Land Use Classification Map for Alberta Energy Regulation Pilot

2009 Landsat imagery provides a baseline land-use and land-cover classification for an Alberta energy regulation pilot area. The Government of Alberta's Alberta Energy Regulator created this dataset to assess surface change from energy exploration. It contains 13 distinct land cover classes, including various forest types, developed areas, water bodies, and agricultural land.

Use Cases

• Classify land cover types such as coniferous forest, broadleaf forest, and mixed forest to model habitat fragmentation.
• Monitor changes in exposed land or harvested areas over time by comparing this 2009 baseline to newer imagery.
• Identify developed areas and mixed developed areas for planning surface infrastructure with minimal environmental impact.
• Analyze the distribution of water bodies and shoals within the pilot region for watershed management studies.
• Use the grassland and agriculture area classifications to assess land-use suitability and potential conflicts with energy development.

Strengths

• Contains 13 distinct, predefined land cover classes for consistent analysis.
• Covers a specific, large pilot area spanning multiple townships and several towns in Alberta.
• Serves as a defined baseline from 2009 for temporal change detection studies.

Limitations

• Data is from a single year (2009), making it temporally stale for current analysis without more recent comparisons.
• Spatial coverage is limited to a specific pilot area in Alberta, not representative of broader regions.
• The 'unclassified' class (0) may represent areas of missing or uncertain data, reducing completeness.

Provenance

Source

Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), Government of Alberta.

Collection Method

Derived from 2009 Landsat multispectral imagery through classification processes.

Time Range

2009

Freshness

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Geography

Play-Based Regulation pilot area in Alberta, Canada, covering townships from Twp. 52, Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Twp. 70, Rge. 5, W 6th Mer., including towns like Edson, Fox Creek, and Whitecourt.