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A Land-use/Land Cover Classification of Baltimore City in 1927

General Information
Data Package:
Local Identifier:knb-lter-bes.5013.3
Title:A Land-use/Land Cover Classification of Baltimore City in 1927
Alternate Identifier:DOI PLACE HOLDER
Abstract:

Land-use and land cover classifications are typically created using automated methods to analyze modern, spatially explicit color aerial imagery. However, creating classifications from black and white historical aerial imagery presents a number of challenges that require a combination of more traditional, manual techniques and approaches. A georectified mosaic of 93 aerial images was digitized in ArcGIS to create a land-use/land cover classification. The analyzed area covered 585 km2 (226 mi2) including all of Baltimore City, and an area immediately adjacent to the city known at the time as the Metropolitan District of Baltimore County. A combination of 8 land-use and land cover classes were used: Agriculture, Barren, Built (Other), Forest, Grass/Shrubland, Industrial, Residential, and Water. This geospatial data set captures a moment of dynamic expansion in the city, just prior to the Great Depression and can be used to examine relationships between property ownership and forest patch dynamics across time. These insights may help inform future environmental planning, conservation, management, and stewardship goals for Baltimore City forest patches, and other cities throughout the region.

Publication Date:2021-07-22

Time Period
Begin:
1926-10-19
End:
1927-02-24

People and Organizations
Contact:Lagrosa IV, John J (Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County) [  email ]
Creator:Lagrosa IV, John J (Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County)
Creator:Sonti, Nancy (USDA Forest Service)
Creator:Grove, J Morgan (USDA Forest Service)

Data Entities
Other Name:
BES_1927_Classification_thumbnail
Description:
preview jpg of the raster layer
Other Name:
BES_1927_Classification
Description:
Zipped shapefile for 1927 LULC Classification. Note that 1927_LULC_Classification.lyr opens the classification in GIS and automatically assigns color coding
Detailed Metadata

Data Entities

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:BES_1927_Classification_thumbnail
Entity Type:unknown
Description:preview jpg of the raster layer
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:BES_1927_Classification_thumbnail.jpg
Size:3413332 bytes
Authentication:4521a9d3cfa7bc9f9b7aba80af9032cf Calculated By MD5
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:image/jpeg
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-bes/5013/3/8e8145b496030afc5c2e2ec0f50c076a

Non-Categorized Data Resource

Name:BES_1927_Classification
Entity Type:unknown
Description:Zipped shapefile for 1927 LULC Classification. Note that 1927_LULC_Classification.lyr opens the classification in GIS and automatically assigns color coding
Physical Structure Description:
Object Name:BES_1927_Classification.zip
Size:1630965 bytes
Authentication:8521735511da9badbeb30ebb1e4f5ea4 Calculated By MD5
Externally Defined Format:
Format Name:application/zip
Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/knb-lter-bes/5013/3/40bf5381683451a9b990d638248cb258

Data Package Usage Rights

This information is released under the Creative Commons license - Attribution - CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The consumer of these data ("Data User" herein) is required to cite it appropriately in any publication that results from its use. The Data User should realize that these data may be actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any questions about methodology or results occur. Where appropriate, the Data User is encouraged to consider collaboration or co-authorship with the authors. The Data User should realize that misinterpretation of data may occur if used out of context of the original study. While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and associated documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is." The Data User should be aware, however, that data are updated periodically and it is the responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the data. The data authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of the data. Thank you.

Keywords

By Thesaurus:
BES VocabularyBaltimore, MD, Maryland, Baltimore Ecosystem Study, BES, LTER, classification, urban ecosystems, urban ecology, urban landscape, landscape ecology, socioecological
LTER Controlled Vocabularywatersheds, urban, Geographic Information Systems, GIS, landscape, spatial methods, land use, land use history, land cover
National Research & Development TaxonomyEcology, Ecosystems, & Environment, Environment and People , Urban natural resources management
ISO 19115 Topic Categorybiota

Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

Methods and protocols used in the collection of this data package
Description:

All analyses performed in ArcGIS 10.3.1

Original aerial images taken by the Chesapeake Aircraft Co. over a flying period Oct. 19 1926 to Feb. 24 1927

Original Aerial Image Scale: 400 ft. to 1 inch

Images scanned by the Baltimore City Archives at 400 dpi

Coordinate System: NAD 1983 UTM Zone 18N

Step 1: Georectification of 93 continuous images or "tiles".

