Home > Research > Statewide Land Use / Land Cover of Arkansas > New 2004 digital Land Use/Land Cover Maps of Arkansas
New digital land use / land cover (LULC) maps have been created for the entire state of Arkansas. The new map series was created from satellite imagery and represents a detailed mapping of Arkansas’ landscape in the spring, summer, and fall of 2004. The maps provide a way for a wide variety of users, such as natural resource managers, urban planners, educators, as well as academic and private researchers in the natural and social sciences, to assess important economic, agricultural, and environmental changes across the state of Arkansas. The maps were created by researchers at the University of Arkansas’ Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST), with funding from the Arkansas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (ANRCC).
Most of the social and natural resource challenges facing Arkansans are related, either directly or indirectly, to landscape characteristics. “Land cover” refers to what actually covers the land surface and includes categories such as forest, water, etc. The term “land use” refers to how the land is being used or modified by human activity and includes categores such as urban, soybean field, etc. Because landscape changes and their effects take place in both space and time, regularly updated LULC maps present the public with a doubly useful source of information. With the aid of spatial analysis tools this dataset can be used to identify spatial and temporal patterns.
The 2004 LULC dataset is the latest in an ongoing effort to map the landscape of Arkansas. This new digital map is an update to the initial statewide LULC created for the year 1999. In 1996 a pilot LULC project was completed for 27 counties in eastern Arkansas which depicted the landscape of the Delta in 1992. Maps from these different times can be used to see how land use has changed. For example, between 1992 and 2004 the amount of land used for aquaculture (fish farms) in Chicot county in southeast Arkansas jumped from 8,453 acres
to 20,862 acres. In that same time period on the Grand Prairie of Arkansas, an important rice growing region, rice production went from 228,974 acres in 1992 to 209,138 acres in 2004. The data also show considerable growth in Pulaski county in central Arkansas (see image to right). Land use in the high density urban category (industrial and commercial lands) went from 18 mi 2 in 1992 to just under 29 mi 2 in 2004. Similar urban growth has taken place in northwest Arkansas.
The three projects have been funded by the Arkansas state legislature with the support of a number of state senators and representatives, most recently state senator Sue Madison,. In that time ANRCC and CAST also collaborated on the production of other important natural resources digital data sets including new, extensive soil maps for the 75 counties of Arkansas. ANRCC and other state agencies recognize the value of spatial data, and use it in their various programs.
The LULC data was derived from moderate resolution satellite imagery from the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor onboard the Landsat 5 satellite. The TM sensor measures reflected and emitted energy from the Earth’s surface, views the landscape from an altitude of 438 miles, and travels in a polar orbit around the Earth at a speed of 4 miles per second. The satellite images the same area on the Earth’s surface every 16 days.
Three separate images from the spring, summer, and fall of 2004 were used in the creation of the 2004 LULC dataset. For more information on the Landsat program please visit the following web page: landsat.usgs.gov. CAST, through its participation in the ArkansasView consortium, received a substantial discount on the price of the satellite imagery. For more information on ArkansasView and its parent organization AmericaView please visit: www.cast.uark.edu/cast/arkansas_view/.
The accuracy of the dataset was measured by comparing map results to a set of ground reference points collected by CAST researchers at various sites around the state. The overall accuracy of the map, based on the ground reference data, is 87%.
The data products generated for the project were designed primarily for planning and research activities at the county, regional, or statewide level, and are not intended for high resolution, site specific investigations. The 2004 LULC datasets should be of particular interest to those studying land use or land cover changes. If plans to map the landscape of Arkansas on a regular basis are made a reality, it will provide means for end users of the data to spot trends, identify potential future challenges, and to make more informed decisions.
The data can be accessed on GeoStor, Arkansas’ online spatial data sourceont he world wide web at www.geostor.arkansas.gov. For more information about LULC mapping in Arkansas please contact Jason A. Tullis (jatullis@cast.uark.edu) or Bruce Gorham (bruce@cast.uark.edu).
Northwest Arkansas in 1999 |
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Northwest Arkansas in 2004 |
