Land Cover Classification I, 2001

The title of this map is “Vietnam – Mekong Delta – Land Cover Classification I, 2001”.

It depicts a classification of the land cover of the earth’s surface derived from satellite data, consisting of natural surfaces, such as vegetation and water, as well as artificial surfaces, such as urban areas. The legend on the right side of the map describes important map attributes, such as the class names, scaling factor, two quicklook images of the data source and additional map information. As the data source of this map, Landsat ETM+ satellite data, acquired of the rainy season from 2001 (©USGS, 2001-12-11) and atmospherically processed prior to map generation, was employed.

Method: The land cover classes were derived from the satellite image using a semi-automated algorithm based on training data from the image. Each class to be obtained from the image is thus represented by a set of training data with similar characteristics, e.g. in this case, spectral information from the satellite image.

As can be seen in the map, the dominant class in this classification is “vegetation, closed”, i.e. more than 60 percent of the surface within this class (displayed in dark green) consists of dense cover by trees, shrubs or cultivated area (e.g. rice fields or fruit trees).

As additional information, the borders of the three test sites of the WISDOM project (displayed in red), namely Tam Nong district, Tra Cu district and Can Tho province and the names of their administrative centres as well as other administrative borders such as national boundaries, are included in the map.

This map was created by DLR for the WISDOM project. For more information please contact Dr. Claudia Kuenzer (claudia.kuenzer@dlr.de), project coordinator on the German side. – June 2008

Figure 1 - Land Cover Classification I, 2001