Step 2: Image mosaic: See: J.J. Lagrosa IV, N. Sonti, and J.M. Grove. 2021. Georectified Mosaic of Aerial Images of Baltimore City in 1927 ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/045e3001129aca3b34fd0e91b1a6f596 (Accessed 2021-07-21).

Step 3: Heads-up digitization of mosaic with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MPU) of 0.4 ha

Class Descriptions

Residential/Commercial: Residential dwellings and Small Business and local Commercial entities.

Industrial: Large-scale business operations, train yards, ports, warehouses, general raw material production. Includes construction sites since final use upon completion could not be determined.

Built (Other): Other urban structures including hospitals, non-vegetated recreation areas, religious buildings, public works, monuments, schools, misc. facilities etc.; Includes any structure whose use could not be identified.

Agriculture: Cropland - eg. commercial crops including vineyards and orchards. Agricultural infrastructure (farmstead) - e.g. silos, barns, farmhouses

Grass and Shrubland: Natural grass areas, shrub areas, non-agricultural fields, other unforested green space

Forest: Clusters of trees pertaining to MPU

Barren: Sand, ecologically empty natural areas, exposed rock. Barren industrial sites were included in the Industrial class.

Water: Any natural or man-made water pertaining to MPU: e.g. reservoirs, wetlands, lakes, etc.

Shapefile attribute table:

FID ESRI assigned unique identifier

Shape ESRI assigned shape definition

Class Land-use/land cover class name

sq_mi Area of the land-use/land cover class in square miles

sq_km Area of the land-use/land cover class in square kilometers

Description:

This method step describes provenance-based metadata as specified in the LTER EML Best Practices.

This provenance metadata does not contain entity specific information.

Data Source
Georectified Mosaic of Aerial Images of Baltimore City in 1927

People and Organizations

Publishers:
Organization:Environmental Data Initiative
Email Address:
info@environmentaldatainitiative.org
Web Address:
https://environmentaldatainitiative.org
Creators:
Individual: John J Lagrosa IV
Organization:Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Email Address:
jl@umbc.edu
Individual: Nancy Sonti
Organization:USDA Forest Service
Email Address:
nancyfsonti@usda.gov
Individual: J Morgan Grove
Organization:USDA Forest Service
Email Address:
morgangrove@fs.fed.us
Contacts:
Individual: John J Lagrosa IV
Organization:Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Email Address:
jl@umbc.edu

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Temporal, Geographic and/or Taxonomic information that applies to all data in this dataset:

Time Period
Begin:
1926-10-19
End:
1927-02-24
Geographic Region:
Description:Baltimore City
Bounding Coordinates:
Northern:  39.42172Southern:  39.195477
Western:  -76.771008Eastern:  -76.438744

Project

Parent Project Information:

Title:Frameworks: Collaborative Proposal: Software Infrastructure for Transformative Urban Sustainability Research
Personnel:
Individual: Shrideep Pallickara
Organization:Colorado State University
Role:Principal Investigator
Funding: NSF 1931363
Related Project:
Title:Collaborative Research: Network Cluster: Urban Critical Zone processes along the Piedmont-Coastal Plain transition
Personnel:
Individual: Claire Welty
Organization:Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education, University of Maryland Baltimore County
Role:Principal Investigator
Funding: NSF 2012340
Related Project:
Title:SRN: Urban Water Innovation Network (U-WIN): Transitioning Toward Sustainable Urban Water Systems
Personnel:
Individual: Mazdak Arabi
Organization:Colorado State University
Role:Principal Investigator
Funding: NSF 1444758

Maintenance

Maintenance:
Description:Complete
Frequency:
Other Metadata

Copyright 2024 Environmental Data Initiative. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #2223103 and #2223104. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Please contact us with questions, comments, or for technical assistance regarding this web site or the Environmental Data Initiative. Please read our privacy policy to know what information we collect about you and to understand your privacy rights.

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