The USGS Land Cover Institute (LCI)



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North American Land Cover Data Links

    United States Land Cover Data Links

    Boston University Land Cover and Land Cover Dynamics Researcharrow
      About: Are engaged in a number of land cover and land cover dynamics research activities. The principal activities are developing Land Cover and Land Cover Dynamics products for NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land science team. They also maintain the Confidence Site database for global land cover mapping validation, part of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
      Scale: Global
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www-modis.bu.edu/landcover/

    Climate, Land Use, and Environmental Sensitivity (CLUES)arrow
      About: Climate modeling studies indicate that vegetation cover, in turn, has a strong influence on regional climates, and this must be better understood before models can estimate future environmental conditions. To address these issues, this project investigates vegetational response to climatic change, and vegetation-land surface impacts on climate change.
      Scale: Global
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/clues/

    EarthTrendsarrow
      About: EarthTrends is a comprehensive online database, maintained by the World Resources Institute that focuses on the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world.
      Year: Historical - present
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://earthtrends.wri.org/index.php

    Ecoregion Maps of North America - James Omernikarrow
      About: Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. They are designed to serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, management, and monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components. James Omernik`s pioneering ecoregion maps level one through five are available through this site.
      Year: N/A
      Scale: North America
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions.htm

    Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nationsarrow
    GeoCover - Land Coverarrow
      About: The first consistently prepared, moderate-resolution land cover (LC) database. Derived from spectral analysis of consistently orthorectified Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery, GeoCover LC features a standard 13-class land cover legend designed to provide a basic understanding of the landscape.
      Year: 1990 - 2000
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Costs Vary
      Website: http://www.mdafederal.com/geocover/geocoverlc

    Geographic Data Downloadarrow
      About: The Land Use and Land Cover data consists of historical land use and land cover classification data based primarily on the manual interpretation of 1970's and 1980's aerial photography. Along with the LULC files, associated maps are included which provide additional information on political units, hydrologic units, census county subdivisions, and Federal and State land ownership. There are 21 possible land categories of land cover type.
      Year: Classified from 1970s and 1980s aerial imagery
      Scale: Based on 1:100,000 and 1:250,000-scale USGS topographic quadrangles. Conterminous U.S. and Hawaii, but coverage is not complete for all areas.
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://edc.usgs.gov/products/landcover/lulc.html

    Geologic Maps of the United States, North America, and Large Regions of the United Statesarrow
      About: Range of geological maps available through the USGS or other organizations.Maps vary in size and geological information. Contact details of ordering is available from this site.
      Year: 1967 - 1996
      Scale: National
      Cost: Unavailable
      Contact: USGS, Information Services, Box 25286, Denver, CO 80225
      Website: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/us-namap.html

    GITAN`s Global Data Toolsetarrow
      About: The Global Integrated Trends Analysis Network is a multidisciplinary network of collaborators interested in understanding the types, causes, and consequences of change on the landscape. The core mission of GITAN is based on using an ecoregional framework as a basis for analyzing land cover, landscape patch, biological, environmental, socio-economic, protection, and threat trends using both continuous and more detailed sample-based analyses.
      Year: 2005 to present
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://rockyitr.cr.usgs.gov/gitan/

    Global Forest Fragmentation Dataarrow
      About: Digital maps in generic raster format derived from Global Land Cover Characterization 1-km land-cover maps (circa 1992) during a recent global survey of forest fragmentation. Each pixel value represents a forest fragmentation category for the surrounding 81 sq km landscape. The maps are directly comparable to the GLCC maps and are distributed by continent in the GLCC format.
      Year: Global mosaic April 1992 to March 1993
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/4803/landscapes/global-index.html

    Global Land 1KM AVHRR Projectarrow
      About: The data set is composed of 5 band, 10-bit, raw Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer data, at 1.1-km resolution for every daily afternoon pass over all land and coastal zones using data from NOAA's polar-orbiting TIROS. The NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer land science team concluded that a global land 1-km AVHRR data set is crucial to develop algorithms for several land products for the Earth Observing System (EOS).
      Year: April 1992 to Present
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/1KM/

    Global Land Cover 2000arrow
      About: The Global Vegetation Monitoring unit of the Joint Research Center has produced a new global land cover classification for the year 2000 (Global Land Cover 2000). The partners all used the hierarchical Land Cover Classification System produced by FAO and UNEP.
      Year: Global mosaic November 1999 - December 2000
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www-gvm.jrc.it/glc2000/ProductGLC2000.htm

