Development of an Advanced Global Field Survey System (GFSS) for Terrestrial Monitoring and Mapping with a Demonstration for Agricultural CroplandMapping in Asia

摘要

Field survey databases always play a critical role in terrestrial monitoring and mapping. This study develops an advanced GFSS as a tool for conducting field studies and builds a field survey database. The GFSS allows users to use Apple's iPhone or iPad to collect field survey data, including photos, locations, and the user-defined data. The field survey data gathered with an iPhone or iPad are synchronized with a GPS Photo database on a server and can be shared with other users. Existing field survey data can be imported to the GPS Photo database and the data in the GPS Photo database can be extracted to various formats. As a demonstration, the GPS Photo database was utilized to assess the accuracy of the irrigated area maps of Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, which were derived from the Global Irrigated Area Map that was released by the International Water Management Institute in 2007.