79
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
R. Díaz-Delgado et al. (eds.), The Roles of Remote Sensing in Nature Conservation,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64332-8_5
NILS – A Nationwide Inventory Program
for Monitoring the Conditions and Changes
of the Swedish Landscape
Anna Allard
Abstract The National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) was established
by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to provide data for policy- makers
in the country. Its main role is to determine the status of (and changes in) the Swedish
landscape, either as a consequence of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances, or
because of ecological processes. In 2017, data from NILS will become available on
the NILS data portal for analysis by researchers and other interested parties, such as
governmental bodies. NILS’s data collection covers all terrestrial areas and identifies
variables such as land cover, land use (including historical land use), tree, shrub, field
and ground vegetation and surfaces. The program consists of two parallel inventories, a field inventory and a remote sensing inventory, with both covering the nation
in five-year rotations. The field inventory employs a large group of field-workers,
and all sample squares are also inventoried using aerial near-infrared stereo imagery
provided by the Swedish Land Survey. The first rotations of field data will soon be
available, and the data from the first rotation of the remote sensing component
(2003–2007) is already available. As part of the EU, Sweden is currently updating
the mapping of land cover data, using the national coverage of airborne Light
Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and the European satellites of the Sentinel series.
While at the same time strengthening the statistical estimates made from the NILS
data. The principal role of the NILS program is to provide the reference data for both
the classification of chosen vegetation types and for the validation of the results. The
data collection for this mapping will start in 2017, using remote sensing and modelling, and sampling additional inventory areas for reference data.
Keywords Inventory of landscapes • Monitoring • Remote sensing applications •
National databases
A. Allard (*)
Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Umeå, Sweden
e-mail: anna.allard@slu.se
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
R. Díaz-Delgado et al. (eds.), The Roles of Remote Sensing in Nature Conservation,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64332-8_5
NILS – A Nationwide Inventory Program
for Monitoring the Conditions and Changes
of the Swedish Landscape
Anna Allard
Abstract The National Inventory of Landscapes in Sweden (NILS) was established
by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to provide data for policy- makers
in the country. Its main role is to determine the status of (and changes in) the Swedish
landscape, either as a consequence of natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances, or
because of ecological processes. In 2017, data from NILS will become available on
the NILS data portal for analysis by researchers and other interested parties, such as
governmental bodies. NILS’s data collection covers all terrestrial areas and identifies
variables such as land cover, land use (including historical land use), tree, shrub, field
and ground vegetation and surfaces. The program consists of two parallel inventories, a field inventory and a remote sensing inventory, with both covering the nation
in five-year rotations. The field inventory employs a large group of field-workers,
and all sample squares are also inventoried using aerial near-infrared stereo imagery
provided by the Swedish Land Survey. The first rotations of field data will soon be
available, and the data from the first rotation of the remote sensing component
(2003–2007) is already available. As part of the EU, Sweden is currently updating
the mapping of land cover data, using the national coverage of airborne Light
Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and the European satellites of the Sentinel series.
While at the same time strengthening the statistical estimates made from the NILS
data. The principal role of the NILS program is to provide the reference data for both
the classification of chosen vegetation types and for the validation of the results. The
data collection for this mapping will start in 2017, using remote sensing and modelling, and sampling additional inventory areas for reference data.
Keywords Inventory of landscapes • Monitoring • Remote sensing applications •
National databases
A. Allard (*)
Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Umeå, Sweden
e-mail: anna.allard@slu.se