Land Use Land Cover Classification

This week in lab we practiced our skills of recognizing features on the ground using a natural color aerial photograph.  We digitized an area of Pascagoula, MS, creating a land use/land cover map.  We identified the ground based on size, shape, color, pattern, shadows and association.  We utilized the USGS Standard Land Use / Land Cover Classification System.  The assignment was to categorize to level two (two digit classification).  Classifications of three or higher are typically utilized for local and some regional planning. 

My specific categories for this project 

Part of my employment background was working for 10 years in a building department in a municipality.  We worked very closely with the planning department and GIS guy.  Identifying urban land use from aerial perspectives I have done before.  It is a lot easier when you are familiar with the area.  Correctly identifying natural elements just at a level 2 classification was difficult because I am not familiar with the difference in kinds of trees or when a stream or canal becomes part of an estuary or bay. 

Technically doing the polygons was new and still somewhat challenging in the new to me GIS Pro.  My first attempt I did not have the Edge snapping or vertex snapping turned on, so I utilized this attempt as practice.  The second attempt I did turn on the snapping features while creating the polygons.  First creating a feature class file in my gdb.  Then in the edit tab clicking the create button and choosing polygon.  It was challenging to be able to navigate the picture while creating the polygon.  I settled on zooming in and out with the mouse scroll to move the image without having to click.  I did not master the clip portion to separate smaller interior polygons from larger surrounding areas.  Instead I relied on more of a lasso method with the larger polygon.  I started with larger easily identified areas keeping my attribute table open and adding the code as I drew each polygon (realizing that you must click off the cell in the attribute table that you are making changes to before you save the changes or that cell will not be recorded).  As I progressed from larger isolated polygons then I started working right and left back and forth to fill in the surrounding areas and smaller isolations.  Distinguishing between commercial service and commercial industrial was harder without knowledge of the practice of the location.  Ultimately, I settled on cleaner sites without outside materials or industrial roof or ground mechanisms and Commercial Service and those with as Commercial Industrial.