Abstract: A rapid expansion of rubber plantation areas in Northeast Thailand in the
preceding 15 years has resulted from high return in combination with technologically
feasible rubber tree growth in the areas. Spatial information on the rubber plantation
areas can be effectively incorporated into land use planning and decision-making. The
study aims to establish a spatial database of the rubber plantation areas with the different
tree ages using THEOS data. Covering an area of approximately 4339 km2, Mukdahan
province located in the Northeast is currently the area of study. THEOS panchromatic
images acquired during the period 2009-2011 were used to identify the plantation areas.
Through a process of on-screen digitizing for selected images, textures of the images
were based on visual analysis. Using the textures, identification of different tree ages
was possible, and distinct line spacing of rubber tree pattern could be observed. The
panchromatic THEOS data is capable of identifying the rubber sapling by observation of
plow line spacing (3m x 7m). We could classify the rubber tree into 3 classes of age: less
than 5, 5-10 and over 10 years. The result indicated that areas planted to rubber trees
accounted for roughly 11.21, 3.77 and 2.84 % for 10 years of plant ages
respectively. The panchromatic THEOS data with 2m resolution proved to be effective
in identifying the rubber tree ages.