What We're Measuring
What We Mean
by "Developed"
Terms
like “urban area,” “developed land” and “development” can
mean different things to different people. We want to be sure
that you understand what our data shows, because the “developed
area” estimated by our remote sensing techniques may be
very different from the “developed area” as shown
in your town comprehensive plan.
Below
are two maps of Marlborough, CT. The left map shows a fairly
typical town map of land use/land cover, interpreted from aerial
photographs. The first four colors (orange, red, black and
pink) could be called “developed” areas. The map
on the right is our satellite-derive land cover map. The red
and yellow areas constitute the "developed” portion
of our map. While you can see that both maps are pretty similar,
the town map shows more developed area. This is because of
the different techniques used. |