    Global Land Cover Characterizationarrow
      About: The data set is derived from 1-km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and is based on a flexible data base structure and seasonal land cover regions concepts. The regions are composed of relatively homogeneous land cover associations which exhibit distinctive phenology, and have common levels of primary production. The data provides 7 land cover land use classification systems.
      Year: Global mosaic - April 1992 to March 1993
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/glcc/

    Global Land Cover Facilityarrow
      About: The Global Land Cover Facility provides earth science data and products to help everyone better understand global environmental systems. In particular, the GLCF develops and distributes remotely sensed satellite data and products that explain land cover from the local to global scales.
      Year: 1972 to present
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/index.jsp

    Global Land Cover Networkarrow
      About: In response to the high demand of natural resource information to meet multi-user requirements, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) have jointly developed the Global Land Cover Network - GLCN initiative.
      Cost: Authentication Required
      Website: http://www.glcn.org/

    Global Maparrow
      About: The Global Map Data have 8 thematic layers. They are Boundaries, Transportation, Drainage, Population Centers, Elevation, Vegetation, Land use and Land cover. The digital geographic information is in 1 km resolution covering the earth's surface with a standardized specification.
      Year: 2000 to present
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Registration Required/ Cost
      Website: http://www.iscgm.org/index.html

    Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD)arrow
      About: The role of GOFC GOLD is to establish the link between space agencies, science community and the users of earth observation data and data products. The primary function of the Land Cover Implementation Team (LC-IT) is to develop and evaluate methods, tools and products for land cover measurements and monitoring using space-borne and in-situ observations.
      Year: Multiple
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.gofc-gold.uni-jena.de/sites/data/gofc.htm

    Global Terrestrial Ecoregionsarrow
      About: Developed by WWF scientists in collaboration with regional experts around the world, the Global Ecoregions is the first comparative analysis of biodiversity to cover every major habitat type, spanning 5 continents and all the world's oceans.
      Year: 1999-2000
      Scale: Global
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/ecoregions/maps/index.cfm

    Land and Water Development Divisionarrow
      About: The Land and Water Development Division is concerned with the development of technology, strategy and policy, and the provision of advisory and technical services to FAO Members to ensure a more productive and efficient use of land and water resources and plant nutrients in order to meet present and future food and agriculture demands on a sustainable basis.
      Year: Archival
      Scale: Regional, Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.fao.org/landandwater/agll/landuse/

    Land Cover Topic Centerarrow
      About: In the Global Land Cover Network framework, FAO and UNEP set up in Rome and in Florence a Land Cover Topic Centre, to provide updated information, technical support, products (LCCS, GEOVIS and MAP software) in the field of land cover mapping.
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Registration Required
      Website: http://www.glcn-lccs.org/

    Land Information Ontarioarrow
      About: Land information Ontario (LIO) was created by the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1999 as a three-year project to create an information infrastructure that would support the province-wide sharing of geospatial data. At the end of the project, LIO was continued as a program to operate and manage the infrastructure that it had created. LIO works to ensure that Ontario's geospatial land information is accessible, well-managed, easy to integrate and affordable.
      Year: 1999 - Present
      Scale: National
      Website: http://www.lio.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/index.html

    Mathews Global Vegetation and Land Use (Select vegetation)arrow
      About: This site provides access to and describes the Goddard Institute for Space Studies dataset "Global Distribution of Vegetation at 1°X1° Resolution", which distinguishes 32 vegetation types. In combination with the Cultivation Intensity dataset, it may be used to calculate land cover across the globe.
      Year: 1983
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/landuse/

    MODIS Active Fire Mapping Programarrow
      About: These data depict MODIS active fire detections (updated hourly) for North America and were collected and compiled by the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center. Fire detection data are derived from Terra and Aqua MODIS data collected and processed in cooperation between RSAC, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, and the University of Maryland.
      Year: 2001 - Present
      Scale: National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://firemapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/fireptdata.php

    MODIS Webarrow
      About: The MODIS Data section contains everything from Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents to Product Descriptions to tutorials on ordering MODIS data from the various Distributed Active Archive Centers.
      Scale: National and Global
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/

