| Cartographic standards | Natural vegetation | Cultivated lands |

In existing approaches, cultivated areas are often only described and classified by determining the crop species, the cultural practices and, in some cases, land tenure information. This may result in descriptions like “rainfed agricultural area” or “state-owned rubber plantation”. These descriptions are highly specific and do not address the needs of a wide variety of end-users.

Agricultural areas are Primarily Vegetated land cover types, thus their description should have a link to (semi-) natural vegetated land cover types at a certain level of detail. Furthermore, the focus should be on the definition of geographically well-defined classes.

LCCS uses a basically physiognomic-structural classification to describe cultivated areas; this type of description should, however, ensure a high degree of compatibility with existing agricultural classification systems.

The spatial and temporal dimensions for cultivated areas clearly differ from (semi-)natural vegetation, as in most cases there is a constant flux in the observable cover. Owing to this flux, the moment of observation of the land cover is very important, as the land might be ploughed, sown or harvested (with no crop actually visible), or a crop is clearly visible and different crop growth stages can be identified. These temporal dimensions influence the land cover but should not influence its description, because the area should be classified independent of the time of observation. It is for this reason that in the definition of Cultivated Areas provision is made for the fact that vegetative cover is not always present.

In the major land cover type of Terrestrial Cultivated Areas and Managed Lands, Managed Lands form a separate category. They comprise land cover classes that are clearly vegetated and managed, though not with the intent of harvesting as is it the case for Cultivated Areas.