Large-Scale and Long-Term Land Use and Land Cover Mapping

Topic Information

Dear Colleagues,

Large-scale land use and land cover change (LULCC) mapping is a cornerstone of global change research. Its applications are of profound importance, providing essential baseline data for investigating the climatic, ecological, and environmental impacts of land use change. However, despite significant advances in remote sensing technologies, several key challenges remain:

1. Long time scales: Due to limitations in remote sensing imagery, there is still considerable room for improving the accuracy of long-term land use dataset development—particularly for time series predating the 1970s. Urgent issues include land use area estimation, simulation and mapping of spatial patterns, and validation of dataset reliability and accuracy.

2. Large spatial scale mapping and dataset development: Challenges persist in fusing heterogeneous data sources, addressing scale transformation (e.g., from fine-resolution local data to coarse-resolution regional or global products), and effectively capturing fine-grained heterogeneity of land use systems across broad spatial extents.

3. Practical application challenges: These include bridging the gap between model outputs and real-world decision-making needs, and ensuring consistency of LULCC products across diverse geographic and socioecological contexts.

This Topic aims to advance the state of the art in large-scale LULCC mapping through the innovative use of remote sensing. It seeks contributions that enhance long-term dataset development, improve methods for multi-scale integration, and strengthen the link between LULCC products and their applications in climate, ecological, and policy research. By fostering cross-disciplinary approaches, this collection will bridge the gap between technological advances in remote sensing and their translation into actionable knowledge for Earth system understanding and sustainable land management.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Shicheng Li
Dr. Fan Yang
Dr. Mengmeng Wang
Dr. Prabuddh Kumar Mishra
Topic Editors

Keywords

Participating Journals

Journal Name	Impact Factor	CiteScore	Launched Year	First Decision (median)	APC
Agronomy agronomy	3.4	6.7	2011	17 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Land land	3.2	5.9	2012	17.5 Days	CHF 2600	Submit
Remote Sensing remotesensing	4.1	8.6	2009	24.3 Days	CHF 2700	Submit
Smart Cities smartcities	5.5	14.7	2018	25.2 Days	CHF 2000	Submit
Sustainability sustainability	3.3	7.7	2009	17.9 Days	CHF 2400	Submit

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