This dataset, produced by Impact Observatory, Microsoft, and Esri, displays a global map of land use and land cover (LULC) derived from ESA Sentinel-2 imagery at 10 meter resolution for the years 2017 - 2023. Each map is a composite of LULC predictions for 9 classes throughout the year in order to generate a representative snapshot of each year. This dataset was generated by Impact Observatory, which used billions of human-labeled pixels (curated by the National Geographic Society) to train a deep learning model for land classification. Each global map was produced by applying this model to the Sentinel-2 annual scene collections from the Mircosoft Planetary Computer. Each of the maps has an assessed average accuracy of over 75%. These maps have been improved from Impact Observatory’s previous release and provide a relative reduction in the amount of anomalous change between classes, particularly between “Bare” and any of the vegetative classes “Trees,” “Crops,” “Flooded Vegetation,” and “Rangeland”. This updated time series of annual global maps is also re-aligned to match the ESA UTM tiling grid for Sentinel-2 imagery. Data can be accessed directly from the Registry of Open Data on AWS, from the STAC 1.0.0 endpoint, or from the IO Store for a specific Area of Interest (AOI).

This layer displays a global map of land use/land cover (LULC) derived from ESA Sentinel-2 imagery at 10m resolution. Each year is generated with Impact Observatory’s deep learning AI land classification model, trained using billions of human-labeled image pixels from the National Geographic Society. The global maps are produced by applying this model to the Sentinel-2 Level-2A image collection on Microsoft’s Planetary Computer, processing over 400,000 Earth observations per year.The algorithm generates LULC predictions for nine classes, described in detail below. The year 2017 has a land cover class assigned for every pixel, but its class is based upon fewer images than the other years. The years 2018-2023 are based upon a more complete set of imagery. For this reason, the year 2017 may have less accurate land cover class assignments than the years 2018-2023.Variable mapped: Land use/land cover in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023Source Data Coordinate System: Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) WGS84Service Coordinate System: Web Mercator Auxiliary Sphere WGS84 (EPSG:3857)Extent: GlobalSource imagery: Sentinel-2 L2ACell Size: 10-metersType: ThematicAttribution: Esri, Impact ObservatoryWhat can you do with this layer?Global land use/land cover maps provide information on conservation planning, food security, and hydrologic modeling, among other things. This dataset can be used to visualize land use/land cover anywhere on Earth. This layer can also be used in analyses that require land use/land cover input. For example, the Zonal toolset allows a user to understand the composition of a specified area by reporting the total estimates for each of the classes. NOTE: Land use focus does not provide the spatial detail of a land cover map. As such, for the built area classification, yards, parks, and groves will appear as built area rather than trees or rangeland classes.Class definitionsValueNameDescription1WaterAreas where water was predominantly present throughout the year; may not cover areas with sporadic or ephemeral water; contains little to no sparse vegetation, no rock outcrop nor built up features like docks; examples: rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans, flooded salt plains.2TreesAny significant clustering of tall (~15 feet or higher) dense vegetation, typically with a closed or dense canopy; examples: wooded vegetation, clusters of dense tall vegetation within savannas, plantations, swamp or mangroves (dense/tall vegetation with ephemeral water or canopy too thick to detect water underneath).4Flooded vegetationAreas of any type of vegetation with obvious intermixing of water throughout a majority of the year; seasonally flooded area that is a mix of grass/shrub/trees/bare ground; examples: flooded mangroves, emergent vegetation, rice paddies and other heavily irrigated and inundated agriculture.5CropsHuman planted/plotted cereals, grasses, and crops not at tree height; examples: corn, wheat, soy, fallow plots of structured land.7Built AreaHuman made structures; major road and rail networks; large homogenous impervious surfaces including parking structures, office buildings and residential housing; examples: houses, dense villages / towns / cities, paved roads, asphalt.8Bare groundAreas of rock or soil with very sparse to no vegetation for the entire year; large areas of sand and deserts with no to little vegetation; examples: exposed rock or soil, desert and sand dunes, dry salt flats/pans, dried lake beds, mines.9Snow/IceLarge homogenous areas of permanent snow or ice, typically only in mountain areas or highest latitudes; examples: glaciers, permanent snowpack, snow fields.10CloudsNo land cover information due to persistent cloud cover.11RangelandOpen areas covered in homogenous grasses with little to no taller vegetation; wild cereals and grasses with no obvious human plotting (i.e., not a plotted field); examples: natural meadows and fields with sparse to no tree cover, open savanna with few to no trees, parks/golf courses/lawns, pastures. Mix of small clusters of plants or single plants dispersed on a landscape that shows exposed soil or rock; scrub-filled clearings within dense forests that are clearly not taller than trees; examples: moderate to sparse cover of bushes, shrubs and tufts of grass, savannas with very sparse grasses, trees or other plants.Classification ProcessThese maps include Version 003 of the global Sentinel-2 land use/land cover data product. It is produced by a deep learning model trained using over five billion hand-labeled Sentinel-2 pixels, sampled from over 20,000 sites distributed across all major biomes of the world.The underlying deep learning model uses 6-bands of Sentinel-2 L2A surface reflectance data: visible blue, green, red, near infrared, and two shortwave infrared bands. To create the final map, the model is run on multiple dates of imagery throughout the year, and the outputs are composited into a final representative map for each year.The input Sentinel-2 L2A data was accessed via Microsoft’s Planetary Computer and scaled using Microsoft Azure Batch.CitationKarra, Kontgis, et al. “Global land use/land cover with Sentinel-2 and deep learning.” IGARSS 2021-2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. IEEE, 2021.AcknowledgementsTraining data for this project makes use of the National Geographic Society Dynamic World training dataset, produced for the Dynamic World Project by National Geographic Society in partnership with Google and the World Resources Institute.

