Journal
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
Volume 78, Issue 4, Pages 311-321Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.11.002
Keywords
land classification; stratified sampling and surveys; fuzzy analysis of uncertainty; urban land cover
Categories
Funding
- Natural Environment Research Council [CEH010021] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
An urban land-cover classification of the 900 km(2) comprising the UK West Midland metropolitan area was generated for the purpose of facilitating stratified environmental survey and sampling. The classification grouped the 900 km(2) into eight urban land-cover classes. Input data to the classification algorithms were derived from spatial land-cover data obtained from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and from the UK Ordnance Survey. These data provided a description of each km(2) in terms of the contributions to the land cover of 25 attributes (e.g. open land, urban, villages, motorway, etc.). The dimensionality of the land-cover dataset was reduced using principal component analysis, and eight urban classes were derived by cluster analysis using an agglomeration technique on the extracted components. The resulting urban land-cover classes reflected groupings of 1 km(2) pixels with similar urban land morphology. Uncertainties associated with this agglomerative classification were investigated in detail using fuzzy-type analyses. Our study is the first report of a quantitative investigation of uncertainty associated with a classification of this type. The resulting classification for the UK West Midland metropolitan area offers an impartial basis for a wide range of environmental and ecological surveys. The methods used can be adapted readily to other metropolitan areas where generic urban features (e.g. roads, housing density) are gridded. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available