USGS Land Use and Land Cover Data

Background

The Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) data files describe the vegetation, water, natural surface, and cultural features on the land surface. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) provides these data sets and associated maps as a part of its National Mapping Program. The LULC mapping program is designed so that standard topographic maps of a scale of 1:250,000 can be used for compilation and organization of the land use and land cover data. In some cases, such as Hawaii, 1:100,000 scale maps are also used.

Land Use and Land Cover Example (6.8 kb)

Compilation is based upon a classification scheme identified in the Appendix.

Background
Extent of Coverage
Acquisition
  Processing Steps
Data Characteristics
  Spatial Resolution
Data Organization
Applications and Related Data Sets
References
Appendix