Land cover/land use (LULC) maps for the catchments of Kelani Ganga and Attanagalu Oya, and LULC Change comparing 1991, 2001 with the recent LCLU (2012). Classification includes two thematic levels (national 7-class scheme and 15 land cover/land use classes according to user definitions). This dataset is one of the products produced under the 2014-2016 World Bank (WBG) European Space Agency (ESA) partnership, and is published in the partnership report: Earth Observation for Sustainable Development, June 2016.

To evaluate land use and land cover (LULC) maps an independent and representative test dataset is required. Here, a test dataset was generated via stratified random sampling approach across all areas in Fiji not used to generate training data (i.e. all Tikinas which did not contain a training data point were valid for sampling to generate the test dataset). Following equation 13 in Olofsson et al. (2014), the sample size of the test dataset was 834. This was based on a desired standard error of the overall accuracy score of 0.01 and a user's accuracy of 0.75 for all classes. The strata for sampling test samples were the eight LULC classes: water, mangrove, bare soil, urban, agriculture, grassland, shrubland, and trees.

There are different strategies for allocating samples to strata for evaluating LULC maps, as discussed by Olofsson et al. (2014). Equal allocation of samples to strata ensures coverage of rarely occurring classes and minimise the standard error of estimators of user's accuracy. However, equal allocation does not optimise the standard error of the estimator of overall accuracy. Proportional allocation of samples to strata, based on the proportion of the strata in the overall dataset, can result in rarely occurring classes being underrepresented in the test dataset. Optimal allocation of samples to strata is challenging to implement when there are multiple evaluation objectives. Olofsson et al. (2014) recommend a "simple" allocation procedure where 50 to 100 samples are allocated to rare classes and proportional allocation is used to allocate samples to the remaining majority classes. The number of samples to allocate to rare classes can be determined by iterating over different allocations and computing estimated standard errors for performance metrics. Here, the 2021 all-Fiji LULC map, minus the Tikinas used for generating training samples, was used to estimate the proportional areal coverage of each LULC class. The LULC map from 2021 was used to permit comparison with other LULC products with a 2021 layer, notably the ESA WorldCover 10m v200 2021 product.

The 2021 LULC map was dominated by the tree class (74\% of the area classified) and the remaining classes had less than 10\% coverage each. Therefore, a "simple" allocation of 100 samples to the seven minority classes and an allocation of 133 samples to the tree class was used. This ensured all the minority classes had sufficient coverage in the test set while balancing the requirement to minimise standard errors for the estimate of overall accuracy. The allocated number of test dataset points were randomly sampled within each strata and were manually labelled using 2021 annual median RGB composites from Sentinel-2 and Planet NICFI and high-resolution Google Satellite Basemaps.

Data format

The Fiji LULC test data is available in GeoJSON format in the file fiji-lulc-test-data.geojson. Each point feature has two attributes: ref_class (the LULC class manually labelled and quality checked) and strata (the strata the sampled point belongs to derived from the 2021 all-Fiji LULC map). The following integers correspond to the ref_class and strata labels:

1. water
2. mangrove
3. bare earth / rock
4. urban / impervious
5. agriculture
6. grassland
7. shrubland
8. tree

Use

When evaluating LULC maps using test data derived from a stratified sample, the nature of the stratified sampling needs to be accounted for when estimating performance metrics such as overall accuracy, user's accuracy, and producer's accuracy. This is particulary so if the strata do not match the map classes (i.e. when comparing different LULC products). Stehman (2014) provide formulas for estimating performance metrics and their standard errors when using test data with a stratified sampling structure.

