NATIONAL-SCALE ONTARIO LAND COVER UTM DIGITAL DATA 1. Coverage Specifications Distribution Unit : 1:250,000 NTS map sheet Resolution : 100 meters, approximately Map Projection : Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Datum : NAD27 Spheroid : Clarke 1866 Units of Measure : metres 2. Characteristics of UTM Digital Data In this version, the data are projected to UTM and coordinates, areas and perimeters are in meters. These data, in this form, are suitable for statistical analysis, or for comparison with other digital data in a UTM projection. If the above restrictions do not meet your GIS objectives, a copy of the same data, in latitude/longitude coordinates, can be obtained from the same distribution source. 3. Attribute Schema (Polygon Attribute Table - PAT.DBF) a) Standard ArcInfo Polygon Attribute Table (PAT) variables: AREA Num 13,6 Area, in square metres PERIMETER Num 13,6 Perimeter, in metres COVER_# Num 11,0 Standard ArcInfo Polygon Number COVER_ID Num 11,0 Standard ArcInfo User ID b) National-Scale Land Cover Classification Fields: Class Char 2 Numeric Land Cover Classification code Legend Char 50 Short Legend Text NTSMap Char 4 NTS Map sheet number 4. National-Scale Land Cover Classification Codes with Short Text Legend 1. - Water 2. - Marshes 3. - Open Wetlands 4. - Treed Wetlands 5. - Tundra Heath 6. - Dense Deciduous Forest 7. - Dense Coniferous Forest 8. - Mixed Forest 9. - Sparse Forest 10.- Early Successional Forest 11.- Successional Forest 12.- Mine Tailings, Quarries, Bedrock Outcrop, Mud Flats 13.- Settlement and Developed Land 14.- Agriculture 15.- Unclassified Areas (within the province) 99.- Unclassified Areas (outside the province) 5. Derivation of National-Scale Ontario Land Cover The National-Scale Ontario Land Cover available on this Web Site was derived from a more detailed Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover data base by combining and redefining the original 28 classes to form 15 classes and by generalizing the original spatial resolution from 25 metres to 100 metres. Discrete features less than 50 hectares in size were eliminated. Information on the source Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover is provided in the following section. 6. Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover The Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover data base was produced from satellite remote sensing imagery by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The data base was generated by the classification of digital, multispectral LANDSAT Thematic Mapper data recorded on a range of dates between 1986 and 1997, the majority in the early 1990s. The forest cutovers and burns were updated using 1996 imagery for the Great Lakes forest region and most of the Boreal forest region of the province. The land cover classes consist of vegetation types (such as forest, wetlands, agricultural crops or pasture) and categories of non-vegetated surfaces (such as water bodies, bedrock outcrops, and settlements). Unlike the land use classes of the historical Canada Land Inventory, the Ontario land cover classification reflects the nature of the land surface rather than the land use. For example, provincial parks are not mapped as areas of recreational land use, but as part of the provincial mosaic of water bodies, forest types, wetlands, and other cover classes. Satellite land cover classification identifies cover types by their spectral character; that is, by the nature of the various wavelengths of the sun's energy reflected from them. This spectral character is determined by the vegetation cover and other types of surface that make up each land cover type. For example, forest types are identified by the mixture of coniferous and deciduous species, the degree of canopy closure, and the ground cover visible through canopy gaps. Similarly, wetland types are identified by the nature of the vegetation cover (trees, grasses, or mosses) and the proportion of open water. Agricultural land cover is distinguished by the spectral character of growing row crops, pasture, or open soil. Forest cutover are recognized by a combination of spectral reflectance, internal pattern, and context. The land cover classification was performed using a type of computer analysis identified as a 'supervised' classification method. ('Supervised' indicates that the image interpreter first assigned meaning to differences found across a satellite image frame, then sought out all other occurrences of the