Analysis of rapieye imagery for annual landcover mapping as an aid to European Union (EU) common agricultural policy

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) was established to maintain balance between farming industries and the environment as well as to provide economic sustainability in rural areas. EU Regulations for agricultural and rural development, adopted by countries upon their admission to the EU, allow payments to farmers for each eligible hectare of agricultural land (CAP reform), under different payment schemes. Remote sensing data is currently used as an efficient tool in determining areas potentially eligible for payments, through land cover identification and mapping. Launched in August 2008, RapidEye consists of five constellation multispectral sensors with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 6.5m and a daily overpass. The satellite has a predicted lifespan of 7 years and with the target application of the sensor being agriculture; contains a high potential for the application of agricultural monitoring, necessary to some new Member States, such as Bulgaria and Romania. Analysis of RapidEye imagery, combined with local ancillary data over pre-selected test zones lead to determination and classification of land cover features which have potential or no potential to be eligible under the Single Area Payment Scheme (SAPS). This classification was completed using object oriented analysis and was run concurrently alongside a pixel based (self-organizing maps) analysis for comparison.

TAPSALL Brooke;  MILENOV Pavel;  TASDEMIR Kadim; 

2010-08-11

Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology

JRC59234

1682-1777,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC59234,