Research on Production of Integrated Vegetation Maps from Actual Vegetation Maps and Forest Inventory Maps

• Published in: Landscape Ecology and Management Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 27 - 33
• Main Authors: Kamagata, Noritoshi, Yoshida, Tsuyoshi, Suzuki, Toru, Li, Yunqing, Sasakawa, Hiroshi, Yamane, Masanobu, Hara, Keitarou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: Japan Association for Landscape Ecology 2006
• Subjects: forest inventory map; high resolution satellite data; integrated vegetation map; segmentation; vegetation map
• ISSN: 1880-0092; 1884-6718
• DOI: 10.5738/jale.11.27

Vegetation maps and forest inventory maps contain spatial and attribute data that can be useful in analyzing forest landscapes and ecology. The value of these data would be enhanced if the two types of maps could be accurately combined into an integrated vegetation map. In this research, IKONOS high resolution satellite data was utilized to generate an integrated vegetation map. The research was conducted at Dodaira, in the eastern part of the Tanzawa-Oyama Mountains, Kanagawa Prefecture, west of Tokyo. The spatial boundaries of the integrated vegetation map were extracted by IKONOS image segmentation analysis. The segmentation scheme was based on standards employed in forest inventory maps and the Ministry of Environment' s vegetation maps, and the boundaries were adjusted and aligned as required. When segmentation was complete, the vegetation and attribute data from the two maps was then imposed on the integrated map. This system was able to resolve problems with slight differences in boundary lines, and also succeeded in unifying and integrating the various data contained in the two maps.