dc.contributor.author	Morton, David Dean	en
dc.contributor.committeechair	Giles, Robert H. Jr.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Campbell, James B. Jr.	en
dc.contributor.committeemember	Fraser, James D.	en
dc.contributor.department	Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences	en
dc.coverage.state	Virginia	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-14T20:52:01Z	en
dc.date.adate	1998-08-17	en
dc.date.available	2014-03-14T20:52:01Z	en
dc.date.issued	1998-06-12	en
dc.date.rdate	1998-08-17	en
dc.date.sdate	1998-06-12	en
dc.description.abstract	Knowledge of land cover is important in a variety of natural resources applications. This knowledge becomes more powerful within the spatial analysis capabilities of a geographic information system (GIS). This thesis presents a digital land cover map of Virginia, produced through interpretation of 14 Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes, circa 1991-1993. The land cover map, which has a 30m pixel size, was produced entirely with personal computers. Hypercluster aggregation, an unsupervised classification method, was used when hazy and mountainous conditions were not present. A haze correction procedure by Lavreau (1991) was used, followed by a supervised classification on coastal areas. An enhanced supervised classification, focusing on topographic shading, was performed in the mountains. Color infrared photographs, digital maplets, expert knowledge, and other maps were used as training data. Aerial videography transects were flown to acquire reference data. Due to the spatial inaccuracies inherent in the videography reference data, only homogeneous land cover areas were used in the accuracy assessment. The results of the overall accuracy for each scene determined the ordering of scenes within the statewide land cover mosaic (i.e., scenes with higher accuracy had a higher proportion of area represented). An accuracy assessment was then performed on the statewide land cover mosaic. An overall accuracy of 81.8% and a Kappa statistic of 0.81 resulted. A discussion of potential reasons for land cover class confusion and suggestions for classification improvements are presented. Overall deciduous forest was the most common land cover in Virginia. Herbaceous areas accounted for 20% of the land area, which was the second largest. Mixed forest and coastal wetlands were the cover types with the least area, each under 3%.	en
dc.description.degree	Master of Science	en
dc.identifier.other	etd-61998-142359	en
dc.identifier.sourceurl	http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-61998-142359/	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10919/36851	en
dc.publisher	Virginia Tech	en
dc.relation.haspart	part1.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part2_a.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part2_b.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_a.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_b.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_c.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_d.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_e.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_f.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_g.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_h.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_i.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_j.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_k.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_l.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_m.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_n.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part3_o.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	part4.pdf	en
dc.relation.haspart	fig25.jpg	en
dc.rights	In Copyright	en
dc.rights.uri	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/	en
dc.subject	satellite remote sensing	en
dc.subject	wildlife habitat	en
dc.subject	1992 land cover of Virginia	en
dc.title	Land Cover of Virginia From Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery	en
dc.type	Thesis	en
thesis.degree.discipline	Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences	en
thesis.degree.grantor	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	en
thesis.degree.level	masters	en
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science	en

Land Cover of Virginia From Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery

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