ESA 2014: GRS NVCS Mapping - The Future is Now !!
Recently completed National Vegetation Classification (NVCS) vegetation/land cover map data sets for Lassen Volcanic National Park and Redwood National and State Parks include species-specific cover mapping and NVCS detailed associations and alliances. These new map data sets represent the future of NVCS vegetation mapping and should be considered "state-of-the-art."
On August 14, 2014, Dr. Janet Franklin of Arizona State University presented a summary of "the state of the art and the likely progress of uses of [National Vegetation Classification System] vegetation mapping." Her presentation was the final portion of the Mapping with the National Vegetation Classification: Purpose, Value, and Method session at the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting held in Sacramento, CA that was organized by Todd Keeler-Wolf1 and Julie Evens2.
In her summary slide Dr. Franklin showed a progression through time representing the idea that in the past lower resolution imagery provided more generalized NVCS types and that presently "new technologies and data sources," including higher resolution imagery enabled the development of "categorically fine-scale vegetation information [NVCS classes]. She predicted that sometime in the future, species-specific cover modeling would become available due to improvements in technology, imagery, and processing.
