Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China

Various land use and land cover (LULC) products have been produced over the past decade with the development of remote sensing technology. Despite the differences in LULC classification schemes, there is a lack of research on assessing the accuracy of their application to croplands in a unified fram...

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Main Authors: Jie Xue, Xianglin Zhang, Songchao Chen, Bifeng Hu, Nan Wang, Zhou Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2024-01-01
Series:Journal of Integrative Agriculture
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311923001715
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author Jie Xue
Xianglin Zhang
Songchao Chen
Bifeng Hu
Nan Wang
Zhou Shi
author_facet Jie Xue
Xianglin Zhang
Songchao Chen
Bifeng Hu
Nan Wang
Zhou Shi
author_sort Jie Xue
collection DOAJ
description Various land use and land cover (LULC) products have been produced over the past decade with the development of remote sensing technology. Despite the differences in LULC classification schemes, there is a lack of research on assessing the accuracy of their application to croplands in a unified framework. Thus, this study evaluated the spatial and area accuracies of cropland classification for four commonly used global LULC products (i.e., MCD12Q1 V6, GlobCover2009, FROM-GLC and GlobeLand30) based on the harmonised FAO criterion, and quantified the relationships between four factors (i.e., slope, elevation, field size and crop system) and cropland classification agreement. The validation results indicated that MCD12Q1 and GlobeLand30 performed well in cropland classification regarding spatial consistency, with overall accuracies of 94.90 and 93.52%, respectively. The FROM-GLC showed the worst performance, with an overall accuracy of 83.17%. Overlaying the cropland generated by the four global LULC products, we found the proportions of complete agreement and disagreement were 15.51 and 44.72% for the cropland classification, respectively. High consistency was mainly observed in the Northeast China Plain, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the northern part of the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain, China. In contrast, low consistency was detected primarily on the eastern edge of the northern and semiarid region, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and southern China. Field size was the most important factor for mapping cropland. For area accuracy, compared with China Statistical Yearbook data at the provincial scale, the accuracies of different products in descending order were: GlobeLand30, FROM-GLC, MCD12Q1, and GlobCover2009. The cropland classification schemes mainly caused large area deviations among the four products, and they also resulted in the different ranks of spatial accuracy and area accuracy among the four products. Our results can provide valuable suggestions for selecting cropland products at the national or provincial scale and help cropland mapping and reconstruction, which is essential for food security and crop management, so they can also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations.
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spelling doaj-art-e5e809ab04084169b0d066eeaf32d24a2025-08-20T03:57:59ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Integrative Agriculture2095-31192024-01-0123128329710.1016/j.jia.2023.06.005Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in ChinaJie Xue0Xianglin Zhang1Songchao Chen2Bifeng Hu3Nan Wang4Zhou Shi5Department of Land Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, ChinaInstitute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, ChinaInstitute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311215, ChinaDepartment of Land Resource Management, School of Public Finance and Public Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China; Key Laboratory of Data Science in Finance and Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, ChinaInstitute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, ChinaInstitute of Applied Remote Sensing and Information Technology, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Key Laboratory of Spectroscopy Sensing, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hangzhou 310058, China; Correspondence Zhou ShiVarious land use and land cover (LULC) products have been produced over the past decade with the development of remote sensing technology. Despite the differences in LULC classification schemes, there is a lack of research on assessing the accuracy of their application to croplands in a unified framework. Thus, this study evaluated the spatial and area accuracies of cropland classification for four commonly used global LULC products (i.e., MCD12Q1 V6, GlobCover2009, FROM-GLC and GlobeLand30) based on the harmonised FAO criterion, and quantified the relationships between four factors (i.e., slope, elevation, field size and crop system) and cropland classification agreement. The validation results indicated that MCD12Q1 and GlobeLand30 performed well in cropland classification regarding spatial consistency, with overall accuracies of 94.90 and 93.52%, respectively. The FROM-GLC showed the worst performance, with an overall accuracy of 83.17%. Overlaying the cropland generated by the four global LULC products, we found the proportions of complete agreement and disagreement were 15.51 and 44.72% for the cropland classification, respectively. High consistency was mainly observed in the Northeast China Plain, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the northern part of the Middle-lower Yangtze Plain, China. In contrast, low consistency was detected primarily on the eastern edge of the northern and semiarid region, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and southern China. Field size was the most important factor for mapping cropland. For area accuracy, compared with China Statistical Yearbook data at the provincial scale, the accuracies of different products in descending order were: GlobeLand30, FROM-GLC, MCD12Q1, and GlobCover2009. The cropland classification schemes mainly caused large area deviations among the four products, and they also resulted in the different ranks of spatial accuracy and area accuracy among the four products. Our results can provide valuable suggestions for selecting cropland products at the national or provincial scale and help cropland mapping and reconstruction, which is essential for food security and crop management, so they can also contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311923001715global LULC productscropland mappingaccuracy evaluationfood securityChina
spellingShingle Jie Xue
Xianglin Zhang
Songchao Chen
Bifeng Hu
Nan Wang
Zhou Shi
Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
Journal of Integrative Agriculture
global LULC products
cropland mapping
accuracy evaluation
food security
China
title Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
title_full Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
title_fullStr Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
title_full_unstemmed Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
title_short Quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite-based LULC products for cropland classification in China
title_sort quantifying the agreement and accuracy characteristics of four satellite based lulc products for cropland classification in china
topic global LULC products
cropland mapping
accuracy evaluation
food security
China
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311923001715
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