Mapping and Monitoring
Losing Open Space in Southern Maine: Impervious Surfaces
This map of southern Maine (shown here) is a raster data set of impervious surfaces derived from 5-meter spatial resolution SPOT satellite imagery collected in the summer of 2004 over all Maine. The work was done by the State of Maine was part of a “larger mapping initiative ...to quantify land cover at a 5 meter resolution over the entire state.” They stated, “areas of imperviousness are characterized by anthropogenic features such as buildings, roads, parking lots, etc.” The original data set (for the entire state) is available at http://megis.maine.gov/catalog.
Impermeable surfaces are important as they function as nonpoint pollution sources as oils, grease, heavy metals, sediments, pet wastes, asbestos and other contaminants are washed from roads and parking lots during each rain storm. Also impermeable surfaces are irretrievably lost plant and animal habitats.
