AVHRR Global Land Cover ClassificationGlobal Land Cover Data Sets - One Degree
Global Land Cover Data Sets - 8 km
Global Land Cover Data Sets - 1 km
Format InformationGoode's Projection: The Goode's Homolosine composite projection provides a distinct display of the planet, with a heavy emphasis on land surfaces. This format is often preferred by NASA and related earth observation scientists because of its inherent suitability for viewing the continents without graphical distraction from the oceans. Also, the Goode's composite projection is equal area, which is most suitable for measuring how much of the earth's surface is occupied by a particular feature. For more information about Goode's composite projection, please review the detailed web site at NASA. Goode's composite projection is difficult for most users to employ in many commercial spatial softwares, and is often difficult to integrate with other spatial data sets, so other projection options are provided, below. But please consider that measuring area with these data sets is most appropriate in the Goode's composite projection. The spheroid used with the Goode's composite projection is the original sphere of radius 6370997 meters; therefore, no datum is employed. Lat-Long Projection: This is often called the "Geographic" projection, though in strict cartographic reality it is not a true projection but just a coordinate system. This projection is easy to deploy in most commercial spatial software, and is easily interoperable with most other spatial data sets. However, please note the description, above, of the Goode's composite projection and the suitability of measuring area. The spheroid and datum used with the Lat-Long projection is WGS84. Binary BSQ format: This version of the data set is in binary format, specifically in Band SeQuential format. In this version, the data is considered a binary image by most commercial spatial software. GeoTIFF format: This version of the data set is in TIFF format, specifically the geo-located edition that provides coordinate information to locate the TIFF file in the real world. In this version, the data is considered a GeoTIFF image by most commercial spatial software. GeoTIFF format has become the most common image format accepted by GIS and image processing software. Please consult the GeoTIFF consortium for further information about this file format. ESRI ASCII Grid format: This version of the data set is in a format specific for import to the ESRI company's GIS softwares, ArcGIS, ArcView 3.x and ArcInfo. The format is ASCII, however, and many other commercial spatial software can ingest the files. The specific ESRI format generates a raster GIS file called a 'grid' in ESRI terminology. This format includes a ".txt" extension to denote the ASCII design. An ESRI ASCII Grid file can be "import"-ed in any ESRI software with the appropriate raster format software extension, specifically the "Spatial Analyst" extension for most ESRI software. In ArcInfo, the "ASCIIGRID" command can be used to generate the Grid file. Please consult ESRI for further information regarding this format. ESRI Grid Export format: This version of the data set is in a format specific for import to the ESRI company's GIS softwares, ArcGIS, ArcView 3.x and ArcInfo. As this is a common format, many other commercial spatial software can ingest the files. The specific ESRI format generates a raster GIS file called a 'grid' in ESRI terminology. The Export file includes a ".e00" extension to denote the ESRI Interchange format. An ESRI Grid Export file can be "import"-ed in any ESRI software with the appropriate raster format software extension, specifically the "Spatial Analyst" extension for most ESRI software. Please consult ESRI for further information regarding this format. Gzip format: This is a compression format available on most computer operating system platforms, making the uncompressed files smaller and, therefore, easier to download. A file that has been compressed using gzip will have a ".gz" extension. If your computer does not have a software that can uncompress a gzip-ed file then it is necessary to download a compression software that can before these data sets can be employed.
University of Maryland Shading Scheme for AVHRR Land Cover Products Download the ESRI ArcInfo .key file Download the ESRI ArcView 3.x .avl file Download the ASCII text RGB file
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