Mapping of land use classes within the CORINE Land Cover Map of Great Britain

This paper describes the construction of land use classes during semi-automated generalization of a land cover map. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) has been responsible for the creation of the CORINE Land Cover Map of Great Britain (CLCMGB), using the ITE Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) as the primary input. Several of the CORINE land cover classes are more accurately described as 'land use' classes, (e.g. airports and construction sites). Since a land cover class (as identified on the LCMGB) could be related to several uses, the CORINE land use classes had to be identified separately from the CORINE land cover classes, within the generalization procedure. This was done using traditional methods of visual image interpretation, combined with the extensive use of ancillary land use information. The interactive creation of the land use classes described in this paper is the main component that did not use wholly automated methods, 95% of the CLCMGB was created using automated methods. This paper describes the mapping of the land use classes in detail.