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1998 RESAC Landcover Map
of Washington D.C.

As part of an effort to map land cover of the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed the Mid-Atlantic Regional Earth Science Applications Center (RESAC) has produced a landcover map of a 185km x 170km area centered on the Washington D.C. area using a multi-temporal sequence of recent Landsat Thematic Mapper images (30m resolution).

The landcover map can be downloaded by clicking on the link below, (10MB .zip file). Please send a brief Email to resac@geog.umd.edu for tracking usage - a brief statement of how you plan to use the data would also be appreciated.

Download Landcover Map

The files are in ERDAS 7.5 .gis format which can be imported to most GIS and image processing systems.

The land cover categories are as follows:

    11  water
    21  low density residential
    22  high intensity residential
    23  high intensity commercial/industrial
    41  deciduous forest
    42  evergreen forest
    43  mixed forest
    81  hay/pasture
    82  row crops
    85  other grasses (lawns, city parks, golf courses)
    93  wetlands

The Landsat data were classified using 6 scenes from 1998:

    27  March
    12  April
    28  April
    01  July
    02  August
    22  November

The methodology took advantage of the multi-temporal information on vegetation seasonality to discriminate cover types using a classfication technique know as a hierarchical decision tree. Additional background information is available in a conference paper which can be forwarded to you on request.Please cite the following references regarding use of the imagery.

Goetz, S. J., S. P. Prince, M. M. Thawley, A. J. Smith and R. Wright (2000), The Mid-Atlantic Regional Earth Science Applications Center (RESAC): an Overview, In: ASPRS Conference Proceedings (on CD_ROM), American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Washington DC.

Goetz, S. J., S. P. Prince, M. M. Thawley, A. J. Smith, R. Wright, and M. Weiner. 2000. Applications of multi-temporal land cover information in the Mid-Atlantic Region: a RESAC initiative. In: 2000 IGARSS Conference Proceedings. International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Honolulu.


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The results and data products displayed on these web pages are the intellectual property of the Mid-Atlantic RESAC, consisting of the University of Maryland, Woods Hole Research Center and Shippensburg University. Any use of these products must cite the appropriate publication or, in the case of unpublished materials including maps and data, the Mid-Atlantic RESAC  partners responsible for the work.

Neither the RESAC nor its partners can accept any responsibility for the consequences of use of the information provided.

 
For questions and information, please contact resac@geog.umd.edu
 
Partially updated on 21.AUG.2008