Project Executive Summary

A sustainable agriculture expects a quality production, harmless to the environment and economically profitable, therefore we should grow crops where they are best suited and for which the most important condition is to conduct land suitability (LS) assessment. In my previous research I demonstrated that geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) is a valid and beneficial approach for digital soil mapping. Consequently the main objective of this project is the development of a digital framework for calculation and mapping of the land suitability to crops and land use, based on GEOBIA technique. The secondary objectives are: 1. development of a digital tool based on the proposed framework; 2. application of the digital tool to evaluate land suitability at regional and local scale; 3. quantitative evaluation of the land suitability with GEOBIA framework, compared to the two cartographic units currently used (conventional soil map units and raster cell). The proposed framework is based on the existing Romanian methodology calculating the land suitability to 14 crops, 8 fruit trees and 3 land use types. The algorithmic nature of the existing methodology makes it well suited to be implemented as a computer tool. The suitability values ranging from 0 (not suitable) to 1 (maximum suitability) of 18 eco-pedological indicators are multiplied leading to the final suitability notes. Our tool uses various soil data, digital elevation model and satellite imagery. It creates a digital map for each eco-pedological indicator through segmentation of soil covariates and spatial prediction of indicators classes, finally the tool mapping the suitability values. The developed GEOBIA framework will be made available to users as a tool in eCognition software, being one of the deliverables of the project, along with two research articles.