same features. An 'unsupervised' classification method involves classifying all of the discernible differences across the image frame, then assigning a meaning to those differences.) Use of the supervised classification approach requires prior knowledge of the range of land cover conditions in the area under study. Extensive field knowledge was brought to bear on the Ontario land cover classification process. Interactive editing was used extensively to map certain classes that could not be positively identified without additional evidence from pattern and/or context. The knowledgeable use of editing techniques improved the overall accuracy of the land cover data significantly. Satellite image analysis was used to produce the Ontario land cover data because the vast area to be mapped (1 million square kilometres) made the use of more detailed mapping methods impractical. The resulting data base has not been subjected to standard techniques of accuracy assessment, for two reasons. First, the land cover classes are broad and thus subject to broad interpretation. Secondly, gathering sufficient ground truth data to provide a meaningful assessment of accuracy over so vast an area has not been financially feasible. Practical experience suggests that the accuracy of the Provincial-Scale Land Cover data is 95 percent or better for water bodies; approximately 90 percent for forest classes, with exception of some degree of unavoidable confusion between treed wetlands and sparse forest classes; and approximately 85 percent for agricultural land cover, taking into account widespread, unavoidable confusion with small towns and roads. Mine tailings, quarries, bedrock outcrops, and coastal mudflats along Hudson Bay and James Bay were mapped as a single class of minimal vegetation cover with an overall accuracy of approximately 90 percent, although some quarries may have been indistinguishable amid agricultural land cover. Major settlements and roads were spectrally distinguished with less confidence than all other classes. For further information, see "Ontario Provincial Land Cover Data Base: Revised User's Manual".(THE REVISED USER'S MANUAL TO BE HOTPOINTED ON THE NET APPLICATION) The Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover data provide the basis for the broad inventory and mapping of selected or combined forest types, wetlands, or agricultural land cover for resource management planning within user-defined management zone (e.g., management district or region, conservation area, county, or watershed). The data have also been used to generate provincial and regional forest landscape ecological analyses. In combination with land cover data from other sources (for example, either historical or future satellite data coverage), the data set provides for the detection of change in land cover and, by inference, in land use. Users whose applications require the original, more detailed Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover data can obtain customized excerpts from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. The data are distributed on a partial cost-recovery basis, subject to a user agreement. Contact information is provided at the end of this document. 7. Applications of the National-Scale Ontario Land Cover The National-Scale Ontario Land Cover provides the basis for calculating the representation of general land cover types in Ontario. It also provides a valuable land cover layer for a wide range of GIS applications. By representing land cover conditions to approximately 1990, and successional forest classes to 1996, the data set provides a historical baseline for future land cover monitoring. 8. Description of the National-Scale Land Cover Classes Note: The numbers in square brackets after each class description indicate the provincial-scale class(es) making up the national-scale class. 