The Geography Remote Sensing Unit (GRSU) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is responsible for investigations with ERTS-1 data in the Central Coastal Zone and West Side of the San Joaquin Valley. The nature of investigative effort involves the inventory, monitoring, and assessment of the natural and cultural resources of the two areas. Land use, agriculture, vegetation, landforms, geology, and hydrology are the principal subjects for attention. These parameters are the key indicators of the dynamically changing character of the areas. Monitoring of these parameters with ERTS-1 data will provide the techniques and methodologies required to generate the information needed by federal, state, county, and local agencies to assess change-related phenomena and plan for management and development

Estes, J. E.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

Paper L 4 
LAND USE INVESTI~ATIONS IN ?H 
COASTAL TEST SITES, CALI~ORNIA 
Dr. John E. Estes, Geography Remot@ Sensing Unit, Geography Program, University 
of Cdifornia, a n t a  Barbra 
Ab VALLEY AND CENTRAL 
U n i t  (GKSU) a t  the University of 
sponsible for investigations with EKI'S-1 
data in  the Central Coastal Zone and West Side of the §an Joaquin 
Valley. The nature of the investigative effort  involves the inventory, 
monitoring, and assessment of the natural and cultural resources of 
the two areas. Land use, agriculture, vegetation, landforms, geology, 
and hydrology are the principal subjects for attention. These param- 
eters are the key indicators of the dynamically changing character of 
the two areas. Monitoring of these parameters with EBTS-1 data w i l l  
provide the t e c h  
mation needed by ra l ,  state, e oca1 agencies sess 
change-related phenonena and plan n t  and develo 
maintained with various agencie fine information requirements 
and establish mchanims for on flow. Among the groups a l -  
ready cooperating are the Depar sources, Division of 
Highways, Farm Advisors (Santa Counties), and the 
Kern County Water Agency, In the Coastal Zone, GRSU is cooperating 
with the Forestry Remote Sensing Laboratory (U.C. Berkeley) and the 
Geography Department a t  U.C. Riverside. The three groups are working 
in concert to develop resource classification schemes that are appli- 
cable along the entire California coastline. These activit ies will 
lead to  the developnt  of a relatively uniform (i*e., standardized) 
Coastal Zone data base from EKI'S-1 imagery. 
In preparation for receipt of EKI'S-1 data, consierable effort  was 
placed on establishing a solid data base for the Central Coastal Zone. 
Detailed classification systems were devised for the resource param- 
eters o f  interest, and maps were prepared from existing RB-57 color 
infrared photography imaged i n  April, 1971 (NASA Mission 164) The 
data base is being used to  evaluate the information content of ERTS-1 
imagery, As continued EKI'S-1 data is received, the classification 
systems will  be modified to.make them compatible with the information 
content of BKI'S-1 imagery. A solid data base already exists for the 
West Side of the San Joaquin Valley as a result of previous research 
by GRSU, and it is being used in  the same fashion as the Central 
Coastal Zone data base, The balance of this paper w i l l  deal w i t h  re- 
sults obtained i n  the conduct of land use analysis in  these test areas. 
trated on determining the feasibil i ty of ERTS as a data source for 
i d e n t i m g ,  delimitmg and mapping various land use types. In order 
s and method~logies required to  generate the infor- 
In conducting these investiga cooperat ion nf3 
Evaluation of land use features from EIYTS-1 imagery has concen- 
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https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19730019568 2020-03-17T08:45:13+00:00Z
t o  assess the capability..of ERTS-1 data t o  provide land use information 
within a data base cmtext, investigations have concentrated on iden- 
t if ication of specific land use parameters within diverse environmental 
and cultural settings. More specifically, cultural features which have 
been under close examination are: 1) urbanized areas (extent and loca- 
tion: both absolute and relative); 2) transportation routes and net- 
works; and, 3) agricultural development and extent. 
