95
4.3 The Satellite Thematic Map
As a test a land use change map of the "Kromme
Rijn" Area based on satellite imagery was made
according to the above mentioned method leading
towards the "Satellite Thematic Map" of the "Kromme
Rijn" Area. After the interpretation a final field
check followed for a general control and to solve
the last interpretation problems.
A part of the final map is presented in figure 1. The
topographic map 1:25.000 serves as a background. The
map shows the changes in land use from 1980 to august
1984. For this, use was made of the most recent
topographic map of 1985 which is based on aerial
photography of 1980 and a Thematic Mapper image of
august 22, 1984. The dotted and the hatched areas on
the map indicate a change in land use which occurred
between 1980 and 1984, while the symbols placed
within the blank fields indicate a refinement in the
land use in comparing to the Topographic Map.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
From the above it can be concluded that satellite
imagery provides a base for updating land use maps
and actual land use mapping up to a scale of 1:25.000
by using Thematic Mapper imagery. Interpretation
accuracy can be raised considerably by overlaying the
satellite imagery with existing maps such as the
topographic map. The Satellite Thematic Map provides
a framework to present the information on satellite
imagery in a user-friendly way which is accessible to
a large user community. The Satellite Thematic Map
forms a flexible way of presenting thematic
information extracted from satellite imagery. The
presentation of land use change was only one example.
For instance mapping of natural vegetaton, vitality
of forest, city growth and surface water are other
applications. An other aspect of the Satellite
Thematic Map concept is that in digital form, either
a raster or a vector format, this kind of maps form a
very suitable input for Geographical Information and
Land Information Systems. One example is the
combination of cadastral maps, with ownership and tax
registrations and with actual land use information
derived from satellite data. The panchromatic imagery
of SPOT will enable many new applications for
instance in town mapping and planning and more
detailed inventories in rural regions for which the
Satellite Thematic Map concept can form a useful tool
for presentation. Therefore it is believed that the
new generation of "high-resolution” remote sensing
satellites will increase the number of applications
drastically and will play a substantial role in the
planning and management practices of land and water
in the Netherlands and consequently in many of the
industrialized and developing countries.
REFERENCES
Colwell,R.N. 1983. Manual of Remote Sensing vol. 1
and 2, American Society of Photogrammetry, the
Sheridan Press
End report NIWARS containing the results of the
research to civil applications in the Netherlands
of Remote Sensing Techniques, 1977 (Published in
Dutch)
Landsat-4 Science Characterization Early Results,
Vol. 1-4, 1985, NASA CP-2355,NASA, Washington, D.C.
Lillesand,T.M.,R.W. Kiefer 1979. Remote sensing and
image interpretation, John Wiley and Sons R.Welch,
T.R.Jordan and M.Ehlers 1985. Comparative
Evaluations of the Geodetic Accuracy and
cartographic Potential of Landsat-4 and Landsat-5
Thematic Mapper Image data, Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing 9:1249-1262
Spot simulation applications handbook, Proceedings of
the 1984 SPOT Symposium, 1985, Spot Image
Corporation