GLC2000: a new approach to global land cover mapping from Earth observation data

Abstract A new global land cover database for the year 2000 (GLC2000) has been produced by an international partnership of 30 research groups coordinated by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. The database contains two levels of land cover information—detailed, regionally optimized land cover legends for each continent and a less thematically detailed global legend that harmonizes regional legends into one consistent product. The land cover maps are all based on daily data from the VEGETATION sensor on‐board SPOT 4, though mapping of some regions involved use of data from other Earth observing sensors to resolve specific issues. Detailed legend definition, image classification and map quality assurance were carried out region by region. The global product was made through aggregation of these. The database is designed to serve users from science programmes, policy makers, environmental convention secretariats, non‐governmental organizations and development‐aid projects. The regional and global data are available free of charge for all non‐commercial applications from http://www.gvm.jrc.it/glc2000. Acknowledgements The JRC with the endorsement and support of the VEGETATION programme partners coordinated the GLC2000 project. The S1 data were kindly made available under the terms of the VEGA 2000 initiative. The involvement of all GLC2000 partners is gratefully acknowledged. The number in front of their name refers to the geographic window displayed in figure 1. A full list of individuals is provided in Bartholomé et al. (Citation2002). The authors are particularly indebted to the members of the Global Vegetation Unit of the JRC who contributed the GLC2000 project: F. Achard, S. Bartalev, C. Carmona‐Moreno, V. Gond, S. Kolmert, M. Massart, P. Mayaux, M. Merlotti, H. Eva, S. Fritz, B. Glénat, J.‐M. Grégoire, A. Hartley, H.‐J. Stibig, A. Tournier and P. Vogt. 1. (1) US Geological Survey, Sioux Falls, USA: T. Loveland, Z. Zhu, C. Giri.2. (1) Canadian Center for Remote Sensing, Ottawa, Canada: R. Latifovic.3. (10) Institute for Remote Sensing Applications, Beijing, China: Wu B, Xu W.4. (global) CNES, Toulouse, France: H. Jeanjean, G. Saint.5. (3) Lab. de teledeteccion aplicada, Univ. Nacional Agraria, La Molina, Peru: V. Barrena Arroyo.6. (global) VITO, Mol, Belgium: D. Van Speybroeck.7. (7) Centre AGRHYMET, Niamey, Niger: A. Nonguierma.8. (5c) METEO, Toulouse, France: J.‐L. Champeaux.9. (7, global) UNEP/GRID, Geneva, Switzerland: R. Witt, C. Ten Oever.10. (7) Centre de Suivi Ecologique, Dakar, Senegal: O. Diallo.11. (3) INTA, Castelar/Buenos Aires, Argentina: C. di Bella.12. (7) CSIR, Pretoria, South Africa: C. Pretorius.13. (global) Africover, Nairobi, Kenya: A. di Gregorio.14. (5b, 7) Environnemétrie et Géomatique Un. Cath., Louvain‐la‐Neuve, Belgium: P. Defourny, C. Vancutsem, J.‐F. Pekel.15. (3) Ecoforca: Campinas/Sao Paulo, Brazil: A. Dorado, E. de Miranda.16. (3) CIRAD, Forêts, Cayenne/Guyanne, France: V. Gond.17. (12) Institut Pertanian, Bogor, Indonesia: U. R. Wasrin.18. (9) Indian Institute for Remote Sensing, Dehradun UP, India: P. S. Roy, S. Gupta.19. (global, 17) FAO, Roma, Italy: He C. J. Latham, M. Cherlet.20. (8a) Alterra, Wageningen, The Netherland: C. A. Mucher, E. De Badts.21. (6) Metria, Stockholm, Sweden: S. Olovsson, B. Olsson, M. Ledwith.22. (3) Corolab Humboldt, Caracas, Venezuela: O. Huber.23. (5) Instituto de Sciencias de la tierra, Barcelona, Spain: A. Lobo.24. (11) CEReS, Chiba, Japan: R. Tateishi.25. (10) University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA: X. Xiao.26. (7) Tropical Research Institute, Lisbon, Portugal M. J. De Perestrelo, J. Pereira, A. I. Cabral.27. (14) Centre for Ecology and Productivity, Moscow, Russia: D. Ershov, A. Isaev.28. (5d) Dipartimento di Pianificazione, IUAV, Venice Italy, S. Griguolo.29. (3) CREAN, Cordoba, Argentina: A. C. Ravelo.30. (11) Geographical Survey Institute, Tsukuba, Japan: H. Sato.31. (10) Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China: Zhao X.32. (7) Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium: J. Lavreau.33. (7) Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Nairobi, Kenya: W. K. Ottichilo.34. (7) Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel, Tunis, Tunisia: C. Fezzani, W. Essahli.35. (5b) Instituto de Hidràulica, Engenharia Rural e Ambiente, Lisbon, Portugal: A. Perdigão.36. (Global, 2, 3, 4, 5d, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17) Global vegetation Monitoring Unit/JRC, Ispra, Italy: E. Bartholomé, A. S. Belward, F. Achard, S. Bartalev, C. Carmona‐Moreno, H. Eva, S. Fritz, A. Hartley, P. Mayaux, H.‐J. Stibig.