Three sets of ERTS-1 M S  positive transparencies (frame numbers: 
#1002-18140, North Central Coastal Region; #1073-18064, South Central 
Coastal Region; and, #1019-18062, Central Valley Region) were used to  
evaluate specific land use information potential of EKI'S data for d i -  
verse environments. For each of the ERTS-1 frames utilized, each of 
the MSS bands (CJZamels 4-7) was evaluated for information content and 
feasibil i ty for land use studies. An example of the type of results 
achieved in  this investigation can be seen in Table 1. 
pages of this type have been prepared indicating the relative inter- 
pretability of various land use parameters on the ERTS-1 imagery. An 
example of a land use map generated in this  study i s  shown in Figure 1. 
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED 
Several problems were encountered in the overall conduct of these 
investigations . While major interpretation difficult ies centered around 
the resolution levels of the various MS bands, several other problems 
were encountered. 
signatures exhibited low object to  background contrast ratios,  it was 
very difficult  to  make basic land use categorization decisions. 
Central Valley Test Site, difficult ies were encountered in feature iden- 
tification in  areas of idle lands (i.e,, those lands not developed for 
agricultural or urban uses). In such areas it was difficult  to  identify 
both urban and transportation features. 
ratios in  the Central Coastal Test Si te  made it difficult  to locate cer- 
tain urban centers in areas of rangeland/grassland, especially in  those 
areas where transportation features exhibited weak signatures on the 
imagery. Steep, mountainous topography also made certain features d i f f i -  
cult to  interpret. 
In a l l ,  some ten 
For instance, where certain tone and/or texture 
In the 
Problems due to  low contrast 
ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 
Central Valley Region: 
In addition to  a thorou& evaluation of the four MSS Bands for the 
identification of urban, transportation and agricultural features, a 
basic land use map of the entire Central Valley Region from frame 
#1019180625 was  produced on acetate. 
fied, classified, and mapped. These included: urban areas; agricul- 
tural  land; idle land; natural vegetation and land forms (selected); 
highways; canals; airports; and, in one case, a portion of a railroad 
line. 
and extents of urban area boundaries and to  map agricultural land, as 
opposed to  non-agricultural (especially idle land) 
URBAN AREAS 
third were located along U.S. 99, the established transportation route 
Gross scale features were identi- 
Particularly significant was the abi l i ty  to  delineate the shapes 
Sixteen (16) urban areas were identified on the image. Nearly one- 
908 
thm the valley, while the others were located on secondary transpor- 
tation arteries. The major focus of the majority of c i t ies  is as a 
regional/local center for surrounding agricultural hinterlands. 
Identification was facil i tated by tracing linear highway routes, 
especially along U.S. 99. Here the characteristic greyish, mottled 
signatures of the urban areas contrasted we11 w i t h  the surrounding 
enviranrnent. Several other communities of varying sizes were also 
accurately identified owing to  their location i n  areas of heavy cult i-  
vation and secondary road networks. Again, the urban signatures con- 
trasted well w i t h  the darker tone and rectangular pattern of the 
agricultural hinterlands. 
The only major c i ty  in  the area not identified was Corcoran 
(1970 population 5,249), located south of Hanford and west of Tulare 
on California 43. Reasons for this  lack of an identifiable signature 
are being evaluated. Also, the absence of significant urban develop- 
mnt  along Interstate 5 is a result of the relatively underdeveloped 
agricultural s ta te  and geographic isolation of the area. This in it- 
self is a result of non-availability, unti l  recently, of adequate water 
for irrigation (now being changed by construction of the California 
Aqueduct) and isolation caused by inadequate transportation access 
(prior t o  the completion of Interstate 5). 
In a l l  cases, the ci t ies  were first located and identified by 
their mottled grey signature, and then the boundaries were mapped by 
determining the areal extent of the signature. 
to  be fa i r ly  accurate (both in shape and extent) as verified by com- 
parison w i t h  NASA high fl ight CIR imagery (March, 1971; 1:60,000 and 
1:120,000 scale) and U.S.D.C. Coast and Geodetic S u m y  Sectional 
Aeronautical Charts. 