1 WATER. The delineation of water bodies is based on the spectral signature of the imagery and is not derived from a secondary map source. Hence the boundaries of water bodies may differ from that of topographic base maps. [#1 Water] 2 MARSHES. Tidal marshes of the Hudson Bay - James Bay lowland, freashwater coastal marshes, and inland marshes (seasonal marshes, cattail marshes, and grassy meadow marshes). [#3 Intertidal Marsh + #4 Supertidal Marsh + #5 Freshwater Coastal Marsh / Inland Marsh] 3 OPEN WETLANDS. Open fens (including grassy fens with open pools occurring most extensively in the Hudson Bay - James Bay lowlands) and open bogs (including bogs with some partial cover of stunted trees occurring generally in the province but most extensively in the Hudson Bay - James Bay lowlands; and "string bogs" of the Hudson Bay - James Bay lowlands which have a high proportion of open water surface). [#8 Open Fen + #10 Open Bog] 4 TREED WETLANDS. Fens with dense shrub and tamarack tree cover occurring generally in the province but most extensively in the Hudson Bay - James Bay lowlands; and bogs with low- to high-density tree cover. Some degree of overlap exists between treed bog and sparse conifer forest in more northerly parts of the province, especially in the Hudson Bay- James Bay lowlands. [#9 Treed Fen + #11 Treed Bog + #6 Deciduous Swamp + #7 Conifer Swamp] 5 TUNDRA HEATH. Areas of dense ericaceous (heather-like) vegetation occurring on better- drained areas, found only in the Hudson Bay coastal zone. [#12 Tundra Heath] 6 DENSE DECIDUOUS FOREST. Largely continuous forest canopy composed approximately 80 percent of deciduous species; includes deciduous shrub cover on old burns and alder thicket swamps in the Hudson Bay-James Bay lowlands. [#13 Dense Deciduous Forest] 7 DENSE CONIFEROUS FOREST. Largely continuous forest canopy composed approximately 80 percent of coniferous species; includes dense conifer swamp in the Hudson Bay-James Bay lowlands; includes mature conifer plantations, mostly pine, growing in evenly spaced rows, mainly in Southern Ontario; does not include artificially regenerated cutovers or burns in Northern Ontario. [#14 Dense Coniferous Forest + #15 Conifer Plantations] 8 MIXED FOREST. Largely continuous forest canopy of both coniferous and deciduous species. [ #16 Mixed Forest, mainly coniferous + #17 Mixed Forest, mainly coniferous] 9 SPARSE FOREST. Patchy or sparse forest canopy (approximately 30 to 40 percent canopy closure) composed of either coniferous (mainly in northerly regions of Ontario) or deciduous species, or both. [#18 Sparse Coniferous Forest + #19 Sparse Deciduous Forest] 10 EARLY SUCCESSIONAL FOREST. Forest growing on clear- cuts and burns estimated at less than 10 years of age. [#20 Recent Cutovers + #21 Recent Burns] 11 SUCCESSIONAL FOREST. Forest growing on clear-cuts and burns estimated at more than 10 years of age. [#22 Old Cutovers and Burns] 12 MINE TAILINGS, QUARRIES, BEDROCK OUTCROPS, MUD FLATS. Areas of minimal vegetation cover including mine tailings; rock and gravel quarries; rocky Great Lakes shorelines; bedrock outcrops; and mudflats on the Hudson Bay and James Bay coast. [#2 Coastal Mudflats + #23 Mine Tailings, Quarries, and Bedrock Outcrops] 13 SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPPED LAND. Clearings for human settlement and economic activity; larger transportation routes. [#24 Settlement and Developed Land] 14 AGRICULTURE. Row crops, hay crops, open soil, open grassland with sparse shrubs, and orchard land. [#25 Pasture and Abandoned Fields + #26 Cropland + #27 Alvar] 15 UNCLASSIFIED AREAS. Cloud and shadow areas, within the provincial study area. [#28 Unclassified] 99 OUTSIDE STUDY AREA. Land or water areas, including small islands, within the NTS map area but outside the provincial study area. 9. Accreditation The distribution of the National-Scale Ontario Land Cover is managed by: The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Natural Resources Canada Government of Canada Room 650 - 615 Booth Street Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0E9 The National-Scale Ontario Land Cover is based on the Provincial-Scale Ontario Land Cover, produced through significant research and development by: The Ontario Provincial Remote Sensing Office The Ontario Forest Research Institute Data processing completed by: Spectranalysis Inc. and Spatialanalysis Oakville, Ontario Ottawa, Ontario The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources retains intellectual property. The Ontario Provincial-Scale Land Cover is distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in customized excerpts, subject to a User Agreement with the Province, for a charge based on partial cost-recovery. The following organization is the data custodian and distributor: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Geomatics and Data Acquisition Services Box 7000 300 Water Street Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5 Contact: David B. White Phone: (705) 755-1470 FAX: (705) 755-1640 E-Mail: david.white@mnr.gov.on.ca (Copyright) Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 1999.