ABSTRACT
This book provides you with the principles and practices needed to conduct an effective accuracy assessment of a map generated from remotely sensed data. It was not written to review every academic exercise ever published on this topic. Instead, it was written to be a practical guide providing the geospatial analyst with the principles necessary to conduct the assessment while at the same time demonstrating the considerations and limitations that occur in practice. You now know about the history and development of these tools and understand that it is not just a matter of following a simple recipe. Rather, there are many considerations, trade-offs, and decisions that must be made along the way to be successful. Positional accuracy and thematic accuracy must be considered together. It does you no good to label the area correctly if you are in the wrong place; nor is it valuable to be in the correct place but label it wrongly. A large amount of planning and thought must go into each accuracy assessment if it is going to be cost effective and yet statistically sound. The collection of valid reference data to compare with the map is essential regardless of whether you are conducting a positional assessment, a thematic one, or both. Planning this collection as effectively and efficiently as possible is a critical component determining the success of the project.
