With deadlines looming and significant subsidies on offer, Germany's RLP AgroScience saw the opportunity to use advanced spatial technology to automate this monumental task to help its local authorities meet the EU's requirements. Using available aerial imagery, digital surface models and image-analysis software, a small RLP AgroScience team, together with local authorities, created an operational system that completely automates the process of mapping and classifying vegetation to quickly produce precise, standardized classification datasets““the root layer of the vegetative features in the LPIS.