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Title
Mapping without the sun
Author
Zhang, Jixian

200
6. China Ministry of Construction Land classification
system, which includes Level I and Level II types.
Level I is divided into 3 types, i.e., Agriculture land,
Building land and Virgin land. Level II is divided into
15 sub types.
2.2.3 Application profile classes
Application profile classes are designed based on core classes
and corpora classes according to the requirements of different
research targets. Its extension principle and method will be
discussed in section 4.
3. LAND USE/LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION
STRUCTURE
Based on the extension framework mentioned above, the land
use/land cover extensible classification structure is designed. It
includes content structure, semantic structure and syntax
structure.
3.1 Content structure
Content structure is the concept model of classification system.
It reflects the classification system’s function. In other word, it
has hierarchy architecture from top concept layer to down
concrete elements. Usually, this structure can be designed and
implemented supported by UML, ERWin, Visio, etc.
Extensible land use/land cover classification’s content structure
can be divided into classification section, sub-section, and
element (figure 3). Classification section refers to the collection
of related sub-sections and elements. Sections are allowed to
have the nesting relationship. Classification element is the basic
unit of the content structure. It has multi-attributes, which will
be introduced in semantic structure.
Figure 3. Content Structure of land use/land cover classification
Although in a uniform framework, different application or
different discipline field has various classification content
structures. Thus there has a descriptor indicating whether a
classification section or element shall always be selected or
sometimes be selected. This descriptor may have the following
values: M (mandatory), C (conditional), or O (optional).
• Mandatory (M): The classification section or element shall
be selected.
• Conditional (C): Specifies an electronically manageable
condition under which at least one classification type or
element is mandatory.
• Optional (O): The classification element may be selected
or may not be selected. Optional classification elements
have been defined to provide a guide to those looking to
fully distinguish their data, ments only become mandatory
if the optional entity is used.
3.2 Semantic structure
Semantic Structure is used to define classification elements’
concrete description style. It is the base of “common
classification standard”, “best practices” or “user-defined
semantic description instructions”. Element’s semantic
meanings can’t be divided. Its semantic structure is designed
based on the ISO IEC 11179-3 standard as follows.
- Chinese Name : Classification type or element’s
Chinese name
- English Name : Classification type or element’s
English name
- Identifier: Unique Identifier of the classification type
or element
- Definition : Introduction of classification type or
element conception
- Obligation: classification type or element is optional
or not
- Data Type: element’s value type
- Value Domain: elements’ value domain
- Comment: Supplement comment for element or other
advices
- Remote Sensing Interpretation Sign: Description of
objects which is suitable for remote sensing
interpretation by manual or computer
3.3 Syntax structure
Syntax structure is the basis of the coding rules of
classification’s semantic model which is used to describe the
extension framework. Syntax structure includes element
description method (e.g., ISO IEC 11179 standard), metadata
structure description method (e.g., MARC structure, SGML
structure, XML structure), language description (e.g., Extended
Backus-Naur Form), etc.
Which syntax structure is used to describe the application
classification profile will be selected by the users who will
implement the classification system according to their
requirements. Usually, the recommended syntax structure is
XML schema.
• XML Schema is suitable for classification element
definition and relationship description.
• XML Schema is suitable for interface definition among
different classification system in an uniform framework.
4. CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK EXTENSION
PRINCIPLE AND METHOD
4.1 Extension principle
Objective of extensible land use/land cover classification is to
providing a kind of universal classification framework which is