Comparison of the potential of IRS-1C, SPOT and Landsat-TM multispectral and panchromatic data for forest area classification in northeastern Switzerland

Forest area classification is a main topic in remote sensing based environmental monitoring in Switzerland. The classification methodologies recently developed are using mainly operational multispectral sensor systems like SPOT or Landsat-TM. The failure of some systems in 1997 (Landsat-6 or SPOT-3) and the aging sensors force the remote sensing users to look for alternative operational systems like IRS-IC. In this study the potential of SPOT, Landsat-TM and IRS-IC to classify the forested area at 20 to 25m resolution in Switzerland was evaluated. Additionally some investigation about the usefulness of including the high resolution panchromatic channels in the classification process were tested.