Background Effective forest fire (FF) management requires knowledge of Fuel Classification Maps (FCMs), which are not widely available in Mediterranean countries for the following reasons: They are produced only at local or regional scale, without any regular updates and no standardised methodology; They are not produced according to a standard structure and are not harmonised according to INSPIRE; They are heterogeneous as they are produced using different methodologies and at different times. Therefore, available FCMs cannot support the systematic use of FF modelling at operational levels (prevention, suppression planning, etc.) of FF management. Objectives The ArcFUEL project aimed to deliver, for the Mediterranean region, a complete, up-to-date, methodology for Fuel Classification Mapping (FCM). This would be made available on a Web-Geodatabase and it would use ‘readily available’ harmonised, accessible and interoperable data, according to INSPIRE principles. The methodology was intended to be demonstrated by pilot applications in Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Specifically, the project aimed to: standardise a ‘production flow’ for producing FCMs; develop an INSPIRE-based procedure for FCM production; and produce pilot FCMs for the whole of Greece and Portugal, plus in pilot regions of Italy and Spain. Such goals would be achieved by carrying out the following actions: acquiring low cost LANDSAT satellite images; processing these images and producing an ‘auto-processing’ methodology (fully automated); preparing vegetation data/maps for a target area; collecting and processing (methodological standardisation) of ancillary data for the area; ‘processing’ vegetation maps and ancillary data in order to develop a methodology (s/w technology) for delivering the project area’s Fuel Map; and then making and harmonising the maps, obtained with the methodology, according to the INSPIRE principles. The aim was also to produce: Digital Wildland and Forest Fuel Maps: National FCMs for Greece and Portugal and for the two large regions of Spain and Italy; A Production Chain Methodology for digital FCMs from readily available data (advanced FCMs was expected to significantly improve the FF management performance - because FCMs are the most significant input for most FF management processes, in comparison to other data such as meteorological parameters (e.g. wind) and terrain layout. FCMs would become available national-wide and be more accurate); Geoportal services delivering Fuel Maps and meteorology at a Mediterranean level in six languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese). This service would be offered free of charge to the participating and contributing public sector bodies (e.g. ministries and universities) and at a nominal fee to the private sector (e.g. consulting companies).Results All ArcFUEL project objectives were achieved resulting in an updated geospatial methodology and workflow for the production of FCMs in Europe. ArcFUEL capitalised on research conducted by the European Joint Research Centre (JRC). The project used a standardised JRC fuel-type classification scheme for European forest regions, and its FCMs (resolution 250mx250m for 42 types of fuels [250x250x42]). Based on the JRC classification, ArcFUEL developed an ‘add-on’ methodology and workflow (with the use of freely available European spatial datasets and Landsat TM images) for the production of FCMs. This methodology was then tested and demonstrated in four Mediterranean countries, which led to FCMs being developed for Greece and Portugal at national scale and Italy (Calabria and Sardinia) and Spain (Malaga, Cordoba). The quality of the mapping was validated against field data. Stakeholder inputs helped the methodology’s development and associated workflow. Field visits (‘Ground Truth Surveys’) were performed at the pilot areas to verify / validate the results of the methodology. Approximately 670 plots were sampled in the different pilot regions of Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain. A geodatabase was developed and is available on the project website (www.arcfuel.eu). It includes results of the Ground Truth Surveys and the new FCMs for the pilot areas. ArcFUEL’s methodology proved to be a comprehensive method for rapid classification of forest vegetation into fuel types, delivering relevant input layers for fire modelling at an appropriate spatial resolution, using freely available data. Any future update of the input maps used in the ArcFUEL project will strongly improve the accuracy of the forest fuel maps. This innovation put into practice, tested and standardised a production chain for FCMs. Methods and techniques applied in the production chain come from the Remote Sensing and Forest Management fields. Forest Classification has thus been applied for the first time at such a wide scale (all of Greece and Portugal, as well as regions of Spain and Italy) and with such a resolution. These project achievements consolidate existing FCM methods and techniques and help to make them useful for the first time at this geographic level. During the project, the database was accessible to the project beneficiaries and it is now available for registered users to study and download. As foreseen in the proposal, the tool is available for a nominal fee and these funds are used to finance the geoportal’s overhead costs until 2020. Project results were presented to interested stakeholders during the final workshop of the project. A mobile (Android) application was developed - freely available on the project website. Many other dissemination activities were implemented and recorded via the website. These include more than 40 articles being published in daily newspapers and the web, which considerably exceeded the anticipated media coverage.Project work was also promoted during INSPIRE conferences and workshops. High level contributions from the project relate to EU environmental policy covering forest fire management such as Council Decision 5/5/2007 - 2007/162/EC and Communication COM(2009) 82 Final, 23.2.2009. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).