Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

On the accuracy of landscape pattern analysis using remote sensing data

  • Perspective
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Advances in remote sensing technologies have provided practical means for land use and land cover mapping which is critically important for landscape ecological studies. However, all classifications of remote sensing data are subject to different kinds of errors, and these errors can be carried over or propagated in subsequent landscape pattern analysis. When these uncertainties go unreported, as they do commonly in the literature, they become hidden errors. While this is apparently an important issue in the study of landscapes from either a biophysical or socioeconomic perspective, limited progress has been made in resolving this problem. Here we discuss how errors of mapped data can affect landscape metrics and possible strategies which can help improve the reliability of landscape pattern analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Reference

  • Anderson JR, Hardy EE, Toach JT, Witmer RE (1976) A land use and land cover classification system for use with remote sensor data, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 964, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 28 p

  • Arnot C, Fisher PF, Wadsworth R, Wellens J (2004) Landscape metrics with ecotones: pattern under uncertainty. Landsc Ecol 19:181–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benz UC, Hofmann P, Willhauck G, Lingenfelder I, Heynen M (2004) Multi-resolution, object-oriented fuzzy analysis of remote sensing data for GIS-ready information. ISPRS J Photogram Rem Sens 58:239–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Congalton RG, Green K (1999) Assessing the accuracy of remotely sensed data: principles and practices. Lewis Publishers, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang S, Gertner G, Wang G, Anderson A (2006) The impact of misclassification in land use maps in the prediction of landscape dynamics. Landsc Ecol 21:233–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groom G, Mucher CA, Ihse M, Wrbka T (2006) Remote sensing in landscape ecology: experiences and perspectives in a European context. Landsc Ecol 21:391–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen MC, Reed B (2000) A comparison of the IGBP DISCover and University of Maryland 1 km global land cover products. Int J Rem Sens 21:1365–1373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess GR (1994) Pattern and error in landscape ecology: a commentary. Landsc Ecol 9:3–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hess GR, Bay JM (1997) Generating confidence intervals for composition-based landscape indexes. Landsc Ecol 12:309–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson L (2007) Adequate data of known accuracy are critical to advancing the field of landscape ecology. In: Wu J, Hobbs R (eds) Key topics in landscape ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 11–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Jelinski DE, Wu J (1996) The modifiable areal unit problem and implications for landscape ecology. Landsc Ecol 11:129–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kettig RL, Landgrebe DA (1976) Classification of multispectral data by extraction and classification of homogeneous objects. IEEE Trans Geosci Electron GE-14:19–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lathrop RG, Montesano P, Haag S (2006) A multi-scale segmentation approach to mapping seagrass habitats using airborne digital camera imagery. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 72:665–675

    Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Wu J (2004) Use and misuse of landscape indices. Landsc Ecol 19:389–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Wu J (2007) Landscape pattern analysis: key issues and challenges. In: Wu J, Hobbs R (eds) Key topics in landscape ecology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp 39–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu DS, Mausel P, Batistella M, Moran E (2004) Comparison of land-cover classification methods in the Brazilian Amazon Basin. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 70:723–731

    Google Scholar 

  • Moody A, Woodcock CE (1995) The influence of scale and the spatial characteristics of landscapes on land-cover mapping using remote sensing. Landsc Ecol 10:363–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill RV, Krummel JR, Gardner RH, Sugihara G, Jackson B, DeAngelis DL, Milne BT, Turner MG, Zygnut B, Christensen SW, Dale VH, Graham RL (1988) Indices of landscape pattern. Landsc Ecol 1:152–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell RL, Matzke N, de Souza C, Clark M, Numata I, Hess LL, Roberts DA, Clark M, Numata I, Hess LL, Roberts DA (2004) Sources of error in accuracy assessment of thematic land-cover maps in the Brazilian Amazon. Rem Sens Env 90:221–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saura S (2004) Effects of remote sensor spatial resolution and data aggregation on selected fragmentation indices. Landsc Ecol 19:197–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scepan J (1999) Thematic validation of high-resolution global land-cover data sets. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 65:1051–1060

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao G, Wu W (2004) The effects of classification accuracy on landscape indices. In: Lunetta RS, Lyon JG (eds) Remote sensing and GIS accuracy assessment. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, pp 209–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao G, Liu D, Zhao G (2001) Relationships of image classification accuracy and variation of landscape statistics. Can J Rem Sens 27:33–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao G, Wu W, Wu G, Zhou X, Wu J (2003) An explicit index for assessing the accuracy of cover class areas. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 69:907–913

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen W, Jenerette GD, Wu J, Gardner RH (2004) Evaluating empirical scaling relations of pattern metrics with simulated landscapes. Ecography 27:459–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG (2005) Landscape ecology: what is the state of the science? Ann Rev Ecol Evol Syst 36:319–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG, O’Neill RV, Gardner RH, Milne BT (1989) Effects of changing spatial scale on the analysis of landscape pattern. Landsc Ecol 3:153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogelmann JE, Stephen M, Howard M, Yang L, Larson CR, Wylie BK, van Briel N (2001) Completion of the 1990s national land cover data set for the conterminous United States from Landsat Thematic Mapper data and ancillary data sources. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 67:650–662

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickham JD, Riitters KH (1995) Sensitivity of landscape metrics to pixel size. Int J Rem Sens 16:3585–3594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wickham JD, O’Neill RV, Riitters KH, Wade TG, Jones KB (1997) Sensitivity of selected landscape pattern metrics to land-cover misclassification and differences in land-cover composition. Photogram Eng Rem Sens 63:397–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2004) Effects of changing scale on landscape pattern analysis: scaling relations. Landsc Ecol 19:125–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Hobbs R (2002) Key issues and research priorities in landscape ecology. Landsc Ecol 17:355–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Jones KB, Li H, Loucks OL (eds) (2006) Scaling and uncertainty analysis in ecology: methods and applications. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu W, Shao G (2002) Optimal combinations of data, classifiers, and sampling methods for accurate characterizations of deforestation. Can J Rem Sens 28:601–609

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank four anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on an earlier version of the paper. JW’s research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. BCS-0508002 (Biocomplexity/CNH) and under Grant No. DEB-0423704, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-1159, USA

    Guofan Shao

  2. School of Life Sciences & Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Jianguo Wu

  3. Sino-US Center for Conservation, Energy and Sustainability Science (SUCCESS), Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, 010021, China

    Jianguo Wu

Authors
  1. Guofan Shao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jianguo Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guofan Shao.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shao, G., Wu, J. On the accuracy of landscape pattern analysis using remote sensing data. Landscape Ecol 23, 505–511 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-008-9215-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-008-9215-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation