portugal and database in countries which have already completed the A 
i extended progressively to the whole of the present project (Buttner et al., 1995). C 
il European Union. It will be completed at the end of 1996, After having finished the interpretation phase of the c 
i apart from Austria, Finland, Sweden and the United CORINE Land Cover in the scale 1/100 000, in four of d 
| Kingdom, where completion is foreseen for the end of the PHARE countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, n 
1997 Norway is also being considered. An extension Poland, Slovak Republic) an experimental project was 
  
84 
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B6. Vienna 1996