REVISING LAND USE/LAND COVER MAPS USING LANDSAT 
THEMATIC MAPPER IMAGERY 
Bruce Thomas 
TYDAC Technologies Inc. 
1600 Carling Avenue, Suite 310 
Ottawa, Ontario 
K1Z 8R7 
Anthony M. Turner 
Sustainable Development/ 
State of Environment Reporting Branch 
Environment Canada 
Ottawa, Ontario 
K1A OH3 
ABSTRACT 
In order to assess recent anthropogenic impacts on an actively changing landscape 
in Alberta, Landsat Thematic Mapper winter (band 3) and summer (bands 3-5-4, 
boreal enhancement) transparencies were compared with Canada Land Inventory (CLI) 
"Present Land Use" (circa 1961) maps using visual interpretation techniques. A 
land use/land cover key was developed for 8 land use classes. A total of 49 pre 
to post-change class combinations were possible. About 30 of these combinations 
occurred in the region, were identified and mapped. Accuracy levels based on 
numbers of polygons from representative areas achieved an overall accuracy level 
of 86.7% when compared with aerial photography. About 20% of the Province of 
Alberta (207 1:50,000 scale maps) was updated for land use/land cover. The maps 
were subsequently digitized using automated techniques. Storage and analysis of 
changes was facilitated using both mainframe and microcomputer based GIS systems. 
Changes were compared with CLI land capability information in order to assess the 
sustainability of the land for agriculture, forestry and wildlife resource uses. 
Economic and operational implications of the project are discussed. 
KEYWORDS: land use monitoring; change detection; land use change 
INTRODUCTION 
There is little doubt that the primary 
agent in present global environmental 
changes is man. Perhaps the most visible 
evidence of how man alters his environment 
is available from viewing land use changes 
from a topographic, land use map or 
satellite image. Man's altering of the 
natural landscape into one of agricultural 
fields, road networks and urban 
development can occur over a large area in 
a relatively short period of time. The 
collective impact of such actions may 
affect the sustainability of the land for 
other resources such as forestry or 
wildlife habitat. 
Earth resource satellites can provide 
detailed, accurate and current land 
use/land cover information at global, 
national and regional scales. Resource 
allocation planning, assessment of impacts 
of land use changes on habitat and 
assessing the interactions of climate, man 
and vegetation are but three examples of 
applications for such data. 
Some of the most prominent examples of 
extensive non-urban land use changes in 
Canada occur in the so-called agriculture- 
forest interface regions of the country 
(Fox and Macenko, 1985) . An early 
investigation of a select portion of one 
of those regions - the Peace River region 
in Alberta - produced a descriptive key of 
land use and land cover units based on 
visual analysis of Thematic Mapper (Farmer 
et al., 1986). The key demonstrated that 
several significant land uses were capable 
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of being detected and mapped. 
Subsequently, a comparison of different 
approaches concluded that visual analysis 
could produce accurate results in a cost- 
effective manner (Seguin and Ryerson, 
1986). These findings led to a program of 
operational mapping of about 115,000 km 2 
of Alberta for land use change. This 
paper summarizes that project. 
PROJECT AREA 
In the province of Alberta, three broad 
regions of land use have been identified 
(Alberta Forestry Lands and Wildlife, 
1988). There is a large area falling 
under forestry management (often referred 
to as the "green zone") ; a "white zone" 
dominated by agricultural activity; and a 
third transitional "yellow zone" having 
substantial forest resources or potential, 
yet not protected from agricultural 
development. The project area encompassed 
the entire transitional zone occupying 
about 20% of the province. 
The project area consisting of all or part 
of 207 1:50 000 map sheet areas was 
divided into three sectors: the Peace 
River Zone, a Central Zone, and the 
Foothills Zone (Figure 1) . Active 
development of the Peace River Zone 
continues as extensive areas of forest are 
cleared for agriculture and other uses. 
The Central Zone is mostly characterized 
by undulating aspen parkland terrain 
containing smaller, sometimes irregularly 
shaped woodlands and agriculture fields. 
The Foothills Zone in southwestern Alberta 
possesses an intricate landscape of