To support LULC accuracy assessment a Python package has been developed which provides implementations of Stehman's (2014) formulas. The package can be installed via:

pip install lulc-validation

with documentation and examples here.

In order to compute performance metrics accounting for the stratified nature of the sample the total number of points / pixels available to be sampled in each strata must be known. For this dataset that is:

1. 1779768,
2. 3549325,
3. 541204,
4. 687659,
5. 14279258,
6. 15115599,
7. 4972515,
8. 116131948

Acknowledgements

This dataset was generated with support from a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of February 2023 and will be retired in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version. This layer displays change in pixels of the Sentinel-2 10m Land Use/Land Cover product developed by Esri, Impact Observatory, and Microsoft. Available years to compare with 2021 are 2018, 2019 and 2020. By default, the layer shows all comparisons together, in effect showing what changed 2018-2021. But the layer may be changed to show one of three specific pairs of years, 2018-2021, 2019-2021, or 2020-2021.Showing just one pair of years in ArcGIS Online Map ViewerTo show just one pair of years in ArcGIS Online Map viewer, create a filter. 1. Click the filter button. 2. Next, click add expression. 3. In the expression dialogue, specify a pair of years with the ProductName attribute. Use the following example in your expression dialogue to show only places that changed between 2020 and 2021:ProductNameis2020-2021By default, places that do not change appear as a transparent symbol in ArcGIS Pro. But in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, a transparent symbol may need to be set for these places after a filter is chosen. To do this:4. Click the styles button. 5. Under unique values click style options. 6. Click the symbol next to No Change at the bottom of the legend. 7. Click the slider next to "enable fill" to turn the symbol off.Showing just one pair of years in ArcGIS ProTo show just one pair of years in ArcGIS Pro, choose one of the layer's processing templates to single out a particular pair of years. The processing template applies a definition query that works in ArcGIS Pro. 1. To choose a processing template, right click the layer in the table of contents for ArcGIS Pro and choose properties. 2. In the dialogue that comes up, choose the tab that says processing templates. 3. On the right where it says processing template, choose the pair of years you would like to display. The processing template will stay applied for any analysis you may want to perform as well.How the change layer was created, combining LULC classes from two yearsImpact Observatory, Esri, and Microsoft used artificial intelligence to classify the world in 10 Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classes for the years 2017-2021. Mosaics serve the following sets of change rasters in a single global layer: Change between 2018 and 2021Change between 2019 and 2021Change between 2020 and 2021To make this change layer, Esri used an arithmetic operation combining the cells from a source year and 2021 to make a change index value. ((from year * 16) + to year) In the example of the change between 2020 and 2021, the from year (2020) was multiplied by 16, then added to the to year (2021). Then the combined number is served as an index in an 8 bit unsigned mosaic with an attribute table which describes what changed or did not change in that timeframe. Variable mapped: Change in land cover between 2018, 2019, or 2020 and 2021 Data Projection: Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)Mosaic Projection: WGS84Extent: GlobalSource imagery: Sentinel-2Cell Size: 10m (0.00008983152098239751 degrees)Type: ThematicSource: Esri Inc.Publication date: January 2022What can you do with this layer?Global LULC maps provide information on conservation planning, food security, and hydrologic modeling, among other things. This dataset can be used to visualize land cover anywhere on Earth. This layer can also be used in analyses that require land cover input. For example, the Zonal Statistics tools allow a user to understand the composition of a specified area by reporting the total estimates for each of the classes. Land Cover processingThis map was produced by a deep learning model trained using over 5 billion hand-labeled Sentinel-2 pixels, sampled from over 20,000 sites distributed across all major biomes of the world. The underlying deep learning model uses 6 bands of Sentinel-2 surface reflectance data: visible blue, green, red, near infrared, and two shortwave infrared bands. To create the final map, the model is run on multiple dates of imagery throughout the year, and the outputs are composited into a final representative map. Processing platformSentinel-2 L2A/B data was accessed via Microsoft’s Planetary Computer and scaled using Microsoft Azure Batch.Class definitions1. WaterAreas where water was predominantly present throughout the year; may not cover areas with sporadic or ephemeral water; contains little to no sparse vegetation, no rock outcrop nor built up features like docks; examples: rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans, flooded salt plains.2. TreesAny significant clustering of tall (~15-m or higher) dense vegetation, typically with a closed or dense canopy; examples: wooded vegetation,
clusters of dense tall vegetation within savannas, plantations, swamp or mangroves (dense/tall vegetation with ephemeral water or canopy too thick to detect water underneath).4. Flooded vegetationAreas of any type of vegetation with obvious intermixing of water throughout a majority of the year; seasonally flooded area that is a mix of grass/shrub/trees/bare ground; examples: flooded mangroves, emergent vegetation, rice paddies and other heavily irrigated and inundated agriculture.5. CropsHuman planted/plotted cereals, grasses, and crops not at tree height; examples: corn, wheat, soy, fallow plots of structured land.7. Built AreaHuman made structures; major road and rail networks; large homogenous impervious surfaces including parking structures, office buildings and residential housing; examples: houses, dense villages / towns / cities, paved roads, asphalt.8. Bare groundAreas of rock or soil with very sparse to no vegetation for the entire year; large areas of sand and deserts with no to little vegetation; examples: exposed rock or soil, desert and sand dunes, dry salt flats/pans, dried lake beds, mines.9. Snow/IceLarge homogenous areas of permanent snow or ice, typically only in mountain areas or highest latitudes; examples: glaciers, permanent snowpack, snow fields. 10. CloudsNo land cover information due to persistent cloud cover.11. Rangeland Open areas covered in homogenous grasses with little to no taller vegetation; wild cereals and grasses with no obvious human plotting (i.e., not a plotted field); examples: natural meadows and fields with sparse to no tree cover, open savanna with few to no trees, parks/golf courses/lawns, pastures. Mix of small clusters of plants or single plants dispersed on a landscape that shows exposed soil or rock; scrub-filled clearings within dense forests that are clearly not taller than trees; examples: moderate to sparse cover of bushes, shrubs and tufts of grass, savannas with very sparse grasses, trees or other plants.CitationKarra, Kontgis, et al. “Global land use/land cover with Sentinel-2 and deep learning.” IGARSS 2021-2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. IEEE, 2021.AcknowledgementsTraining data for this project makes use of the National Geographic Society Dynamic World training dataset, produced for the Dynamic World Project by National Geographic Society in partnership with Google and the World Resources Institute.For questions please email environment@esri.com

