One post tagged with "Land Use Data"

Land cover describes the current natural or artificial cover types on Earth's surface, such as forest, grassland, cropland, water, and glaciers. Land use describes how people use land, reflecting socioeconomic functions such as farming, urban construction, and industry. In short, land cover asks "what is on the surface," while land use asks "how the land is used." The concepts are related but different: the same forest cover may correspond to different land uses, such as protected forest or commercial logging. In real data products, Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) is often combined into one classification system that considers both natural cover and human use. In general, land cover data is used more for environmental analysis and ecological assessment, while land use data is used more for land management and planning.

Note: At the global scale, direct observation of human land use is difficult. Common global "land use" datasets are usually based on remotely sensed land cover maps, with classes that also imply use. For example, "cropland" and "built-up" are both cover types and land-use indicators. The datasets below are therefore mainly global land cover / land use classification products.