NLCD 2006 Land Cover (2011 Edition, amended 2014) - National Geospatial Data Asset (NGDA) Land Use Land Cover
Dates
Publication Date
2014-10-10
Start Date
2005-02-11
End Date
2007-10-03
Summary
The National Land Cover Database products are created through a cooperative project conducted by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. The MRLC Consortium is a partnership of federal agencies (www.mrlc.gov), consisting of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (USDA-FS), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Previously, NLCD consisted of three major data releases based on a 10-year cycle. These include a circa 1992 conterminous [...]
Summary
The National Land Cover Database products are created through a cooperative project conducted by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. The MRLC Consortium is a partnership of federal agencies (www.mrlc.gov), consisting of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Forest Service (USDA-FS), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Previously, NLCD consisted of three major data releases based on a 10-year cycle. These include a circa 1992 conterminous U.S. land cover dataset with one thematic layer (NLCD 1992), a circa 2001 50-state/Puerto Rico updated U.S. land cover database (NLCD 2001 2011 Edition) with three layers including thematic land cover, percent imperviousness, and percent tree canopy, and a 1992/2001 Land Cover Change Retrofit Product. With these national data layers, there is often a 5-year time lag between the image capture date and product release. In some areas, the land cover can undergo significant change during production time, resulting in products that may be perpetually out of date. To address these issues, this circa 2006 NLCD land cover product (NLCD 2006 2011 Edition) was conceived to meet user community needs for more frequent land cover monitoring (moving to a 5-year cycle) and to reduce the production time between image capture and product release. NLCD 2006 (2011 edition) is designed to provide the user both updated land cover data and additional information that can be used to identify the pattern, nature, and magnitude of changes occurring between 2001 (2011 Edition) and 2006 (2011 Edition) for the conterminous United States at medium spatial resolution. For NLCD 2006 (2011 Edition), there are 4 primary data products: 1) NLCD 2006 Land Cover (2011 Edition); 2) NLCD 2001/2006 Land Cover Change Pixels (2011 Edition) labeled with the 2006 land cover class; 3) NLCD 2006 Percent Developed Imperviousness (2011 Edition), and 4) NLCD 2001/2006 Percent Developed Imperviousness Change (2011 Edition). In addition, ancillary metadata includes the NLCD 2006 Path/Row Index vector file showing the footprint of Landsat scene pairs used to derive 2001/2006 spectral change with change pair acquisition dates included in the attribute table. As part of the NLCD 2011 project, NLCD 2001 data products have been revised and reissued (2011 Edition) to provide full compatibility with all other NLCD 2011 Edition products. The 2014 amended version corrects for the over-elimination of small areas of the four developed classes. Land cover maps, derivatives and all associated documents are considered "provisional" until a formal accuracy assessment can be conducted. The NLCD 2006 is created on a path/row basis and mosaicked to create a seamless national product. Questions about the NLCD 2006 land cover product can be directed to the NLCD 2006 land cover mapping team at the USGS/EROS, Sioux Falls, SD (605) 594-6151 or mrlc@usgs.gov.