    National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)arrow
      About: It is a unique, global, digital elevation model (DEM) coordinated by a global consortium of scientists and organizations. The Global Land One-Kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE) digital elevation model (DEM) is a global data set covering 180o West to 180o East longitude and 90o North to 90o South latitude.
      Year: 1999
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/segd.shtml

    National Resources Inventoryarrow
      About: This site provides data and analysis on land use, soil erosion, water quality, wetlands, and other issues regarding the conservation and use of natural resources across the USA.
      Year: 1982 to 1997
      Scale: Local, regional and national
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/

    National Snow and Ice Data Centerarrow
      About: Polar ice sheet elevation data sets are available to create surface elevation maps of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The maps contribute to the study of glaciers, ice sheets, ice streams, and ice shelves. Many of the maps produced from elevation data sets are Digital Elevation Models, which facilitate ice sheet mass balance investigations and tracking of long-term changes in the polar ice sheets. National Snow and Ice Data Center provides cryospheric data and information gathered from such sources as remote sensing instruments, ground measurements, and models.
      Year: 1978 to Present
      Scale: Greenland, Arctic, and Antarctic
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://nsidc.org/data/land_surface.html

    National Wetland Inventory (Wetlands Mapper)arrow
      About: The National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) produces and provides information on the characteristics, extent, and status of the Nation's wetlands and deepwater habitats and other wildlife habitats. The Wetlands Mapper provides improved views and access to a seamless wetland habitat geodatabase.
      Year: 1980s and 1990s photography.
      Scale: Local, regional, and national
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://wetlandsfws.er.usgs.gov/wtlnds/launch.html

    Oak Ridge National Laboratoryarrow
      About: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) is a NASA sponsored source for biogeochemical and ecological data and models useful in environmental research.
      Year: Various years depending on the project
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/catalog.pl?s

    OceanColor Webarrow
      About: Ocean Color promotes the application of remotely-sensed ocean-colour data through coordination, training, liaison between providers and users, advocacy and provision of expert advice. Ocean data from MODIS Aqua and SeaWiFs are available for download from this website.
      Scale: Global
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/

    Ontario Land Use Planning Linksarrow
    Ontario Provincial Land Cover Data Basearrow
      About: The Ontario Land Cover Data base is the first land cover classification in Canada to be completed for an entire province wholly from satellite remote sensing data. The database was produced in none segments (termed tiles) under three progrms of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) between 1991 and 1998. The Land Cover data was drived from digital, multispectral Landsat Thematic Mapper data. Revised Data (Provincial Land Cover Data Base 2000) is available for Northern Ontario and is based on Landsat images flown between 1998 and 2002.
      Year: 1991 - 1998
      Scale: National
      Cost: This data is licensed for use by Students, Faculty and Staff of the University of Guelph.
      Contact: libgis@uoguelph.ca
      Website: http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/resources/gis/PLC/index.cfm

    Southeast Florida Coral Initiative Viewerarrow
      About: In 2000, the United States Coral Reef Task Force (USCRTF) adopted a National Action Plan to conserve coral reefs. With guidance from the USCRTF, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission coordinated the formation of a team of interagency and non-agency marine resource professionals, scientist, resource users and other stakeholders. This team, known as the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative Team (SEFCRI Team), first gathered in May 2003 to develop local action strategies targeting coral reefs and associated reef resources from Miami-Dade County, through Broward, Palm Beach and Martin Counties, to improve the coordination of technical and financial support for the conservation and management of coral reefs. The Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (SEFCRI) is targeting this region because the coral habitats are close to shore and co-exist with intensely urbanized areas that lack a coordinated management plan (like that of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary).
      Scale: Regional
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://ocean.floridamarine.org/sefcri/viewer.htm

    SPOT Vegetation Distribution Sitearrow
      About: Provides free access to almost the entire SPOT VEGETATION ten daily global synthesis archive at 1km resolution, with predefined areas of interest in the standard VEGETATION product format.
      Year: Available 3 months after insertion into archive
      Scale: 10 predefined global regions of interest
      Cost: Must Register, Free
      Website: http://free.vgt.vito.be/

    Terraserver - USAarrow
      About: The TerraServer-USA Web site is one of the world's largest online databases, providing free public access to a vast data store of maps and aerial photographs of the United States. TerraServer is designed to work with commonly available computer systems and Web browsers over slow speed communications links. The TerraServer name is a play on words, with 'Terra' referring to the 'earth' or 'land' and also to the terabytes of images stored on the site.
      Year: 1980 Present
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/default.aspx

