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    • NLCD 2016 Land Cover Reference Data, Conterminous United States

    Metadata Updated: February 25, 2025

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with several federal agencies, has developed and released five National Land Cover Database (NLCD) products over the past two decades: NLCD 1992, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. U.S. EPA leads the accuracy assessment of NLCD land cover products in coordination with USGS and SUNY-ESF. The posted dataset includes map labels and reference labels for 4629 sample locations (pixels) from the NLCD 2016 database. The sample pixels were selected using a stratified random design based on the dual 2011 – 2016 map labels. The data can be used to re-create the accuracy results reported in a forthcoming paper and in support of other applications. Accuracy results are reported for the 2011 and 2016 land cover products in the NLCD2016 database and for selected 2011-2006 changes.

    Access & Use Information

    License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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    Dates

    Metadata Date December 3, 2020
    Metadata Created Date February 25, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 25, 2025
    Reference Date(s) November 23, 2020 (publication)
    Frequency Of Update

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from Environmental Dataset Gateway ISO Geospatial Metadata

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Date December 3, 2020
    Metadata Created Date February 25, 2025
    Metadata Updated Date February 25, 2025
    Reference Date(s) November 23, 2020 (publication)
    Responsible Party U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (Publisher)
    Contact Email
    Guid D83991AF-31B5-4B03-8218-268E70F7D3EB
    Access Constraints
    Bbox East Long -66.103258
    Bbox North Lat 51.42191
    Bbox South Lat 23.360434
    Bbox West Long -127.700452
    Coupled Resource
    Frequency Of Update
    Harvest Object Id 12057d50-3e92-4539-a59e-aec3ee60074d
    Harvest Source Id 9b3cd81e-5515-4bb7-ad3c-5ae44de9b4bd
    Harvest Source Title Environmental Dataset Gateway ISO Geospatial Metadata
    Licence None
    Lineage NLCD2016 reference data collection and analysis process: NLCD2016 2011 and 2016 land cover components were combined in a GIS and the duals map labels were used to define a map of 21 strata. Stratum 1 -Water, no change; Stratum 2 - Open urban, no change; Stratum 3 - Low intensity urban, no change; Stratum 4 - Medium intensity urban, no change; Stratum 5 - High intensity urban, no change; Stratum 6 - Barren, no change; Stratum 7 - Deciduous forest, no change; Stratum 8 - Evergreen forest, no change; Stratum 9 - Mixed forest, no change; Stratum 10 - Shrubland, no change; Stratum 11 - Grassland, no change; Stratum 12 - Pasture, no change; Stratum 13 - Cropland, no change; Stratum 14 - Woody wetlands, no change; Stratum 15 - Herbaceous wetlands, no change; Stratum 16 - Catch-all stratum (all 2011─2016 change pixels not in strata 17─21; Stratum 17 - Urban gain, not urban (2011) to urban (2016); Stratum 18 - Forest loss, forest (2011) to not forest (2016) except forest to urban; Stratum 19 - Forest gain; not forest (2011) to forest (2016); Stratum 20 - Agriculture (Ag) loss, Ag (2011) to not Ag (2016) except Ag to forest or urban; Stratum 21 - Ag gain, not Ag (2011) to Ag (2016), except for forest to Ag. The strata map was converted to 21 individual binary maps (e.g., stratum 1; nodata) to generate a random number map of the stratum; pixels with random numbers corresponding to the number of target samples were selected. Selected sample pixels were converted to points for each stratum, and stratum points were then mosaicked into a single map and their order was randomized. Sample points (pixels) were provided to photointerpreters to collect reference data from Google Earth imagery. Reference data collection was conducted by two interpreters who have collected reference data for all previous NLCD accuracy assessments and who have been involved in the production of all previous NLCD databases. Reference data collection was done in a blind format (i.e., collection was done without knowledge of map classification). Reference data collection was also supported by weekly web-enabled conference calls to promote consistency among interpreters and resolve labeling for samples whose interpretation was difficult.
    Metadata Language eng
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-127.700452, 23.360434], [-66.103258, 23.360434], [-66.103258, 51.42191], [-127.700452, 51.42191], [-127.700452, 23.360434]]]}
    Progress
    Spatial Data Service Type
    Spatial Reference System EPSG:4326
    Spatial Harvester True
    Temporal Extent Begin 2020-11-25T00:00:00

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