1. Identification Information
1.1 Citation
8.1 Originator: Guofan Shao, Virginia Coast Reserve - Long Term
Ecological Research (VCR/LTER).
8.2 Publication Date: 19950310
8.4 Title: Virginia Coast Reserve Landuse and Vegetation from
TM Image 1993, Northampton County Section.
8.5 Edition (version): 2.0
8.6 Geospatial Data Presentation Form: view
8.8 Publication Information
8.8.1 Publication Place: Charlottesville, VA.
8.8.2 Publisher: Virginia Coast Reserve - Long Term
Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
8.9 Other Citation Details: NSF support grants BSR-8702333-06
and DEB-9211772.
1.2 Description
1.2.1 Abstract: Landuse and vegetation cover data is very useful
for many types of analyses, including measuring shoreline
erosion and development/forest-cropland conversion. However,
such analyses are often hampered by the lack of up-to-date maps,
especially in many coastal areas where marsh and barrier island
development is highly dynamic. Remote sensing using satelite
imagry offers one solution. Satelite images of a particular
region can be taken many times a year (often as frequently as
requested), and then satisfactory images with minimal cloud
cover can be processed and classified into spectral classes that
correspond to types of vegetation and landuse cover classes.
This when field checked can provide both county and city
planners and scientists with current information upon which to
base critical desisions.
1.2.2 Purpose: To provide a general landuse classification map
of the southern Delmarva Penninsula, including the mainland and
barrier islands of Northampton County, Virginia, for June? 1993
(the most current year and month for which the VCR LTER has
Thematic Mapper imagry). For use in studies investigating
barrier island upland and marsh migration patterns and forest
dynamics, and for Northampton County planning purposes.
1.3 Time Period of Content
9.1 Single Date/Time
9.1.1 Calendar Date: 19930708
1.3.1 Currentness Reference: ground condition
1.4 Status
1.4.1 Progress: Complete
1.4.2 Maintenance and Update Frequency: None planned
1.5 Spatial Domain
1.5.1 Bounding Coordinates
1.5.1.1 West Bounding Coordinate (longitude): -76.0
1.5.1.2 East Bounding Coordinate (longitude): -75.6
1.5.1.3 North Bounding Coordinate (latitude): 37.6
1.5.1.4 South Bounding Coordinate (latitude): 37.1
1.6 Keywords
1.6.1 Theme
1.6.1.1 Theme Keyword Thesaurus: None
1.6.1.2 Theme Keyword: Landuse
1.6.1.2 Theme Keyword: Vegetation Cover
1.6.1.2 Theme Keyword: Thematic Mapper Image
1.6.2 Place
1.6.2.1 Place Keyword Thesaurus: None
1.6.2.2 Place Keyword: Virginia Coast Reserve
1.6.2.2 Place Keyword: Northampton County
1.6.2.2 Place Keyword: Virginia
1.7 Access Constraints: None.
1.8 Use Constraints: This is one piece of a GIS database presently
being developed for Northampton County's planning purposes. If you
use VCR/LTER-generated data in a publication, please acknowledge
the VCR/LTER in addition to the originator, and cite support from
the above listed NSF grants. We would also like to receive a copy
of your publication(s), sent to the contact below.
1.9 Point of Contact
10.2 Contact Organization Primary
10.1.2 Contact Organization: Virginia Coast Reserve - Long
Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
10.3 Contact Position: Data Manager
10.4 Contact Address
10.4.1 Address Type: mailing and physical address
10.4.2 Address: LTER, Dept. Environmental Sciences, Clark
Hall, University of Virginia
10.4.3 City: Charlottesville
10.4.4 State or Province: VA
10.4.5 Postal Code: 22903
10.4.6 Country: USA
10.5 Contact Voice Telephone: (804) 924-8999
10.8 Contact Electronic Mail Address: jporter@lternet.edu or
jhp7e@virginia.edu
1.10 Browse Graphic
1.10.1 Browse Graphic File Name: nhtm.gif, nhtmtiny.gif
1.10.2 Browse Graphic Description: Thumbnail scetch (and small
thumbnail scetch) of landuse/vegetation polygon coverage without
legend.
1.10.3 Browse Graphic File Type: GIF
1.11 Data Set Credit: Classification and ERDAS-to-ARC/INFO by
Guofan Shao. Northampton County section subsetting by David L.
Richardson and Anne L. Halpin. All at the Dept. of Environmental
Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA.
1.13 Native Data Set Environment: ARC/INFO 6.1 running under SunOS
4.1 on a SUN SPARC station 1.
2. Data Quality Information
2.1 Attribute Accuracy
2.1.1 Attribute Accuracy Report: Landuse/vegetation
classification was field checked on Hog and Parramore Islands
and at various points on the mainland within Northampton Co.
The classification was also checked against similar
landuse/vegetation maps based on images from previous years.
