Objectives

The main objectives of the Core Service Land Cover (CSL) are to develop pre-operational services for the efficient production of generic Land Cover over large areas.

Land cover and vegetation mapping and monitoring using recent, current and future Earth Observation (EO) systems and information retrieval technology is mandatory in order to provide information more efficiently and with a higher topicality than with current survey means. This has been acknowledged by the GMES initiative by emphasizing that information on pressure and state of the environment is the basic prerequisite for the evaluation of threats, the initiation of mitigation actions.

The approach is based on experiences of the service providers and user organizations involved in CSL gained during the last decades by integrating European and national research and concrete applications. It follows as far as applicable harmonization efforts on European level regarding technical standards (e.g. INSPIRE, OGC) and thematic content (e.g. CORINE land cover- CLC; ESA GSE project SAGE - http://www.gmes-sage.info).

Hence, emphasis is on standardized data analysis means allowing lean production of basic information products and late customizing, serving standardized reporting / information retrieval procedures.

Result will be geo-information harmonized on European level serving as one of the most important input parameters for subsequent work in the observatories, such as environmental planning and modeling on regional, national and international level.