Utilizing LANDSAT imagery to monitor land-use change - A case study in Ohio

Abstract LANDSAT imagery is increasingly being applied to land-use planning because of its advantages over more traditional methods. An extensive project in the state of Ohio compiled a land-cover data base interpreted from LANDSAT for each county in the state. Using a portion of Franklin County as a study, two LANDSAT data bases, and a ground-checked set of air-photo interpretations, accuracy tests were made in order to quantify the extent of misclassification and misalignment errors. Open space and agriculture categories were found to be the most consistently classified while very large errors occurred in the urban categories. Direct application and use of LANDSAT data for planning must thus await improvements in classification techniques and accuracy.