    UNEP Global Environmental Outlook Data Portalarrow
      About: Is the authoritative source for data sets used by UNEP and its partners. The online database holds more than 450 different variables, as national, sub-regional, regional and global statistics or as geospatial data sets (maps), covering themes such as freshwater, population, forests, emissions, climate, disasters, health and Gross Domestic Product. The data can be displayed and explored on the fly through maps, graphs, and data tables, downloaded in various popular formats.
      Year: 2005 to Present
      Scale: National, sub-regional, regional, and global
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.grid.unep.ch/data/index.php

    United States Department of Agriculture - Crop Explorerarrow
      About: Provides information on crops and conditions by region, satellite images, live data and maps, with links to production estimates, area, yield, and crop assessments.
      Year: 2008
      Scale: Continental
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/index.cfm

    World Data Centerarrow
      About: The World Data Center (WDC) system was created to archive and distribute data collected from the observational programs of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year. Originally established in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan, the WDC system has since expanded to other countries and to new scientific disciplines. Its holdings include a wide range of solar, geophysical, environmental, and human dimensions data. These data cover timescales ranging from seconds to millennia and they provide baseline information for research in many ICSU disciplines, especially for monitoring changes in the geosphere and biosphere—gradual or sudden, foreseen or unexpected, natural or man-made.
      Year: Wide Ranging
      Scale: Local, National and Global
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wdc/search.shtml


    Information Links
      International Charter "Space and Major Disasters"arrow
        About: The International Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through Authorized Users. Each member agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property.
        Website: http://www.disasterscharter.org/main_e.html

      Americas: Political and Shaded Relief Maps, by Countryarrow
      Canadian Forest Servicearrow
        About: The Canadian Forest Service, in partnership with Provincial and Territorial governments, universities and industry, is responsible for implementation of Earth Observation for the Sustainable Development of Forests (EOSD). The status of EOSD work is updated on an ongoing basis.
        Website: http://www.pfc.forestry.ca/eosd/cover/index_e.html

      Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA)arrow
        About: Since 1989, the Grant F. Walton Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA) has been located in a dedicated two-story section of the Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences building on the Cook College campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. CRSSA provides students, faculty, staff, and other researchers with state-of-the-art facilities for remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) teaching and research.
        Website: http://deathstar.rutgers.edu/crssa_sum2.html

      Global Change Researcharrow
        About: USGS Global Change Research activities strive to achieve a whole-system understanding of the interrelationships among earth surface processes, ecological systems, and human activities. Activities of the program focus on documenting, analyzing, and modeling the character of past and present environments and the geological, biological, hydrological, and geochemical processes involved in environmental change so that future environmental changes and impacts can be anticipated
        Website: http://geochange.er.usgs.gov/

      Global Interactive Viewarrow
        About: Comparison of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme Land Cover Classification dataset and global satellite derived imagery. Map allows users to zoom into regions and examine satellite and land cover data side by side.
        Website: http://www-gem.jrc.it/glc2000/interactive/glc2000_vgt.html

      Global Land Projectarrow
        About: The Global Land Project is a proposed joint research project for land systems for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). The Global Land Project Science Plan represents the research framework for the coming decade for land systems. This development of a research strategy is designed to better integrate the understanding of the coupled human-environment system. The Global Land Project Science Plan has been defined by scientists sponsored by the IGBP and the IHDP.
        Website: http://www.globallandproject.org/index.shtml

      Land Use History of North Americaarrow
        About: This website addresses some of these questions for several regions of North America, it strives to convey the importance of a historical context for understanding ongoing changes in land cover and land use. It also aims to inspire scientists, educators, and science administrators to contribute to the development of a comprehensive land-use history of North America to guide environmental policy and management decisions during the coming century and beyond. The report is prepared with NASA on the importance of a historical context for understanding ongoing changes in land cover and land use in North America and the effect on the environment. Site contains primarily contents of a book edited by T.D. Sisk.
        Website: http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/program.html

      Land Use History of North America (LUHNA) Program (Information)arrow
        About: This web site addresses some of these questions for several regions of North America. More importantly, it strives to convey the importance of a historical context for understanding ongoing changes in land cover and land use.
        Website: http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna/