Sentinel2GlobalLULC is a deep learning-ready dataset of RGB images from the Sentinel-2 satellites designed for global land use and land cover (LULC) mapping. Sentinel2GlobalLULC v2.1 contains 194,877 images in GeoTiff and JPEG format corresponding to 29 broad LULC classes. Each image has 224 x 224 pixels at 10 m spatial resolution and was produced by assigning the 25th percentile of all available observations in the Sentinel-2 collection between June 2015 and October 2020 in order to remove atmospheric effects (i.e., clouds, aerosols, shadows, snow, etc.). A spatial purity value was assigned to each image based on the consensus across 15 different global LULC products available in Google Earth Engine (GEE).

Our dataset is structured into 3 main zip-compressed folders, an Excel file with a dictionary for class names and descriptive statistics per LULC class, and a python script to convert RGB GeoTiff images into JPEG format. The first folder called "Sentinel2LULC_GeoTiff.zip" contains 29 zip-compressed subfolders where each one corresponds to a specific LULC class with hundreds to thousands of GeoTiff Sentinel-2 RGB images. The second folder called "Sentinel2LULC_JPEG.zip" contains 29 zip-compressed subfolders with a JPEG formatted version of the same images provided in the first main folder. The third folder called "Sentinel2LULC_CSV.zip" includes 29 zip-compressed CSV files with as many rows as provided images and with 12 columns containing the following metadata (this same metadata is provided in the image filenames):

• Land Cover Class ID: is the identification number of each LULC class
• Land Cover Class Short Name: is the short name of each LULC class
• Image ID: is the identification number of each image within its corresponding LULC class
• Pixel purity Value: is the spatial purity of each pixel for its corresponding LULC class calculated as the spatial consensus across up to 15 land-cover products
• GHM Value: is the spatial average of the Global Human Modification index (gHM) for each image
• Latitude: is the latitude of the center point of each image
• Longitude: is the longitude of the center point of each image
• Country Code: is the Alpha-2 country code of each image as described in the ISO 3166 international standard. To understand the country codes, we recommend the user to visit the following website where they present the Alpha-2 code for each country as described in the ISO 3166 international standard:https: //www.iban.com/country-codes
• Administrative Department Level1: is the administrative level 1 name to which each image belongs
• Administrative Department Level2: is the administrative level 2 name to which each image belongs
• Locality: is the name of the locality to which each image belongs
• Number of S2 images : is the number of found instances in the corresponding Sentinel-2 image collection between June 2015 and October 2020, when compositing and exporting its corresponding image tile