B a s i c  land use mapping indicates that the major portion of land 
in  the San Joaquin Valley (bounded by the Coast and Temblor Ranges on 
the West and the Sierra Nevadas on the East) .comprises Ac (agricultural, 
crops) and N i  (idle land). 
t o  identify individual crop types within the Ac classified areas (or 
to further sub-divide between row and orchard crops on a gross scale), 
it was possible to  recognize agricultural land use awing to  rectangular 
f ie ld  signatures and/or the presence of extensive, regular vegetation 
toneltexture. 
f ie ld  boundaries and presence of unifo-nh vegetation/soil tonal responses. 
However, it should be noted that it is possible that small areas of 
fallow land may have been included in  the N i  classification, where f ie ld  
boundaries blended w i t h  the similar l i g h t  signature of the bare soil .  
Regardless, a high degree of mapping accuracy is possible. The 
following specific example is an indication of the rel iabi l i ty  of mapped 
data for the study area. 
use map of a portion of Kern County (radiating from Bakersfield N, W, 
6 S) was constructed fram 1971 NASA high fli&t 7 h  black and white 
negatives (enlarged to  a scale of 1:290,000), and cross-checked w i t h  
1:120,000 scale CIR imagery. This was sent t o  the Kern County Water 
Agency (K.C.W.A.) for verification of agriculture acreage estimates 
When K.C.W.A. figures were received, the same area was mapped from 
In i t ia l  results appear 
AGRICULTURE/NON-AGRICULTURE (IDW LAND) IDENTIFICATION 
While it has not been possible thus far 
N i  land was  identified on the basis of the absence of 
During the Summer, 1972, an agricultural land 
909 
ERTS-1 with an estimated error for ERTS data of less than 0.5 percent: 
"he results of these studies can be seen below: 
Source Agriculture Acreage Estimate (acres) 
1. 1969 Crop Survey(Kern County) 746,104 (excluding fallow) 
2. NASA High Flight (7Omm)- 1971 753,369 
3. EKI'S-1 748,050 
Central Coastal Test Site: 
portion Coastal test region, specifically examining the signatures of 
the urbah, transportation, and agriculture land use categories on each 
band. Urban concentrations and transportation routes were located by 
scanning the images with a 1Ox magnifier t o  identify the typical tone/ 
texture responses of each, and then the gross outlines and/or linear 
patterns interpreted from the imagery were compared with U.S.D.C. Coast 
and Geodetic Survey Sectional Aeronautical Charts for verification 
purposes. Agricultural signatures were generally quite satisfactory, 
with fields as small as 40 acres visible. 
ences in  field plots (both on the macro and micro level) were noted 
and their significance is being analyzed. 
Central Coastal test region was also completed. 
examined three major categories : 
networks; and, agricultural development. Further identification was 
completed of gross scale features such as urban areas, agricultural 
land, natural vegetation, highways, airports, and military installa- 
tions. Once again, the abi l i ty  to  identify and delineate the shape and 
extent of urban areas and developed agriculture from ERTS-1 imagery was  
found to  be of particular significance. ' The application of this  iden- 
t if ication capability of specific features to  future regional planning 
appears feasible. 
URBAN AREAS 
Nine (9) urban areas were located within the South portion of the 
Central Coastal Region. The majority identified were along the immedi- 
ate coast o r  within coastal valleys. 
land were virtually unidentifiable owing to  low contrast ratios between 
transportation arteries (highways specifically) and the areas they 
traversed. This made identification of urban areas using these indica- 
tors impossible. 
tures of the urban areas alohg the coastal areas, which contrasted w e l l  
(in most cases) with the surrpunding areas of apiculture,  lessened 
this  identification problem. 
mottled grey signature, and then boundaries were rilapped by determining 
the areal extent of the signature. In i t ia l  results appear to  be fa i r ly  
accurate (both in  shape and extent) as verified by comparison with NASA 
high fl ight CIR imagery (March, 1971; 1:60,000 and 1:120,000 scale) 
and U.S.D.C. Coast and Geodetic Survey Sectional Aeronautical Charts. 
