An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the
United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
A system of regional agricultural land use mapping tested against small scale Apollo 9 color infrared photography of the Imperial Valley (California)
Open-File Report
71-158
By: Claude W. Johnson, Leonard W. Browden, and Robert W. Pease
Interpretation results of the small scale ClR photography of the Imperial Valley (California) taken on March 12, 1969 by the Apollo 9 earth orbiting satellite have shown that world wide agricultural land use mapping can be accomplished from satellite ClR imagery if sufficient a priori information is available for the region being mapped. Correlation of results with actual data is encouraging although the accuracy of identification of specific crops from the single image is poor. The poor results can be partly attributed to only one image taken during mid-season when the three major crops were reflecting approximately the same and their ClR image appears to indicate the same crop type. However, some incapacity can be attributed to lack of understanding of the subtle variations of visual and infrared color reflectance of vegetation and surrounding environment. Analysis of integrated color variations of the vegetation and background environment recorded on ClR imagery is discussed.
Problems associated with the color variations may be overcome by development of a semi-automatic processing system which considers individual field units or cells. Design criteria for semi-automatic processing system are outlined.
Suggested Citation
Johnson, C.W., Browden, L.W., Pease, R.W., 1969, A system of regional agricultural land use mapping tested against small scale Apollo 9 color infrared photography of the Imperial Valley (California): U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 71-158, Report: vi, 96 p.; 1 Plate: 20.65 × 28.25 inches, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr71158.
ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)
Study Area
Publication type
Report
Publication Subtype
USGS Numbered Series
Title
A system of regional agricultural land use mapping tested against small scale Apollo 9 color infrared photography of the Imperial Valley (California)