CORINE Land Cover System: Limits and Challenges for Territorial Studies and Planning

Dear Colleagues,

CORINE data have been in use for several decades. Although their essence has remained unchanged, the data collection and processing methods have been subject to numerous changes. Despite the revisions, CORINE data has found a broad range of applications in research, planning, decision-making, and many sectors and areas covering multiple spatial scales – from local to trans-continental. So far, CORINE data represent one of the most important unitary sources of information on land cover and land use, as well as on changes of the European territory.

This Special Issue aims to include original research articles, case studies, applications and practical solutions, and discussion reviews focusing on—but not limited to—the following topics:

• The process of obtaining and processing CORINE data, including national data sets and their continental assemblage;
• The challenges of ensuring a continuum of the data regarding both the thematic classification and the spatial resolution, despite the particularities of different countries, related to a variety of aspects from physical geography to different classification schemes imposed by economic, administrative, or legislative constraints;
• Applications based on the use of CORINE data in research, planning, decision-making, and other areas related to different sectors, such as environmental issues, agriculture, forestry, urban or territorial studies, and others, at different spatial scales;
• Historical review of the CORINE program, including the main challenges and milestones;
• Advantages and disadvantages of the CORINE data as compared to other data on land cover and use and their possible integration for the study of landscape dynamics at different scales;
• The challenges of studies using CORINE data when the study area exceeds the coverage, including trans-continental studies or territories covered only partially by the CORINE data;
• The relationship between CORINE data and the technological advancement of the sensors used for their collection;
• Forecasts on the future of CORINE: additional data sets, frequency of producing the new data, format, user interface, organizational aspects of the program, relations with other programs;
• CORINE beyond the European territory;
• Limitations and possible solutions related to the use of CORINE data in the light of changes that have occurred in classification schemes and algorithms across time.

Dr. Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor, PhD, PhD, Habil.

Dr. Raffaele Pelorosso, PhD

Dr. Bogdan Zagajewski, PhD, Habil.

Guest Editors