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.