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Are landscape ecologists addressing uncertainty in their remote sensing data?
Citation
Lechner, AM and Langford, WT and Bekessy, SA and Jones, SD, Are landscape ecologists addressing uncertainty in their remote sensing data?, Landscape Ecology, 27, (9) pp. 1249-1261. ISSN 0921-2973 (2012) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2013 Springer
DOI: doi:10.1007/s10980-012-9791-7
Abstract
In this quantitative review, we investigate
the degree to which landscape ecology studies that use
spatial data address spatial uncertainty when conducting
analyses. We identify three broad categories of
spatial uncertainty that are important in determining
the characterisation of landscape pattern and affect the
outcome of analysis in landscape ecology: (i) classification
scheme uncertainty, (ii) spatial scale and (iii)
classification error. The second category, spatial scale,
was further subdivided into five scale dependent
factors (i) pixel size, (ii) minimum mappable unit,
(iii) smoothing, (iv) thematic resolution and (v) extent.
We reviewed all articles published in the journal
Landscape ecology in 2007 and recorded how spatial
data was used and whether spatial uncertainty was
addressed or reported in ecological analyses. This
review found that spatial uncertainty was rarely
addressed and/or reported. Only 23 % of articles
addressed one or more scale dependent factors and
47 % reported one or more as issues. Most articles used
the default pixel size of the sensor, and only a single
study of the 59 investigated the effect of classification
accuracy on ecological analyses. We demonstrate that
spatial uncertainty is not being addressed as standard
practice in analyses in landscape ecology, and then
describe methods to test for spatial uncertainty and
potential solutions that can be developed in the future.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | scale, spatial uncertainty, classification error, landscape pattern, remote sensing, GIS, land-cover mapping |
| Research Division: | Engineering |
| Research Group: | Geomatic engineering |
| Research Field: | Photogrammetry and remote sensing |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences |
| UTAS Author: | Lechner, AM (Dr Alex Lechner) |
| ID Code: | 95630 |
| Year Published: | 2012 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 65 |
| Deposited By: | Centre for Environment |
| Deposited On: | 2014-10-06 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-12-01 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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