Population growth in the Languedoc coastal region is very high since few decades. This phenomenon produces a rapid and uncontrolled urban sprawl at agricultural lands expense. While these lands are often high agronomical potential, they are most often permanently lost. Agricultural areas are usually considered as land stocks for urban consumption whereas natural areas have more legal and spatial planning tools to protect them. This loss of land is considered as minor at a local level: elsewhere preserved farmlands exist "forever". Decades after decades, and considering the agricultural products crisis that could impact supply, this loss becomes a strategic issue at the level of an entire country. To better understand the dynamics of consumption of these agricultural lands by artificial surfaces and to have spatial tools to argue the risk of permanent loss of agronomical potential heritage, the Regional Direction of Food, Agriculture and Forestry of Languedoc-Roussillon has commissioned a study from research institutions: INRA for the agronomical theme and Cemagref and Cirad for the spatial information and analysis. The methodology has been developed to establish two main state indicators, which need to be mapped: the artificialized areas and the index of soil quality. The production of these two indicators is not easy, according to information sources, compatibility between spatial sufficiency offered by very high resolution remote sensing images and the sampling measurements and mapping models of soil. The spatial interpretation of the indicators is not easy whereas actors see them as relevant for both aspects of the issue: a heritage and the pressure on that heritage. Additional indicators can be produced by spatial analysis metrics to clarify the terms of the constraints of urban sprawl on farmland. These spatial indicators are designed in a process of consultation with public stakeholders involved in the territory to validate the relevance of the approach: the information is based on spatial data, temporal changes and other weights variables as demography. The methodology can be used in the future for all regions in France.