Assessment of TerraClass and MapBiomas data on legend and map agreement for the Brazilian Amazon biome

ABSTRACT

Reliable environmental monitoring and evaluation require high-quality maps of land use and land cover. For the Amazon biome, the TerraClass and MapBiomas projects apply different methodologies to create these maps. We evaluated the agreement between land cover and land use maps generated by TerraClass and MapBiomas (Collections 2 and 3) for the Brazilian Amazon biome, from 2004 to 2014. Specifically, we (1) described both project legends based on the LCCS (Land Cover Classification System); (2) analyzed the differences between their classes; and (3) compared the mapping differences among the Brazilian states that are totally or partially covered by the Amazon biome. We compared the classifications with a per-pixel approach and performed an evaluation based on agreement matrices. The overall agreement between the projects was 87.4% (TerraClass x MapBiomas 2) and 92.0% (TerraClass x MapBiomas 3). We analyzed methodological differences to explain the disagreements in class identification. We conclude that using these maps together without a properly adapted legend is not recommended for the analysis of land use and land cover change. Depending on the application, one mapping system may be more suitable than the other. (AU)