Chesapeake Bay Watershed Pilot Project

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Pilot Project was initiated to develop and test methods for generating digital land cover and land use products from satellite based remotely sensed imagery. These methods and the resulting data products were intended to fulfill specific program requirements of the Landscape Characterization component of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP-LC) and the Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This report presents a standardized methodology for digitally classifying remote sensing data over relatively large and diverse geographic areas. This report describes the methodology used to produce the land cover/use map of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Chapter 2 discusses the development of the classification scheme and gives a general description of the classes. A technical description of all processing and quality assurance/quality control methods, including spatial and thematic accuracy assessments, is presented in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents results and summary statistics, and discusses difficulties, accomplishments, and recommendations for future research. Conclusions are presented in Chapter 5. The Chapters are followed by References, Acknowledgments, and Appendices.