Both types of checks confirmed the present classification except
that developed areas (roads, houses, parking lots) were not
separately classified and so were "absorbed" by the other
classes, primarily Crop/Grassland and Forest/Shrub. This was
usually due to the fact that their small individual areas
usually make up only a portion of the 30x30 meter cell they lie
within, and so their spectral signature gets overpowered by the
more dominant land cover.
2.3 Completeness Report: All areas of Northampton County were processed.
2.4 Positional Accuracy
2.4.1 Horizontal Positional Accuracy
2.4.1.1 Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report: The
rectification of the TM image had an RMS error of 0.69 (about
20 m.) using 7 ground control points. Inital image pixel
size corresponded to 30x30 meters on the ground, resulting in
an inital horizontal position accuracy for landuse/vegetation
class boundaries of +or- 15 meters (1/2 of a pixel). After
classification and later transferal into ARC/INFO, clusters
of individual cells less than approximately 1/3 ha (3600 sq.
meters or 4 pixels) in area were eliminated from all classes
except "Forest/Shrub" in order to get rid of "salt and
pepper" noise and to make the number of arcs and polygons not
exceed the limits of ARC/INFO. This resulted in a final
horizontal accuracy for class boundaries of +or- 80 meters.
2.5 Lineage
2.5.1 Source Information
2.5.1.1 Source Citation
8.1 Originator: NASA
8.2 Publication Date: 199405 ????
8.4 Title: ????
8.5 Edition (version): 1.0
8.6 Geospatial Data Presentation Form: remote-sensing image
8.8 Publication Information
8.8.1 Publication Place: ????
8.8.2 Publisher: NASA
8.9 Other Citation Details: ????
2.5.1.2 Source Scale Denominator: 30x30 meter digital resolution.
2.5.1.3 Type of Source Media: magnetic tape
2.5.1.4 Source Time Period of Content
9.1 Single Date/Time
9.1.1 Calendar Date: 19930708
2.5.1.4.1 Source Currentness Reference: ground condition
2.5.1.5 Source Citation Abbreviation (for reference
hereafter): TM93NASA
2.5.2 Process Step
2.5.2.1 Process Description: Classification: Original TM
image was SUBSET in ERDAS to include only the VA portion of
the Delmarva Penninsula, and then an unsupervised training
classification was preformed with ISODATA and MAXCLAS
routines for 50 spectral cluster classes using TM bands 4, 5,
and 2. Afterwards, cluster classes were individually
examined, and based on previous maps, aerial photos, and
personal knowledge were assigned to one of 5 predetermined
classes (Forest/shrub, Bareland/sand, Crop/grassland, Water,
& Salt Marsh) using COLORMOD and RECODE routines. The GIS
file was then converted to an ARC/INFO coverage. Then in
ARC/INFO clusters of individual cells less than 1/3 ha (3600
sq. meters or 4 pixels) in area were ELIMINATED and
DISOLVED to get rid of "salt and pepper" noise and to make
the number of arcs and polygons not exceed the limits of
ARC/INFO for the whole map.
2.5.2.2 Source Used Citation Abbreviation: ????
2.5.2.3 Process Date (completed): 19941201
2.5.2.5 Source Produced Citation Abbreviation: TM93SHAO
2.5.2.6 Process Contact (processor)
10.2 Contact Organization Primary
10.1.2 Contact Organization: Virginia Coast Reserve -
Long Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
10.1.1 Contact Person: Guofan Shao
10.4 Contact Address
10.4.1 Address Type: mailing and physical address
10.4.2 Address: LTER, Dept. Environmental Sciences,
Clark Hall, University of Virginia
10.4.3 City: Charlottesville
10.4.4 State or Province: VA
10.4.5 Postal Code: 22903
10.4.6 Country: USA
10.8 Contact Electronic Mail Address: gs6t@virginia.edu
2.5.2 Process Step
2.5.2.1 Process Description: Subseting of Northampton Co.
section: ARC/INFO polygon coverage with 1993
landuse/vegetation classes was CLIPed to include just
Northampton Co. and then was PROJECTed from North American
Datum 1927 (NAD27) UTM coordinates to NAD83 UTM coordinates.
2.5.2.2 Source Used Citation Abbreviation: TM93SHAO
2.5.2.3 Process Date (completed): 19950309
2.5.2.6 Process Contact (processor)
10.2 Contact Organization Primary
10.1.2 Contact Organization: Virginia Coast Reserve -
Long Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
10.1.1 Contact Person: David L. Richardson
10.4 Contact Address
10.4.1 Address Type: mailing and physical address
10.4.2 Address: LTER, Dept. Environmental Sciences,
Clark Hall, University of Virginia
10.4.3 City: Charlottesville
10.4.4 State or Province: VA
10.4.5 Postal Code: 22903
10.4.6 Country: USA
10.8 Contact Electronic Mail Address: dlr2n@virginia.edu
3. Spatial Data Organization Information
3.2 Direct Spatial Reference Method : Vector
3.3 Point and Vector Object Information
3.3.1 SDTS Terms Descriptions
3.3.1.1 SDTS Point and Vector Object Type: GT-polygon
composed of chains
3.3.1.2 Point and Vector Object Count: 7646 polygons, 15297
chains (arcs), and 9849 nodes.
