The Map Comparison Kit
Comparing maps is an important issue in environmental research. Reasons for comparing maps may be:
- the different socio-economic scenarios on which they are based,
- detection of temporal changes,
- calibration/validation of land-use models,
- hot-spot detection,
- their use in uncertainty analysis, and
- their origin in different methodologies/models.
The Map Comparison Kit (MCK) addresses the problem of quantifying subsequent map similarities and dissimilarities, especially for 'categorical' or 'nominal' maps. The map- comparison techniques are described in the MCK-report . These techniques differ in mathematical approach (no math, 'cell by cell', two types of 'fuzzy' and 'single-map statistics') and apply to different types of maps (nominal, ordinal, ratio and interval scale). Special attention is given to the comparison of maps through fuzzy-set calculation rules, considering fuzzy-set map comparison is very close to human judgement.
MCK, a software package for 'state-of-the-art' map comparison, contains all the examples used in this report. The software, developed by order of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, was fully designed by the Research Institute for Knowledge Systems (RIKS). More more information can be found on their website.
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