Definition of Land

The land represents the solid, exposed parts of the globe and combines with water bodies and air masses to form the Earth.

How do we use the land?

Landscape diversity is a product of the land’s many aspects. Like a puzzle, a landscape is a mosaic of countless features that mean something different to everyone:

• A geologist may be interested in how glacial and fluvioglacial materials were deposited in a certain area.
• An agrologist will look at the same area and interpret its features in terms of the processes that formed a given type of soil (such as chernozem or podsol).
• A tourist will notice the area’s overall relief.
• While a politician will view the particular land as a nation or an administrative region.
• Demographers and sociologists will study it as the backdrop of life, of populated places, or a setting for rural activities.
• The forester and the farmer will view it as a medium in which plant life grows.

Canadians use, measure, manage and develop land. It is where we move, live and build.

Classifying Types of Land Cover Using Satellite Imagery

• There are 9 different types of land cover on the Atlas of Canada Poster-map.
• The online map uses 31 classifications and is much more specific.
• Each type of land cover can be identified by its unique spectral signature. A spectral signature refers to the distinct appearance of each land cover class as seen by the satellite. This means that each type of land cover reflects a specific wavelength of light and this unique signature is identified by a specific colour on the map. A general colour guide to identify land cover classes is shown below.

Colour Guide

• Green and dark brown colours generally represent coniferous forests.
• Medium brownish colours portray transition treed shrubland.
• Yellow/orange to reddish colours stand for broadleaf forests.
• Pink and red colours represent mixed forests.
• Light greenish yellow to beige represents cropland.
• Bluish and grey colours in the north stand for tundra.
• Purple in the south represents grassland.
• White stands for snow and ice.
• Bright green in the North and mid latitudes represents wetland and shrubland.