Landsat feature identification key

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AND Land cover type: Barren or Sparsely Vegetated Closed Shrublands Cropland Mosaics Croplands Deciduous Broadleaf Forest Evergreen Broadleaf Forest Evergreen Needleleaf Forest Grasslands Open Shrublands Permanent Wetlands Snow and Ice Urban and Built-Up Water Bodies Woody Savannas

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The human eye can identify features in an image much more quickly and accurately than computer based models with some simple training. Features are identified by observing color, shape, texture, relation to other objects etc. Computers are not yet capable of utilizing all of these skills simultaneously to recognize features. The following key can help to train identification techniques for visual interpretation of Landsat satellite imagery. Refer to the following pages for more information on downloading and viewing Landsat imagery.

The Landsat feature identification key is a guide to interpreting land cover based on available Landsat TM and ETM+ data. Each feature that is identified is displayed a two different scales (1:500,000 and 1:100,000) in order to provide a broad overview and a more detailed view of each feature of interest.

All images are displayed with a 3,2,1 RGB (true color) band combinationand a 4,5,3 RGB band combination with a 2x standard deviation stretch. Click on the thumbnail image to view the larger image. Accompanying each feature is descriptive information that should aid in interpretation.

All of the samples in this key have been obtained from the System for Terrestrial Ecosystem Parameterization (STEP) database developed by the Center for Remote Sensing of the Department of Geography at Boston University for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme DISCover project. The IGBP landcover classification scheme is employed for organizing land cover types. The samples for each landcover type can be seen in a blue bounding box in each image.

A GeoTIFF subset for each sample image is available for download by right clicking on the Download tiff subset link and choosing 'Save Target As.' This is a small (~1 MB) image that covers the area of interest. Landsat Bands 1-5 and 7 are present in these multi-band unenhanced image files.

Future updates to the Landsat Feature Identification Key will provide more fine scale samples, including point localities and ground photos.

Compiled by Kevin Koy and Clare O'Reilly, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History