Benito Zaragozí (Departament de Geografia, Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Jesús Javier Rodríguez (Operations Research Center, University Miguel Hernández of Elche), Sergio Trilles(Institute of New Imaging Technologies, Universitat Jaume I) and Alfredo Ramón (Instituto Interuniversitario de Geografia, Universidad de Alicante)
Abstract: Land use and land cover (LULC) information is essential in territorial planning for the study of natural risks and landscape science. Given the importance of LULC data, increasing efforts are being focused on producing quality and easily accessible databases. In Spain, the Land Use and Cover Information System (SIOSE) is a clear example of these efforts. The SIOSE database was one of the first to be built following an object-oriented data model and a set of specifications that facilitates the integration of data from different sources. However, the SIOSE information alone is so accurate and complete that there is a usability gap that means that this data is not used to its full potential in some contexts, nor is the possibility of integrating other data sources considered. In this work, we examine the circumstances of this usability gap, its causes and consequences, and we introduce an extension of the SIOSE object-oriented data model that will enable enriching the LULC data including new useful data for different types of studies. Finally, an example of implementation of this extended model serves to encourage the user community to propose and disseminate new extended LULC datasets that facilitate various types of landscape studies.