Abstract:

Global Land Cover (GLC) characterization and monitoring at fine resolution is a key task and big challenge for both earth observation and geomatics societies in the world. Recently the first operational 30-m GLC mapping project has been completed by China. It is based on the optimum selection and processing of Landsat-like satellite imagery for full global coverage, service-oriented integration of all available reference data and auxiliary information, objected-based precise land cover characterization, and knowledge-based data quality controlling. The key techniques developed include the multi-type imagery geometric processing and radiometric reconstruction, integration of heterogeneous data and external services, object-based thematic-layer classification, and knowledge-based spatio-temporal consistency verification. The technical guidelines and software tools have been further developed for supporting the operational 30-m GLC mapping of the years 2000 and 2010.