Iterative remote sensing as an alternative for complex vegetation mapping

The South Florida Water Management District in conjunction with Florida Atlantic University began an effort to record vegetation invading Lake Okeechobee in 1994. This effort included a mapping project that would include all detectable vegetation within the expanding littoral zone. There were several problems associated with remote sensing aspects of this project. These problems resulted in inaccurate classification of species and a redundancy of mapping for large areas. This thesis will review the remote sensing methods used for the mapping project, analyze the associated errors within the map product, and lastly offer an alternative approach, incorporating the use of iterative remote sensing, for mapping the vegetation of Lake Okeechobee and other areas of complex vegetation.