The Influence of Different Levels of Data Detail on Land use Change Analyses: A Case Study of Franciscan Cadastre for a Part of the Pannonian Hills, Slovenia

In several European countries, land use changes can be analysed on the basis of the Franciscan Cadastre. Present land use data is defined on the basis of orthophotos, but the historical data is available only at a parcel level. Therefore, a question arose as to how reliable results about land use changes can be. The main aim of the paper was to analyse land use dynamics with the Franciscan Cadastre and to test the compatibility of detailed and parcel level of modern data. The study was carried out by calculating land use structure and landscape metrics for a part of the Pannonian low-hills area in Slovenia. We have observed that the calculation of the land use type structure mostly provided similar results regardless of the level of detail. On the other hand, the results of landscape metrics analysis were highly affected by the level of detail. The analysis at the parcel level showed that the forest area expanded, and fields and vineyards areas diminished. In general, today’s landscape is made of less patches, but they are larger and of more irregular shapes. We can conclude that a comparison of modern data and historical data based on Franciscan Cadastre must include generalisation to a parcel level.