Land Resource Classification in Mountain Areas. Examination of the classification system used in land resource mapping of Norwegian mountain areas

Abstract

AR-FJELL is the Norwegian land resource database for the mountain areas. AR-FJELL is not distributed as a separate product from Skog og landskap, but does – together with topographic data (series N50) from the Norwegian Mapping Authority (Statens kartverk) form the basis for the classification of mountain areas in the national land resource maps AR50 and AR250. The five Norwegian AR-FJELL classes are documented through descriptive statistical “profiles” of the actual content of each class. Profiles of the AR-FJELL classes were obtained through a GIS overlay operation between AR-FJELL and the available AR18X18 (Land resource accounting for the Norwegian outfields) survey plots. The distribution of vegetation classes for each AR-FJELL class was compiled from this overlay. The report also consider the distribution of the AR-FJELL classes by elevation asl and the distribution of the vegetation types in the AR18X18 sample. AR18X18 is (2011) only available for parts of Norway. The study should be repeated when a full national coverage is available. This is expected in 2015. The study was carried out with funding from the Norwegian Space Centre.