Sustainable Agricultural Pathways in Europe (SIPATH) – land use data

The published land use data were part of the project “What is Sustainable Intensification? Operationalizing Sustainable Agricultural Pathways in Europe (SIPATH)”, which was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no. CRSII5_183493). The overall objective of this project was to assess short-term trajectories in agriculture land use and landscape structure over a period of 20 years for 16 individual study sites located in 11 countries, ranging from the Mediterranean to the boreal zone. The following datasets illustrate land use data that were generated for the different study sites at two points in time between 2000 and 2020, depending on data availability. The data collection process encompassed land use mapping through visual image interpretation of orthorectified aerial photographs using geographic information systems (ESRI ArcGIS Pro). Land use digitalization was conducted by two scientists in Switzerland, who were in contact with the respective project partners in the study countries to exchange expert knowledge. Minimal mapping unit was 25m2 for areal elements. Land cover was classified following the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitat classification (EEA 2019). The broadest habitat classes were systematically mapped in the study sites, with each covering an area of approximately 25 km². While EUNIS focuses on habitat types, the study, however, targeted the intensity of agricultural land-use, several EUNIS classes were complemented with levels of land-use intensities. This was applied for grassland, olive groves and fruit orchards. The spatial resolution of the orthophotos ranged from 25cm to 2m. Accordingly, there were situations in which the spatial resolution was insufficient to accurately determine the land use. In such cases, either orthophotos from about the same year were consulted, possibly showing different phenological stages, or land use statistics and expert judgement based on local expert knowledge of the respective study area were applied.

Reference:

EEA, 2019. EUNIS habitat classification 2007 (Revised descriptions 2012) amended 2019. Copenhagen (Permalink)

本次发布的土地利用数据隶属于“何为可持续集约化？欧洲可持续农业路径的落地实践（SIPATH）”项目，该项目由瑞士国家科学基金会（Swiss National Science Foundation）资助，资助编号为CRSII5_183493。
本项目的总体目标为：针对分布于11个国家、覆盖从地中海地区至寒带针叶林带的16个独立研究样区，评估20年间农业土地利用与景观结构的短期演变轨迹。
本次提供的数据集展示了2000年至2020年间两个时间节点下各研究样区的土地利用数据，具体时间节点取决于数据可获取性。
数据采集流程采用地理信息系统（Geographic Information Systems，ESRI ArcGIS Pro）对正射校正航空影像进行目视解译，以此完成土地利用制图。
土地利用数字化工作由瑞士的两名科研人员完成，他们与各研究国的项目合作方保持沟通以交换专业知识。
面状要素的最小制图单元为25平方米。
土地覆盖分类遵循欧洲自然信息系统（European Nature Information System, EUNIS）生境分类标准（欧洲环境署，2019年）。
研究样区内系统测绘了最宽泛的生境类别，单类生境的覆盖面积约为25平方千米。
尽管EUNIS分类聚焦于生境类型，但本研究聚焦于农业土地利用强度，因此为多个EUNIS类别补充了土地利用强度等级，该补充措施应用于草地、橄榄园与果园。
正射影像的空间分辨率介于25厘米至2米之间。因此部分场景下空间分辨率不足以精准判定土地利用类型，此时可采用同年份的其他正射影像（可能呈现不同物候阶段），或结合土地利用统计数据与基于对应研究区本地专业知识的专家判断来完成解译。

参考文献：
欧洲环境署，2019年。EUNIS生境分类2007版（2012年修订描述）于2019年更新。哥本哈根（永久链接）