Tuscany Using satellite data for a territorial indicator

Indicators based on territorial information, both spatial and temporal are widely used in many areas to promote and monitor sustainable development. Different databases can be used as well as different approaches to interpret these databases into a range of indicators. In this paper we present a series of theoretical landscape indices based on multispectral data from satellite Landsat 7 TM of August 2001. The object of this work is to examine the utility of satellite based indicators that integrate spatially distinct reflectance data with landscape data over a provincial scale. We have developed three multispectral data based indicators: a biomass index, an environmental stress index and a radiant temperature index. These indexes can be determined on a territorial basis and can be used to monitor spatial differences and the temporal evolution of a specific area. By combining these indices into a single indicator, we have determined an indicator of territorial sustainability to examine different municipalities in the Province of Siena. This integrated indicator is intended to provide a simple and efficient method to examine the landscape composition and distribution within a heterogeneous territory.