For seven LULC classes, we could not export from GEE all images that fulfilled a spatial purity of 100% since there were millions of them. In this case, we exported a stratified random sample of 14,000 images and provided an additional CSV file with the images actually contained in our dataset. That is, for these seven LULC classes, we provide these 2 CSV files:

• A CSV file that contains all exported images for this class
• A CSV file that contains all images available for this class at spatial purity of 100%, both the ones exported and the ones not exported, in case the user wants to export them. These CSV filenames end with "including_non_downloaded_images".

To clearly state the geographical coverage of images available in this dataset, we included in the version v2.1, a compressed folder called "Geographic_Representativeness.zip". This zip-compressed folder contains a csv file for each LULC class that provides the complete list of countries represented in that class. Each csv file has two columns, the first one gives the country code and the second one gives the number of images provided in that country for that LULC class. In addition to these 29 csv files, we provided another csv file that maps each ISO Alpha-2 country code to its original full country name.

© Sentinel2GlobalLULC Dataset by Yassir Benhammou, Domingo Alcaraz-Segura, Emilio Guirado, Rohaifa Khaldi, Boujemâa Achchab, Francisco Herrera & Siham Tabik is marked with Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)

This series of three-period land use land cover (LULC) datasets (1975, 2000, and 2013) aids in monitoring change in West Africa’s land resources (exception is Tchad at 4 kilometers). To monitor and map these changes, a 26 general LULC class system was used. The classification system that was developed was primarily inspired by the “Yangambi Classification” (Trochain, 1957). This fairly broad class system for LULC was used because the classes can be readily identified on Landsat satellite imagery. A visual photo-interpretation approach was used to identify and map the LULC classes represented on Landsat images. The Rapid Land Cover Mapper (RLCM) was used to facilitate the photo-interpretation using Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop ArcMap software. Citation: Trochain, J.-L., 1957, Accord interafricain sur la définition des types de végétation de l’Afrique tropicale: Institut d’études centrafricaines.

This web map displays the land use/land cover (LULC) timeseries layer derived from ESA Sentinel-2 imagery at 10m resolution. The visualization uses blend modes and is best used in the new Map Viewer. The time slider can be used to advance through the five years of data from 2017-2021. There are also a series of bookmarks for the locations below:Urban growth examplesOuagadougouCairo/GizaDubai, UAEKaty, Texas, USALoudoun County, VirginiaInfrastructureIstanbul International Airport, TurkeyGrand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, EthiopiaDeforestationBorder of Acre and Rondonia states, BrazilHarz Mountains, GermanyWetlands lossPantanal, BrazilParana river, ArgentinaVegetation changing after fireNorthern California: Paradise, Redding, Clear Lake, Santa Rosa, Mendocino National ForestKangaroo Island, AustraliaVictoria and NSW, AustraliaYakutia, RussiaHurricane ImpactAbaco Island, BahamasRecent Lava FlowHawaii IslandSurface MiningBrown Coal, Cottbus, GermanyLand ReclamationMarkermeer, NetherlandsEconomic DevelopmentNorth vs South Korea

This dataset is the second (circa 2000) in a series of three 2-kilometer land use land cover (LULC) time-periods datasets (1975, 2000, and 2013) aids in monitoring change in West Africa’s land resources (exception is Tchad at 4 kilometers). To monitor and map these changes, a 26 general LULC class system was used. The classification system that was developed was primarily inspired by the “Yangambi Classification” (Trochain, 1957). This fairly broad class system for LULC was used because the classes can be readily identified on Landsat satellite imagery. A visual photo-interpretation approach was used to identify and map the LULC classes represented on Landsat images. The Rapid Land Cover Mapper (RLCM) was used to facilitate the photo-interpretation using Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop ArcMap software. Citation: Trochain, J.-L., 1957, Accord interafricain sur la définition des types de végétation de l’Afrique tropicale: Institut d’études centrafricaines.

