An optimal validation of a thematic map would ideally require in-situ observations of a large sample of units specifically conceived for the map under validation. This is often not possible due to budget limitations. The alternative can be using photo-interpretation of high or very high resolution images instead of in-situ observations or using available data sets that do not fully comply with the ideal characteristics: unit size, reference date or sampling plan. This paper illustrates some examples of use of available data in the European Union.

Land degradation and their restoration are emerging issues all over the world for the environmental management. In this study, degraded sodic land was rehabilitated through afforestation and cropping for 50years.

Bracken is often perceived as a widespread and increasing land management problem. The pollen record of a wide range of sites in Great Britain suggests that the current abundance of bracken is less than or, at worst, equivalent to maximum historical levels. Recently gathered data also suggest that bracken cover is declining. Results of risk assessments of land use change, and experimental and modelling investigations into the effects of climate change are synthesized.

The fragmentation of construction land due to decentralised urban development, disorderly mixed land use, and large-scale transportation infrastructure poses a threat to urban integrity. There is a need to quantify the fragmentation level in a consistent way for inclusion in planning-related decisions. In the context of China's urban sprawl, this study develops a quantitative and intuitive index approach that planners can use to analyse multiple fragmentation features of construction land within urban areas.

Building extraction from remote sensing images is very important in many fields, such as urban planning, land use investigation, damage assessment, and so on. In polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) imagery, the buildings not only have typical polarimetric features but also have rich texture features. In this paper, the texture information is introduced to improve the accuracy of urban building extraction from PolSAR imagery by a new method called cross reclassification .

Three global datasets, the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE), Kaplan and Krumhardt (KK) and Pongratz of reconstructed anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) were introduced and compared in this paper. The HYDE dataset was reconstructed by Goldewijk and his colleagues at the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in Netherland, covering the past 12 000 years. The KK dataset was reconstructed by Kaplan and his colleagues, the Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Research Group at the Institute of Environmental Engineering in Switzerland, covering the past 8000 years.

PURPOSE: The expected increase in demand for food raises concerns about the expansion of agricultural land worldwide. To avoid expansion, we need to focus on increasing land productivity, reducing waste, and shifting human diets. Studies exploring diet shifts so far have ignored competition for land between humans and animals. Our objective was to study the relation between land use, the share of animal protein in the human diet, population size, and land availability and quality.

Postsettlement (1909-2003) fire history of a forested bottomland in the Mississippi Embayment of southern Illinois, USA, was determined using fire-scar analysis. The study area is a forested bottomland hardwood site, with remnant pockets of the dominant presettlement bald cypress - tupelo (Taxodium-Nyssa) vegetation. Ditch drainage was installed in 1919, with agricultural clearing and abandonment varying throughout the early and mid-twentieth century. Commercial agricultural activities ceased after the site became part of a conservation area ca. 1950.

Changes in the spatial distribution of land cover and land use can have significant impacts on ecological processes at multiple scales; estimating these changes provides critical data for both monitoring and understanding land-use effects on these processes. One approach to mapping landcover changes, particularly useful over longer periods of time, is comparison of existing landcover maps, (post-classification change analysis).

The structure of agricultural production and spatial patterns of agricultural land use in Europe are expected to face major changes over the next decades due to changes in global trade, technology, demography and policies. This paper presents a set of 25 scenarios comprising information on quantitative land use changes in Europe. The scenarios have been selected from studies with different foci, operating on both different spatial scales and different time horizons.