Precise, mathematical verification as to  actual accuracy is planned. 
An evaluation of the four MSS bands was  completed for the North 
Furthennore, tonal differ-  
An examination of the four MSS bands for the South portion of the 
urban concentrations ; transportation 
The evaluation again 
Smaller urban areas located in- 
However, the characteristic greyish, mottled signa- 
In a l l  cases, c i t i es  were first located and identified by their 
910 
AGRICULTURE LAND 1DEWTIFICA"ION 
cates that the majority of land in  other than urban concentrations 
may be classified either as natural vegetation or rangeland. While 
the amom$ of cultivated land is relatively insignificant when compared 
t o  total  land area, its importance should not be overlooked. Predom- 
inantly located along caastal river valleys or nestled between the coast 
and mountains, these areas are s i tes  of intensive cultivation of spe- 
cialized or  high yield/high cash value crops. Identification of such 
sites of intense agricultural production w a s  facil i tated by the regu- 
l a r i t y  of field patterns and tonal contrasts exhibited by areas of such 
activity. In addition, range and natural vegetation were identified, 
in  the main, by their  lack of regular boundaries and tonal responses 
and textures exhibited (light grey/mottled and dark grey/solid 
respectively). The existance of large areas categorized as Ar (range- 
land) in the Santa Ynez Valley, Lompoc, and Santa Maria areas in  the 
western portion of Santa Barbara County indicates the importance of the 
cat t le  industry in this  region of the Central California Coastal Zone. 
These large areas of essentially open space, on the fringe of the 
greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, are also quite attractive to  
developers, and the abi l i ty  to  provide synoptic information in this 
dynamic environment is  important. 
The basic land use map of this area wki& was constructed indi- 
SlMWWY AND C(3lCLUSIONS 
be a valuable source for environmental resource information needs. 
The resolution of EWS-1 data places constraints upon the detail  t o  
which specific environmental phenomena can be investigated. Furthermore, 
resolution limitations create certain problems for investigation of 
environments i n  which a diversity of phenomena are localized in small 
areal units (e.g. , as the Central Coastal Zone of California) . These 
limitations, however, are mitigated to  a large degree through the 
synoptic perspective afforded by ERTS-1. 
b i l i t y  to  inventory resources over extensive areas, and generate data 
for  these areas a t  essentially a single point in time. Although the 
detail  of information may be insufficient for specific user require- 
rnents, the advantage of this  synoptic view is that large scale environ- 
*ntal resource information can be: 
format for a single date; and, 2) monitored and updated with comparative 
ease to  reflect changing resource conditions. 
uti l izing conventional data collection methods. 
highly significant for  resource management and planning. 
With respect to  the specific land use studies which the Geography 
Remote Sensing U n i t  has conducted in the Central Valley and Central 
Coastal test s i tes ,  California, the following conclusions can be made: 
Urban areas can be differentiated best on %S bands 4 and 5.  
are most readily defined from MSS band 7 .  
Agricultural f ield boundaries are adequately identifiable on 
MSS bands 4 - 7 ,  and most clearly defined on band 7. 
Experimental results to date indicate that ERTS-1 type data can 
ERTS-1 data provides a capa- 
1) obtained within a standardized 
This i s  not feasible 
The implications are 
1. 
2. Transportation linkages (highways, roads, airports, canals) 
3. 
91 1 
4. Cultivated land can be mapped accurately (under 5% error) 
from MSS band 5. Fal low land identification explains the 
majority of error. 
5. Land use is difficult to map in the California coastal 
environment because many individual use categories occupy 
very small areal units; land use mapping is easier and 
capable of mre sophisticated refinements in the arid 
California Central Valley. 
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COAST 
RANGES 
N v  
N v  b 
Figure 1. Example of Basic Land Use Map derived from Earth Resource 
Technology Satel l i te  Data 
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Y 
4 4 
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Land use investigations in the central valley and central coastal test sites, California

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