The Chesapeake Bay Land Use and Land Cover Database (LULC) facilitates characterization of the landscape and land change for and between discrete time periods. The database was developed by the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory in cooperation with Chesapeake Conservancy (CC) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) as part of a 6-year Cooperative Agreement between Chesapeake Conservancy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a separate Interagency Agreement between the USGS and EPA to provide geospatial support to the Chesapeake Bay Program Office. The database contains one-meter 13-class Land Cover (LC) and 54-class Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) for all counties within or adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay watershed for 2013/14 and 2017/18, depending on availability of National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery for each state. Additionally, 54 LULC classes are generalized into 18 LULC classes for ease of visualization and communication of LULC trends ...

Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) information product over Bamako (Mali) contains spatial explicit information about the different land covers / uses for current (2018) date. The level of detail for the classification scheme mainly relies on the input data sources. LULC dataset provides detailed information (level-4) over core urban areas covered by very high resolution satellite imagery.

overview

The project extends the long-term, LULC datasets to facilitate environmental change monitoring and social-ecological studies regarding urban sprawl and dynamics, urban heat islands, and outdoor water consumption, among others. Six land-use/land-cover (LULC) maps at 30 m resolution were previously created from 1985 to 2010 at five-year intervals (Zhang and Li 2017). This project updates that suite with maps for 2015 and 2020. As with the prior set, systematic object-based classification was utilized to ensure map consistency and direct comparison capability over time. The maps comprise 11 land-use/land-cover classes with an overall accuracy of 89.1% for 2015 and 89.6% for 2020.

literature cited

• Zhang, Y. and X. Li. 2017. Land cover classification of the CAP LTER study area at five-year intervals from 1985 to 2010 using Landsat imagery ver 1. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/dab4db27974f6c8d5b91a91d30c7781d (Accessed 2022-07-13).

Mapping land use and land cover (LULC) using remote sensing is fundamental to environmental monitoring, spatial planning and characterising drivers of change in landscapes. We develop a new, general and versatile approach for mapping LULC in landscapes with relatively gradual transition between LULC categories such as African savannas. The approach integrates a well-tested hierarchical classification system with the computationally efficient random forest (RF) classifier and produces detailed, accurate and consistent classification of structural vegetation heterogeneity and density and anthropogenic land use. We use Landsat 8 OLI imagery to illustrate this approach for the Extended Greater Masai Mara Ecosystem (EGMME) in southwestern Kenya. We stratified the landscape into eight relatively homogeneous zones, systematically inspected the imagery and randomly allocated 1,697 training sites, 556 of which were ground-truthed, proportionately to the area of each zone. We directly assessed the accuracy of the visually classified image. Accuracy was high and averaged 88.1% (80.5%–91.7%) across all the zones and 89.1% (50%–100%) across all the classes. We applied the RF classifier to randomly selected samples from the original training dataset, separately for each zone and the EGMME. We evaluated the overall and class-specific accuracy and computational efficiency using the Out-of-Bag (OOB) error. Overall accuracy (79.3%–97.4%) varied across zones but was higher whereas the class-specific accuracy (25.4%–98.1%) was lower than that for the EGMME (80.2%). The hierarchical classifier identified 35 LULC classes which we aggregated into 18 intermediate mosaics and further into five more general categories. The open grassed shrubland (21.8%), sparse shrubbed grassland (10.4%) and small-scale cultivation (13.3%) dominated at the detailed level, grassed shrubland (31.9%) and shrubbed grassland (28.9%) at the intermediate level, and grassland (35.7%), shrubland (35.3%) and woodland (12.5%) at the general level. Our granular LULC map for the EGMME is sufficiently accurate for important practical purposes such as land use spatial planning, habitat suitability assessment and temporal change detection. The extensive ground-truthing data, sample site photos and classified maps can contribute to wider validation efforts at regional to global scales.

This dataset is the first (circa 2000) of two 500-meter land use land cover (LULC) time-periods datasets (2000, and 2013) aids in monitoring change in West Africa’s land resources. To monitor and map these changes, a 26 general LULC class system was used. The classification system that was developed was primarily inspired by the “Yangambi Classification” (Trochain, 1957). This fairly broad class system for LULC was used because the classes can be readily identified on Landsat satellite imagery. A visual photo-interpretation approach was used to identify and map the LULC classes represented on Landsat images. The Rapid Land Cover Mapper (RLCM) was used to facilitate the photo-interpretation using Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop ArcMap software. Citation: Trochain, J.-L., 1957, Accord interafricain sur la définition des types de végétation de l’Afrique tropicale: Institut d’études centrafricaines.

