Land Cover Map Delineation, for Agriculture Development, Case Study in North Sinai, Egypt Using SPOT4 Data and Geographic Information System

Nasser H. Saleh, Mohamed A. Aboelghar

National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), El-Nozha El-Gedida, Cairo, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/ars.2013.21005                

Abstract

Land cover map for a part of North Sinai was produced using the FAO—Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) of 2004. The standard FAO classification scheme provides a standardized system of classification that can be used to analyze spatial and temporal land cover variability in the study area. This approach also has the advantage of facilitating the integration of Sinai land cover mapping products to be included with the regional and global land cover datasets. The total study area is 7450 km² (1,773,842) feddans. The landscape classification was performed on SPOT4 data acquired in 2011 using combined multi-spectral bands of 20 meter spatial resolution. Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to edit the classification result in order to reach the maximum possible accuracy. GIS was also used to include all necessary information. The identified vegetative land cover classes of the study area are irrigated herbaceous crops, irrigated tree crops and rain fed tree crops. The non-vegetated land covers in the study area include: bare rock, bare soil, bare soil stony, bare soil very stony, bare soil salt crusts, loose and shifting sands and sand dunes. The water bodies were classified as artificial perennial water bodies (fish ponds and irrigated canals) and natural perennial water bodies as lakes (standing) and rivers (flowing). Artificial surfaces in the study area include linear and non-linear. The produced maps and the statistics of the different land covers are included in the following sub-sections.

Keywords

SPOT Data; Land Cover Mapping; LCCS System

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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