Starting the RLCM Tool:
To start using the RLCM tool, open ArcMap and initiate the open project dialog box by either pressing the Open Project
button or selecting the File/Open menu option. Once the dialog is open, navigate to a study area folder and select the rlcm.mxd file. The first time that the RLCM project file is opened, several steps must be taken to set up the study area.- Initial Study Area Setup:
- In order to use RLCM, a study area needs to be defined. When defining a study area, three questions must be answered:
- What is the spatial extent (geoimages coordinates) of the study area?
- What land cover classification systems will be used?
- what spatial resolution is appropriate for the study area?
- To create a study area, press the "Add Study Area" tool (Figure 1, Item 1). This will initiate the study area dialog wizard which walks through several steps asking the above questions.
- The next requirement is to define a time period. A time period can be set up by pressing the Manage Time Periods button (Figure 1, Item 4). A time period can be defined for any duration, from a single day to several decades. Time periods can be added or edited at any time, but may not be removed.
- Another requirement is to build an image library. The image library is used to define a relationship between a classified DG and the image file used to classify it. To build or manage the image library, press the Image Library button (Figure 1, Item 11). For further information see the Image Library tool section.