About the dataLand use land cover (LULC) maps are an increasingly important tool for decision-makers in many industry sectors and developing nations around the world. The information provided by these maps helps inform policy and land management decisions by better understanding and quantifying the impacts of earth processes and human activity.ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides a detailed, accurate, and timely LULC map of the world. The data is the result of a three-way collaboration among Esri, Impact Observatory, and Microsoft. For more information about the data, see Sentinel-2 10m Land Use/Land Cover Time Series.About the appOne of the foremost capabilities of this app is the dynamic change analysis. The app provides dynamic visual and statistical change by comparing annual slices of the Sentinel-2 10m Land Use/Land Cover data as you explore the map.Overview of capabilities:Visual change analysis with either 'Step Mode' or 'Swipe Mode'Dynamic statistical change analysis by year, map extent, and classFilter by selected land cover classRegional class statistics summarized by administrative boundariesImagery mode for visual investigation and validation of land coverSelect imagery renderings (e.g. SWIR to visualize forest burn scars)Data download for offline use

This layer displays change in pixels of the Sentinel-2 10m Land Use/Land Cover product developed by Esri, Impact Observatory, and Microsoft. Available years to compare with 2021 are 2018, 2019 and 2020.By default, the layer shows all comparisons together, in effect showing what changed 2018-2021. But the layer may be changed to show one of three specific pairs of years, 2018-2021, 2019-2021, or 2020-2021.Showing just one pair of years in ArcGIS Online Map ViewerTo show just one pair of years in ArcGIS Online Map viewer, create a filter.1. Click the filter button.2. Next, click add expression.3. In the expression dialogue, specify a pair of years with the ProductName attribute. Use the following example in your expression dialogue to show only places that changed between 2020 and 2021:ProductNameis2020-2021By default, places that do not change appear as a transparent symbol in ArcGIS Pro. But in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, a transparent symbol may need to be set for these places after a filter is chosen. To do this:4. Click the styles button.5. Under unique values click style options.6. Click the symbol next to No Change at the bottom of the legend.7. Click the slider next to "enable fill" to turn the symbol off.Showing just one pair of years in ArcGIS ProTo show just one pair of years in ArcGIS Pro, choose one of the layer's processing templates to single out a particular pair of years. The processing template applies a definition query that works in ArcGIS Pro.1. To choose a processing template, right click the layer in the table of contents for ArcGIS Pro and choose properties.2. In the dialogue that comes up, choose the tab that says processing templates.3. On the right where it says processing template, choose the pair of years you would like to display.The processing template will stay applied for any analysis you may want to perform as well.How the change layer was created, combining LULC classes from two yearsImpact Observatory, Esri, and Microsoft used artificial intelligence to classify the world in 10 Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) classes for the years 2017-2021. Mosaics serve the following sets of change rasters in a single global layer:Change between 2018 and 2021Change between 2019 and 2021Change between 2020 and 2021To make this change layer, Esri used an arithmetic operation combining the cells from a source year and 2021 to make a change index value. ((from year * 16) + to year) In the example of the change between 2020 and 2021, the from year (2020) was multiplied by 16, then added to the to year (2021). Then the combined number is served as an index in an 8 bit unsigned mosaic with an attribute table which describes what changed or did not change in that timeframe.Variable mapped: Change in land cover between 2018, 2019, or 2020 and 2021Data Projection: Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)Mosaic Projection: WGS84Extent: GlobalSource imagery: Sentinel-2Cell Size: 10m (0.00008983152098239751 degrees)Type: ThematicSource: Esri Inc.Publication date: January 2022What can you do with this layer?Global LULC maps provide information on conservation planning, food security, and hydrologic modeling, among other things. This dataset can be used to visualize land cover anywhere on Earth. This layer can also be used in analyses that require land cover input. For example, the Zonal Statistics tools allow a user to understand the composition of a specified area by reporting the total estimates for each of the classes.Land Cover processingThis map was produced by a deep learning model trained using over 5 billion hand-labeled Sentinel-2 pixels, sampled from over 20,000 sites distributed across all major biomes of the world. The underlying deep learning model uses 6 bands of Sentinel-2 surface reflectance data: visible blue, green, red, near infrared, and two shortwave infrared bands. To create the final map, the model is run on multiple dates of imagery throughout the year, and the outputs are composited into a final representative map.Processing platformSentinel-2 L2A/B data was accessed via Microsoft’s Planetary Computer and scaled using Microsoft Azure Batch.Class definitions1. WaterAreas where water was predominantly present throughout the year; may not cover areas with sporadic or ephemeral water; contains little to no sparse vegetation, no rock outcrop nor built up features like docks; examples: rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans, flooded salt plains.2. TreesAny significant clustering of tall (~15-m or higher) dense vegetation, typically with a closed or dense canopy; examples: wooded vegetation, clusters of dense tall vegetation within savannas, plantations, swamp or mangroves (dense/tall vegetation with ephemeral water or canopy too thick to detect water underneath).4. Flooded vegetationAreas of any type of vegetation with obvious intermixing of water throughout a majority of the year; seasonally flooded area that is a mix of grass/shrub/trees/bare ground; examples: flooded mangroves, emergent vegetation, rice paddies and other heavily irrigated and inundated agriculture.5. CropsHuman planted/plotted cereals, grasses, and crops not at tree height; examples: corn, wheat, soy, fallow plots of structured land.7. Built AreaHuman made structures; major road and rail networks; large homogenous impervious surfaces including parking structures, office buildings and residential housing; examples: houses, dense villages / towns / cities, paved roads, asphalt.8. Bare groundAreas of rock or soil with very sparse to no vegetation for the entire year; large areas of sand and deserts with no to little vegetation; examples: exposed rock or soil, desert and sand dunes, dry salt flats/pans, dried lake beds, mines.9. Snow/IceLarge homogenous areas of permanent snow or ice, typically only in mountain areas or highest latitudes; examples: glaciers, permanent snowpack, snow fields. 10. CloudsNo land cover information due to persistent cloud cover.11. RangelandOpen areas covered in homogenous grasses with little to no taller vegetation; wild cereals and grasses with no obvious human plotting (i.e., not a plotted field); examples: natural meadows and fields with sparse to no tree cover, open savanna with few to no trees, parks/golf courses/lawns, pastures. Mix of small clusters of plants or single plants dispersed on a landscape that shows exposed soil or rock; scrub-filled clearings within dense forests that are clearly not taller than trees; examples: moderate to sparse cover of bushes, shrubs and tufts of grass, savannas with very sparse grasses, trees or other plants.CitationKarra, Kontgis, et al. “Global land use/land cover with Sentinel-2 and deep learning.” IGARSS 2021-2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. IEEE, 2021.AcknowledgementsTraining data for this project makes use of the National Geographic Society Dynamic World training dataset, produced for the Dynamic World Project by National Geographic Society in partnership with Google and the World Resources Institute.For questions please email environment@esri.com

