In: Wagner W., Szekely, B. (eds.): ISPRS ТС VII Symposium - 100 Years ISPRS, Vienna, Austria, July 5-7, 2010, IAPRS, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 7B 
b) Renovated - This term refers to areas of sugarcane that have 
undergone renovation during the previous crop year. In these 
areas, the less productive ratoons were replaced by sugarcane 
plants grown during a year-and-half and will be available for 
harvest in the current season; 
c) Expansion - This term refers to areas that were under other 
land use and are now being cultivated with sugarcane and will 
be available for harvest for the first time. 
Sugarcane under renovation - This class included areas that 
were cultivated with sugarcane during the previous crop season 
but no longer present a sugarcane patterns indicating that the 
area is being renewed or replaced by another land use. If theis 
area returns to sugarcane then it belongs to the renovation class; 
otherwise, it will be excluded. This class includes only 
sugarcane plants renewed with the year-and-half plant. 
Total cultivated - This class encompassed the total area 
occupied by sugarcane, that is, the sum of the area of sugarcane 
available for harvest and the area of sugarcane under 
renovation. 
Figure 2 illustrates a temporal sequence of TM images used in 
mapping of sugarcane cultivation in the various classes for the 
2008/09 season. Figure 2.1 illustrates the identification 
procedure for areas of expansion. The region around the 
highlighted area was already cultivated and monitored by the 
project. Therefore, for this class, the map for the previous 
season was used as a mask, so that the interpreters analyzed 
only the region outside the mask. Based on the composition of 
the image (i.e., texture, tonality and shape), the area highlighted 
in Figure 2.1a shows a pattern characteristic of pasture, 
indicating that at the beginning of the 2007/08 season (April 
2007) the area was not cultivated with sugarcane. In Figure 2.1b 
(June 2007), the same area shows a pattern characteristic of bare 
soil, indicating that it may be converted to sugarcane, available 
for harvest in the 2008/09 season. Figure 2.1c (March 2008) 
illustrates well-developed patterns characteristic of sugarcane, 
with tonality, texture and presence of access routes typical of 
this crop. In September 2008 (Figure 2.Id), the area was 
harvested, confirming that sugarcane was planted in 2007 and 
harvested in the 2008/09 season. After this area was identified 
as sugarcane, it was monitored in subsequent seasons, being 
denominated as ratoon after the first cut. 
Figure 2.2 illustrates a temporal sequence of images in which 
the highlighted area was renovated during the 2008/09 season. 
In Figure 2.2a (September 2007), the area shows a pattern 
characteristic of sugarcane cultivation. However, it shows 
planting flaws and a pattern of plants with low productivity, 
which indicates that the sugarcane field should renewed. In 
Figure 2.2b, an image from March 2008, this area shows a 
pattern characteristic of soybean cultivation and in Figure 2.2c 
(April 2008) it shows a pattern of bare soil. With the image 
from December 2008 (Figure 2.2d) it can be confirmed that the 
field is again cultivated with sugarcane; however, it will be 
available for harvest only for the 2009/10 season. 
After estimating the sugarcane area in each class, the changes in 
the area of cultivated sugarcane between the 2005/06 and 
2009/10 seasons were analyzed for the states in the South- 
Central region. 
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
The total area of sugarcane cultivation in the South-Central 
Region during the most recent season analyzed (2009/10) was 
7.91 million hectares (ha), of which 7.43 million ha (94%) were 
available for harvest. The remainder was in the process of 
renovation. Figure 3 illustrates the map visualization page of the 
Canasat website, which shows the spatial distribution of the 
various classes of sugarcane cultivation in the states included in 
the project. On this page, searches and visualizations of 
sugarcane area and density can be performed by municipality or 
by season. The boundaries of municipalities and remote sensing 
satellite image mosaics can also be viewed, and measurements 
of area and length can be performed. Figure 3 indicates a much 
greater concentration of sugarcane cultivation in the state of Sao 
Paulo when compared to the other states. 
Figure 4a shows the change over time in the area of sugarcane 
available for harvest and the annual growth rate between the 
2005/06 and 2009/10 seasons for the South-Central region and 
for each state. Between the 2005/06 and 2009/10 seasons, the 
area available for harvest in the South-Central region grew by 
3.21 million ha, an increase of 76.2%. 
Figure 3. A sample map visualization page from the Canasat website. 
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