Mapping land use/cover on a mountainous tropical island
1917
Finally, the averaging eVect on recorded spectral re ectance, provided by the spatial
resolution of 30 m by 30 m seems to decrease internal variations within each single
class. As a consequence, identi able classes with uniform radiance values are
produced.
The results also suggest that a raster-based GIS can facilitate the necessary digital
analysis and manipulation. This includes data integration, geocorrections, introdu-
cing information and knowledge from other datasets into the classi cation process,
handling the classi cation, performing statistical accuracy tests and calculating areas.
In conclusion, satellite remote sensing and GISs can be used to generate the
necessary dynamic information for surveying and monitoring land use/cover on
Langkawi Island and similar success may be possible in other mountainous tropical
environments
Acknowledgments
We thank the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing (MACRES) for kindly
providing the Landsat TM imagery and Professor Ian Foster for his helpful
comments.
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