LCCS & GeoVIS for land cover mapping Experience Sharing of an Exercise Forest Survey of India Subhash Ashutosh Joint Director
Study Area Topographic sheet 53J4 Longitude - 78ºE - 78º15'E Latitude - 30ºN - 30º15'N
Land cover/land use classification based on -LCCS Primarily Vegetated Area Primarily Non. Vegetated Area Terrestrial Cultivated & Managed Terrestrial Areas Aquatic/Regularly Flooded Natural & Semi-natural Terrestrial Vegetation Terrestrial Artificial Surfaces & Associated Areas Aquatic/Regularly Flooded Natural Water Bodies/ Snow/Ice Based on dichotomous Phase Plantation Orchards Agri. Farms Agri. Fallow Moist Sal Forest Moist Deciduous Without Sal Dry Siwalik Sal Khair Sissu Dry Deciduous Scrub Urban Built Up River Bed River-Perennial Based on Modular Hierarchical Phase
Display Legend
LAND COVER/LAND USE MAP WITH FOREST TYPES Area in percentage LEGEND MOIST SAL BEARING FOREST DRY SIWALIK SAL KHAIR-SISSU MOIST DECIDUOUS WITHOUT SAL DRY DECIDUOUS SCRUB PLANTATION FOREST ORCHARDS AGRICULTURE FARM AGRICULTURE - FALLOW URBAN BUILT UP RIVER - PERENNIAL RIVER BED Area in Sq.kms
Difficulties Encountered with the Software Sliver Polygon formation Steps followed Khair-Sisoo Plantation 1. 2. Contd
Contd Sliver polygon 4. 3. Delete option
Contd Remnants of the deleted polygon 5.
Contd Delete option - deleting an unwanted polygon inside a selected polygon Polygon to be deleted
Both the polygons got deleted Contd
Occurrence of Polygons without map code Polygons that cannot be selected Contd
Display of map code in different sizes Map codes are getting displayed on different size even when the size is set to the minimum
Error occurred while changing the map code to a user defined name When the software given map code is changed to a user defined name and when a new class is incorporated to the legend through edit legend option, the legend coding and symbology got altered
Other Problems Add a polygon It is unable to create a polygon inside an already existing polygon by add polygons option Area Estimation When polygons are exported to shape file the map codes remain intact and thereby giving correct area estimate. But if the shape is converted to arc coverage map codes are changing leading to erroneous area estimate. Print Command Print command is not working-message-report width is larger than the paper width even when report size is reduced to paper size. Sometimes LCCS Legend fail to get displayed while opening project even when the required details Viz., database, Tlegend and codes are provided. Only after reinstalling GeoVis and repairing files using LCCS V2.4.5 the LCCS Legend appears.
It is observed that to delineate narrow features like 3 rd order streams, the ROI has to be made almost in spatial extent with the feature to avoid acquisition of near by classes during classification. This accounts for considerable time and in fact it is almost equivalent to digitizing such features. Delineation of Features like Tree Outside Forest (TOF) is almost impractical.
Two Standard Forest Classification Systems in India Forest Cover (of FSI) Forest Type (Champion & Seth)
Nation-wide Forest Cover Mapping one of the mandates assigned to FSI by Govt of India biennial cycle State of Forest Report (SFRs) nine assessments so far main input for national level planning on forest cover
Forest Cover Mapping Salient Features Methodology biennial cycle digital interpretation of satellite data intensive ground truthing change maps accuracy assessment Analysis and output district wise area figures change matrix area figures for hill and tribal districts maps for all the areas on 1:50,000 scale
Flow Chart : Forest Cover Mapping Data download Geometrical rectification Contrast enhancement SOI toposheets 1:50,000 scale NDVI transformation Density slicing Masking Reference data Editing Making subsets of scene Preparation of change map Accuracy assessment Overlay of boundaries Post classification correction Ground truthing Area statistics Maps
Classes shown on a forest cover map LEGEND Very Dense Forests Moderately Dense Forests Open Forest Scrub Non-forest All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and above All lands with tree cover (including Mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40% and 70% above All land with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10-40%. All forest land with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees having canopy density less than 10 percent. Any area not included in the above classes.
Very Dense Forest Moderately Dense Forest Open Forest Scrub
FOREST COVER ASSESSMENTS BY FSI A brief history Cycle Year of Assessment Satellite & Sensor Resolution Scale I 1987 LANDSAT MSS II 1989 III 1991 LANDSAT TM 80m x 80m 30m x 30m 1:1million IV 1993 V 1995 VI 1997 VII 1999 VIII 2001 IRS-1B LISS-II IRS-1C LISS-III IRS-1C/1D LISS-III 36m x 36m 1:250,000 23m x 23m 23m x 23m 1:50,000 IX 2003 IRS-1D, LISS-III 23m x 23m 1:50,000
FOREST COVER ESTIMATES Assessment Year Data Forest Cover %of total Period (Sq.Km.) land area First 1987 1981-83 640,819 19.49 Second 1989 1985-87 638,804 19.43 Third 1991 1987-89 639,364 19.45 Fourth 1993 1989-91 639,386 19.45 Fifth 1995 1991-93 638,879 19.43 Sixth 1997 1993-95 633,397 19.27 Seventh 1999 1996-98 637,293 19.39 Eighth 2001 2000-01 6,75538 20.55 Ninth 2003 2002-03 6,78,333 20.64
Classes shown on a forest cover map LEGEND Very Dense Forests Moderately Dense Forests Open Forest Scrub Non-forest All lands with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and above All lands with tree cover (including Mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40% and 70% above All land with tree cover (including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10-40%. All forest land with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees having canopy density less than 10 percent. Any area not included in the above classes.
Forest Type Classification by Champion & Seth (1968) Most widely used classification system for India s forests Forests are classified into 5 major groups (6 in revised classification) based on climatic factors Major groups are divided into 16 type groups based on temperature and moisture content Type groups have been classified into 221 forest types based on location specific climate factors, floristic and succession stages
FOREST TYPES OF INDIA* MAJOR GROUPS Moist Tropical Forests Dry Tropical Forests Montane Temperate Forests Montane Subtropical Forests Sub Alpine Forests Alpine Scrub GROUPS Group 1-Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests Group 2-Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests Group 3-Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests Group 4-Littoral And Swamp Forests Group 5-Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests Group 6-Tropical thorn Forests Group 7-Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests Group 8-Southern Subtropical Broadleaved Hill Forests Group 9-Subtropical Pine Forests Group 10- Subtropical Dry Evergreen Forests Group 11-Montane Wet Temperate Forests Group 12-Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests Group 13-Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests Group 14-Sub Alpine Forests Group 15-Moist Alpine Scrub Group 16- Dry Alpine Scrub SUB-GROUPS Sub-group- 22 Nos. TYPE GROUPS Type-group- 221 Nos. *As per Champion and Seth classification(1968)
e.g. 2B/C 12 /2S 3 - Sub Himalaya Secondary Wet Mixed Forest Ilex godajam 9left center), Ternsroemia japonica, Machius gamblei etc ; Kurseong Division, West Bengal 3A/C1/2S1 Andamans Secondary Moist Deciduous Forest Pterocarpus dalbergioides, Terminalia procera and other deciduous species; Kyitaung, Middle Andamans
Some Issues LCCS how can location specific forest types described in Champion & Seth Classification be assigned classes succession stages of vegetation may be incorporated Geo Vis saving signature files, break points