Experiments were carried out on a typic Loess Plateau area about 1000 km2 in north Shaanxi province. The objective of this study was to evaluate the suitabilities of TM

SPOT imagery and color infrared aerial photoes to Land use survey at a scale of 1:50000

and show how to use these data. In this paper

a land use classification system was established by concerning the remote sensing abilities as well as the geographical feature. The computer aided image enhancements and classification of TM CCT’s were discussed. A combined method of divergence and visual analysis was inducted to choose the best combination of three TM bands. The interpretation keys to the main land use classes of the three used images in the study were obtained by the analysis of the landforms

spectrum and phenology. A fuzzy mathematic method was developed to quantitatively judge the application abilities of the remote sensing data used in this study. After those experiments have been done

the paper presents some valuable conclusions and provides the best practicable methods of using remote sensing data to the land use survey at the scale of 1:50000 on the loess plateau.