The thematic accuracy of Corine land cover 2000

Corine land cover 2000 (CLC2000) was produced by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and its member countries in the European environment information and observation network (Eionet), based on the results of IMAGE2000, a satellite imaging programme undertaken jointly by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and the EEA. CLC2000 is an update for the reference year 2000 of the first Corine land cover database which was finalised in the early 1990s as part of the European Commission programme to COoRdinate Information on the Environment (Corine). The resulting national land cover inventories were integrated into a seamless land cover map of Europe, which is based on a standard methodology and nomenclature, providing consistent information on land cover across Europe. LUCAS (European Land Use/Cover Area Frame Statistical Survey) is a project managed by the Eurostat, which main purpose is to provide harmonised information on agri-environment for Europe. LUCAS records land use (LU) and land cover (LC) information and stores digital field photographs in a two-level regular grid. The purpose of this report is to assess the thematic accuracy of CLC2000 by means of an independent data source, the LUCAS data (not used in the compilation of the target database u0097 CLC2000) and statistical methods homogeneously applied to as many of the participating countries as possible. The purpose of validating geographical data is to derive final accuracy/reliability figures by means of independent, high resolution and more accurate data, which is related to a similar data acquisition period.