4. Spatial Reference Information
4.1 Horizontal Coordinate System Definition
4.1.2 Planar
4.1.2.2 Grid Coordinate System Name
4.1.2.2.1 Grid Coordinate System Name: State Plane
Coordinate System 1983
4.1.2.2.4 State Plane Coordinate System (SPSC)
4.1.2.2.4.1 SPCS Zone Identifier: Virginia, south zone
: -4502 NOS, 5576 USGS
4.1.2.4 Planar Coordinate Information
4.1.2.4.1 Planar Coordinate Encoding Method: coordinate pair
4.1.2.4.4 Planar Distance Units: international feet
4.1.4 Geodetic Model
4.1.4.1 Hoizontal Datum Name: North American Datum of 1983
4.1.4.2 Ellipsoid Name: GRS 1980
5. Entity and Attribute Information
5.1 Detailed Description
5.1.1 Entity Type
5.1.1.1 Entity Type Label (name): cover class
5.1.1.2 Entity Type Definition (description):
Landuse/Vegetation Classification
5.1.2 Attribute
5.1.2.1 Attribute Label: GRID-CODE
5.1.2.2 Attribute Definition: Class # as generated in ERDAS.
5.1.2.4 Attribute Domain Values
5.1.2.4.2 Range Domain
5.1.2.4.2.1 Range Domain Minimum: 0
5.1.2.4.2.2 Range Domain Maximum: 5
5.1.2 Attribute
5.1.2.1 Attribute Label: LANDCOV
5.1.2.2 Attribute Definition: Descriptive Name of
landuse/vegetation class corresponding to a particular
GRID-CODE.
5.1.2.4 Attribute Domain Values
5.1.2.4.1 Enumerated Domain
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Value: "Forest or Shrub"
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Definition: corresponds
to GRID-CODE 1.
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Value: "Bare Land or Sand"
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Definition: corresponds
to GRID-CODE 2.
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Value: "Planted
Cropland, Grassland, or Upland Marsh"
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Definition: corresponds
to GRID-CODE 3.
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Value: "Open Water"
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Definition: corresponds
to GRID-CODE 4.
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Value: "Low Salt Marsh"
5.1.2.4.1.1 Enumerated Domain Definition: corresponds
to GRID-CODE 5.
6. Distribution Information
6.1 Distributor
10.2 Contact Organization Primary
10.1.2 Contact Organization: Virginia Coast Reserve - Long
Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
10.3 Contact Position: Data Manager
10.4 Contact Address
10.4.1 Address Type: mailing and physical address
10.4.2 Address: LTER, Dept. Environmental Sciences, Clark
Hall, University of Virginia
10.4.3 City: Charlottesville
10.4.4 State or Province: VA
10.4.5 Postal Code: 22903
10.4.6 Country: USA
10.5 Contact Voice Telephone: (804) 924-8999
10.8 Contact Electronic Mail Address: jporter@lternet.edu or
jhp7e@virginia.edu
6.3 Distribution Liability: None
6.4 Standard Order Process
6.4.2 Digital Form
6.4.2.1 Digital Transfer Information
6.4.2.1.1 Format Name: ARCE <ARC/INFO Export format>
6.4.2.1.6 File Decompression Technique:
6.4.2.1.7 Transfer Size (MB): 9.7
6.4.2.2 Digital Transfer Option
6.4.2.2.2 Offline Option
6.4.2.2.2.1 Offline Media: For information about
available offline media and how to obtain them, please
first obtain the permission of Northampton County
before contacting the above distribution contact party.
6.4.3 Fees: A fee may be assessed for non-digital and offline
digital formats of the dataset(s) covering reasonable costs
entailed in the distribution of the data. Any additional fees
are the prerogative of Northampton County alone.
7. Metadata Reference Information
7.1 Metadata Date: 19950310
7.4 Metadata Contact
10.2 Contact Organization Primary
10.1.2 Contact Organization: Virginia Coast Reserve - Long
Term Ecological Research (VCR/LTER)
10.3 Contact Position: Data Manager
10.4 Contact Address
10.4.1 Address Type: mailing and physical address
10.4.2 Address: LTER, Dept. Environmental Sciences, Clark
Hall, University of Virginia
10.4.3 City: Charlottesville
10.4.4 State or Province: VA
10.4.5 Postal Code: 22903
10.4.6 Country: USA
10.5 Contact Voice Telephone: (804) 924-8999
10.8 Contact Electronic Mail Address: jporter@lternet.edu or
jhp7e@virginia.edu
7.5 Metadata Standard Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital
Geospatial Metadata
7.6 Metadata Standard Version: 19940608