ABSTRACT
According to information contained in The European Environment: State and Outlook 2010: Land use (European Environment Agency [EEA], 2010) publication, areas of artificial surfaces in Europe have been increasing, (by 0.6% in 2000-2006), which is one of the reasons why ever greater attention is given to the issue. Occupation of land by construction is the phenomenon referred to by the term soil sealing (imperviousness as a synonym means the covering of the soil surface with impervious materials as a result of urban development and infrastructure construction*). Soil sealing in the EEA glossary (2006) refers to the soil that becomes an impermeable medium as it is covered by impermeable materials (concrete, metal, glass, asphalt, or plastics). The basic aspects to identify and measure soil-sealed areas are described in the study of Kampouraki et al. (2006). Projects dealing with soil sealing include, for example, Monitoring Urban Dynamics (MURBANDY) and Monitoring Land Use-Cover Change Dynamics (MOLAND) (Burghardt et al., 2004). An overview of current approaches to the definition, phenomenology, and conceptual and empiric modeling related to soil sealing-with the emphasis on urban areas (zones) in Europe-is presented in the Scalenghe and Marsan (2009) study. These authors also define
CONTENTS
19.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 141 19.2 Objectives of Urban Atlas 2006 (UA2006) and Urban Atlas 2012 (UA2012) .............. 142 19.3 Methodology of the Urban Atlas ..................................................................................... 143 19.4 Nomenclature Comparison between UA2006 and UA2012 ........................................ 144 19.5 External Quality Control Assessment ............................................................................ 144
19.5.1 Methodology Used for External Quality Control ............................................. 147 19.5.2 Determining the Primary Sampling Unit .......................................................... 147 19.5.3 Determining the Secondary Sampling Unit: Number of Control Points ...... 148 19.5.4 Determining the Distribution of Control Points ............................................... 150
19.6 Final Results and Accuracy Assessment ........................................................................ 152 19.7 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 156 References ..................................................................................................................................... 156
the sealed soil as surface covered by impermeable material, which occupies about 9% of Europe’s surface.
