1. Point 3.2.1 of the agenda LUCAS 2008/2009 : the Core Survey
WORKING GROUP "Land Cover/Use Statistics" 20 October 2009,Luxembourg,
LUCAS TEAM 1

2. Contents Coverage Informative contents Nomenclature Sampling strategy
Quality assurance
DMT

3. Coverage 2008/2009 Member States Sampling size Austria 4,969 Latvia
Austria
4,969
Latvia
3,827
Belgium
1,808
Lithuania
3,864
Bulgaria *
8,100
Luxembourg
153
Czech Republic
4,674
Malta ** 80
Denmark
2,554
Netherlands
2,461
Estonia
2,680
Poland
18,530
Finland
19,946
Portugal
5,426
France
32,417
Romania *
20,600
Germany
21,157
Slovakia
2,895
Greece
7,819
Slovenia
1,201
Hungary
5,513
Spain
29,917
Ireland
4,165
Sweden
26,665
Italy
17,851
United Kingdom
14,508
Total
263,780
*Survey took place in 2008
** Survey financed with national funds

4. Informative content Parameters: Land cover (1 & 2) Land use (1 & 2)
Land Cover percentage
Area size
Height of trees
Width of features
Transect (250 m to east) with Land Cover and linear features
Land management (grazing)
Water management
SOIL SAMPLE
West
East
North
South

5. USEFULNESS OF PICTURES
In 2006 a study on multi-dimensional cross-analysis of LUCAS data was launched
The objectives of the study were
to select and further develop a set of landscape indicators on the basis of already existing landscape indicators
to deploy innovative state of the art methods for optimizing the usage of the whole of the LUCAS campaigns data (landscape photos and tabular data)

6. ANALYSIS OF TABULAR AND PICTURE LUCAS data
Indicator 01
(a & b)
Structural Elements Index
Indicator 02 Landform Visual Envelope (Skyline) Index
Indicator 03
Granularity Index
(vertical heterogeneity)
Indicator 04 Land Cover Predominance Index
Indicator 05
Biological Habitats Index
Indicator 06
(a & b)
Land Use/Cover Diversity Index
Indicator 07 Soils at Risk Index
>> Analysis of photos,
orthophotos and
data together

7. Landscape photo analysis
Original
Smoothing
Segmentation
Calculation of
the number of intersects

8. LUCAS 2008/2009: Nomenclature Fully hierarchical (3 levels)
Land cover and land use clearly distinguished
Comparable with other main international nomenclatures (e.g. FFS agriculture, FAO, forestry)
Some new parameters introduced
Forest types have been introduced for forestry areas, in line with the EUNIS classification on forests (

9. Nomenclature LUCAS 2008/09: Land Cover
Built-up areas
A20
Artificial non built-up areas
B10
Cereals (+ triticale)
B20
Root crops
B30
Non permanent industrial crops
B40
Dry pulses, vegetables and flowers
B50
Fodder crops
B70
Fruit trees & berries
B80
Other Permanent Crops
C10
Broadleaved and evergreen woodland
C20
Coniferous woodland
C30
Mixed woodland
D10
Shrubland with sparse tree cover
D20
Shrubland without tree cover
E10
Grassland with sparse tree/shrub cover
E20
Grassland without tree cover
E30
Spontaneous vegetation
F00
Bare Land
G10
Inland water bodies
G20
Inland running water
G30
Coastal water bodies
G50
Glacier, permanent snow
H10
Inland wetlands
H20
Coastal wetlands
Temporary grassland
B55
Mixed cereals for fodder
B54

10. Nomenclature LUCAS 2008/09: Land Use
Agriculture ( + Kitchen garden + Fallow land)
U120
Forestry
U130
Fishing
U140
Mining, Quarrying
U150
Hunting
U210
Energy production
U220
Industry & Manufacturing
U310
Transport, communication, …
U320
Water & waste treatment
U330
Construction
U340
Commerce, Finance, Business
U350
Community Services
U360
Recreation, Leisure, Sport
U370
Residential
U400
Unused
New class

11. Sampling strategy: sampling design
points
LAND COVER classes
1 ARABLE LAND
2 PERMANENT CROPS
3 GRASSLAND
4 WOODED AREAS AND SHRUBLAND
5 BARE LAND, RARE VEGET.
6 ARTIFICIAL LAND
7 WATER
First phase sample for stratification: orthophoto interpretation
2km squared grid
Ground survey
Parameters
Land cover
Land use
pictures
etc.
Sample of around 260,000 pts
Second phase sample: in-situ data collection

12. Sampling design : Aims :
obtaining a reasonable balance among the strata (the agricultural strata were over-represented in the previous rounds of the survey) since the focus of the survey changed from a merely agricultural to a broadly agro-environmental one;
providing reliable estimates at a geographical level more detailed than the EU one for the most relevant land cover classes in the various countries;
gathering longitudinal data on land cover and land use to monitor their changes (for the countries involved in the 2006 round).

13. Sampling design: expected errors at NUTS2 level
LAND COVER CLASSES
UPPER BOUND EXP. ERRORS
Cereals
15%
Root crops, Vegetables, floricolture, ornamental plants
25%
Fibre and oleaginous crops, non permanent industrial crops
Fodder and temporary grassland
Permanent crops and nursery
Grassland
7.5%
Broadleaved woodland
20%
Coniferous woodland
Mixed woodland
Shrubland
Bare land
Artificial areas
Water

14. Sampling drawing: Selection of points: criteria
LUCAS 2006 sample points are included as much as possible (panel approach)
Points above 1000m and very difficult to access are excluded
Strategy to reduce autocorrelation among points

15. Points selection strategy: recourse to replicates
To reduce the autocorrelation within and between strata:
GRID (2km*2km) is divided into squared blocks of 81 points each
Pts coordinates are translated in relative position in the block
numbering of the replicates is done under the constraint that the distance with the previous one is maximized
Replicates are then selected successively in each stratum (starting with replicate 1) until the required sample size by domain is reached. From the replicate with the highest number, points are randomly selected

16. Point 3.2.1 of the agenda LUCAS 2008/2009 : the Core Survey
WORKING GROUP "Land Cover/Use Statistics" 20 October 2009,Luxembourg,
LUCAS TEAM
Second part 16

17. Quality assurance - Actions put in place:
Different actors/levels of control
Several training steps
Continuous monitoring
Independent data quality check
Standardisation and computerisation of the main phases of data management

19. DMT – Data Management Tool: main functions
Point management: Data Entry Tool (supervised data entry, consistency and ranges check);
Data Import (sent forward by one step lower level or sent backward by one step higher level);
Data export;
Point assignment;
Report builder;
Language choice.

24. Schedule for the 2009 Survey

25. Table A – LUCAS 2009: overall situation at 16/10

26. Table B – Import progress (points received by Eurostat)

27. Import progress: points received by Eurostat (%)

28. Dissemination plan
Final results are expected to be ready by June 2010,
Preliminary results will be issued in the meantime
Figures on land cover and use resulting from LUCAS 2009 will be uploaded and integrated in new-Cronos
“Statistics in Focus” is expected by the end of the year