Tukman Geospatial LLC made this map under a subcontract from Space Imaging. Gary Walter was the contracting officer for the project at the Department of Parks and Recreation. The vegetation map was created using a combination of automated and manual techniques. Automated techniques included image segmentation, image classification, and GIS modeling. Manual techniques included manual editing and field work. Image segments were derived from 1-meter spatial resolution pansharpened IKONOS imagery, collected in the spring of 2004. The classification is based on the Manual of California 1995, which used series translated to NVC Alliance concepts by Tukman Geospatial.

Automated techniques were used to create the polygon mapping units, or stand boundaries, for the project. The automatically created polygons are knows as segments and the process of creating them is called image segmentation. Segmentation produces good, consistent results and saves the labor of hand drawing stand boundaries on mylar over stereo air photos and then digitizing these hand drawn polygons. Over 14,000 image segments were automatically produced initially for this project using automated image segmentation. Image segments were derived from 1-meter spatial resolution pansharpened IKONOS imagery. The imagery was collected in the spring of 2004.

More information can be found in the project report here, that is bundled with the dataset: https://filelib.wildlife.ca.gov/Public/BDB/GIS/BIOS/Public_Datasets/2900_2999/ds2956.zip

The minimum mapping unit is 1.5 acres.