This symposium investigates the links between vegetation classification, vegetation mapping, and remote sensing across various scales within the context of environmental planning, management, and conservation. The symposium will bring together leading experts in these areas of research to share experience, exchange opinions, increase understanding, and establish connections among working groups. Participants will present both theoretical and practical examples of the challenges of linking these fields, as well as case studies that demonstrate examples of such linkages. The symposium will appeal to a wide range of vegetation and spatial scientists, landscape ecologists, GIS experts, land managers, and conservationists conducting environment research. The symposium will start with an overview of issues including the value of integrating vegetation mapping and classification along with its current challenges. It will then focus on several recent projects that exemplify common uses of vegetation mapping and the associated classifications that feed the mapping. It then moves to innovative approaches, including mapping using standardized classifications over large to small areas, specific challenges such as translating new maps and classifications to old mapping efforts, for the sake of tracking vegetation change, and integrating image analysis with photo interpretation for accurate multiple-attribute mapping. Finally, there will be papers discussing the value of vegetation mapping to habitat prediction and other demonstrations of the value to linking standardizing mapping and classification units. The symposium will close with an audience participation discussion of future goals for integrated vegetation classification and mapping.