The landscape of the conterminous United States has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, with agricultural land use, urban expansion, forestry, and other anthropogenic activities altering land cover across vast swaths of the country. While land use and land cover (LULC) models have been developed to model potential future LULC change, few efforts have focused on recreating historical landscapes. Researchers at the US Geological Survey have used a wide range of historical data sources and a spatially explicit modeling framework to model spatially explicit historical LULC change in the conterminous United States from 1992 back to 1938. Annual LULC maps were produced at 250-m resolution, with 14 LULC classes. Assessment of model results showed good agreement with trends and spatial patterns in historical data sources such as the Census of Agriculture and historical housing density data, although comparison with historical data is complicated by definitional and methodologica ...

This data set represents land cover map for the year 2016. This layer was clipped from Sentinel-2 global land cover data.

This dataset is the first (circa 1975) in a series of three 1-kilometer land use land cover (LULC) time-periods datasets (1975, 2000, and 2013) aids in monitoring change in West Africa’s land resources. To monitor and map these changes, a 26 general LULC class system was used. The classification system that was developed was primarily inspired by the “Yangambi Classification” (Trochain, 1957). This fairly broad class system for LULC was used because the classes can be readily identified on Landsat satellite imagery. A visual photo-interpretation approach was used to identify and map the LULC classes represented on Landsat images. The Rapid Land Cover Mapper (RLCM) was used to facilitate the photo-interpretation using Esri’s ArcGIS Desktop ArcMap software. Citation: Trochain, J.-L., 1957, Accord interafricain sur la définition des types de végétation de l’Afrique tropicale: Institut d’études centrafricaines.

Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) information product over Phnom Penh (Cambodia) contains spatial explicit information about the different land covers / uses for current (2017) and past (2003) dates. The level of detail for the classification scheme mainly relies on the input data sources. LULC dataset provides detailed information (level-3) over core urban areas covered by very high resolution satellite imagery, and level-1 information over peri-urban areas covered by lower resolution satellite imagery.