CLC — changes 2000-2006 — Dataset

The Corine Land Cover 2006 project foresees the derivation of a series of digital cartographic products: some traditional compared to previous CLC90 and CLC2000 experiences, others innovative. The aim is to provide an integrated package of products that can better meet the needs of information support for spatial planning and management in Europe. The strategy of fully transparent disclosure of Corine products is confirmed. The factors that constitute elements of continuity with the past are the following: • the European nomenclature system of 44 classes on 3 thematic levels is confirmed. Although there have been criticisms of some of the classes (in particular those relating to agricultural areas heterogeneous due to the difficult objective differentiation between the different thematic entities) the need to maintain comparability with the existing coverings of 1990 and 2000 prevailed. • The scale and minimum units that can be charted for the same reasons have been kept unchanged: 25 ha for CLC coverage and 5 ha for changes. • Online dissemination policy with free access to all Corine products and technical documentation. The discontinuity elements are the following: • use of multi-temporal satellite coverage (referring to the year 2006 at least one spring-summer image and one autumn-winter image have been acquired). The purpose of this choice is to encourage the recognition of different types of vegetation and agricultural crops according to the different phenological behaviours. • by simplifying the definition adopted for land use changes that are the subject of the mapping, all surface changes equal to or greater than 5 ha are now mapled, regardless of their spatial configuration. • Increase in the frequency of updating CLC cartography from ten years to about five years. • Creation of a package of new cartographic products of high geometric detail that are added to the traditional CLC cartography. The new products are made centrally at European level and not by the agencies of the individual countries participating in the project.