      Natural Resources Canadaarrow
        About: Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) plays a pivotal role in helping shape the important contributions of the natural resources sector to the Canadian economy, society and environment. This sector—forests, energy, minerals and metals, and landmass, as well as related industries—is one of the most productive, high-tech sectors in the global economy.
        Website: http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/inter/index_e.html

      Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoringarrow
        About: The Terrestrial Ecosystem Monitoring Action provides a long-term picture of the conditions in ecosystems identified according to the priorities of European Union aid, development and international environmental policies: sustainable land management, forest resources and conservation, disturbance by fire and biodiversity losses.
        Website: http://www-tem.jrc.it/

      The Atlas of Canadaarrow
        About: The Atlas of Canada provides authoritative, current and accessible geographic information products at a national level. Working with partners, the Atlas facilitates the integration and analysis of diverse data in order to increase overall knowledge about Canada.
        Year: N/A
        Scale: National
        Cost: FREE
        Website: http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/environment/land

      United Nations Environmental Programarrow
        About: The North American Node of UNEP GRID, located at the USGS EROS Data Center, is in the forefront of applying information technology tools such as remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and web mapping to address the relationships between the environment and human populations.
        Website: http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/

      United States Climate Change Science Programarrow
        About: During the past thirteen years the United States, through the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), has made the world's largest scientific investment in the areas of climate change and global change research -- a total investment of almost $20 billion.
        Website: http://www.climatescience.gov/

      United States Global Change Research Programarrow
        About: The U.S. Global Change Research Program supports research on the interactions of natural and human-induced changes in the global environment and their implications for society.
        Website: http://www.usgcrp.gov/

      USGS International Program at EROSarrow
        About: The International Program specializes in projects that use remotely sensed data or geographic information systems to address issues of sustainable development, resource management, land cover change, monitoring, and early warning systems in many countries around the world. These projects are illustrated in program activities. Projects are developed based on specific requests from other U.S. agencies, NGOs, International Donors, or host countries. Training, capacity building, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing needs assessments, and personnel development are integral components of projects that emphasize both scientific and development activities.
        Website: http://edcintl.cr.usgs.gov/


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United States Land Cover Data Links

    Aquifers of Alluvial and Glacial Originarrow
      About: Compiled by the USGS this map shows alluvial aquifers, which are those that were deposited by a stream or other body of running water in a streambed, on a flood plain, on a delta, or at the base of a mountain. Glacial aquifers are formations that were deposited by a glacier. This map layer was compiled by the USGS.
      Year: 1992-1997
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/alvaqfp.html

    Principal Aquifers of the 48 Conterminous United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islandsarrow
      About: The Principal Aquifers of the 48 Conterminous United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands map layer shows those aquifers that supply ground water. For each geographic area, the aquifer shown is generally the uppermost principal aquifer. Each principal aquifer is classified as one of six types of permeable geologic material: unconsolidated deposits of sand and gravel, semiconsolidated sand, sandstone, carbonate rocks, interbedded sandstone and carbonate rocks, or basalt and other types of volcanic rock.
      Year: 2003
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/aquifrp.html

    1:250,000-scale Hydrologic Units of the United Statesarrow
      About: The Geographic Information Retrieval and Analysis System (GIRAS) was developed in the mid 70s to put into digital form a number of data layers which were of interest to the USGS. One of these data layers was the Hydrologic Units. The map is based on the Hydrologic Unit Maps published by the U.S. Geological Survey Office of Water Data Coordination, together with the list descriptions and name of region, subregion, accounting units, and cataloging unit. The hydrologic units are encoded with an eight- digit number that indicates the hydrologic region (first two digits), hydrologic subregion (second two digits), accounting unit (third two digits), and cataloging unit (fourth two digits).
      Year: Revised May 2006
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://water.usgs.gov/GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/huc250k.xml

    Alaska 1991 AVHRR Land Cover Characteristicsarrow
      About: Advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data were acquired and composited into twice a month periods from 1 May 1991 to 15 October 1991 to map vegetation characteristics over the Alaskan landscape. Unique spatial and temporal qualities of the AVHRR data provide information that leads to a better understanding of regional biophysical characteristics of vegetation communities and patterns. These data provided synoptic views of the landscape and depicted phenological diversity, temporal vegetation phenology (green-up, peak of green, and senescence), photosynthetic activity, and regional landscape patterns. Products generated from the data included a phenological class map, phenological composite maps (onset, peak, and duration), and photosynthetic activity maps (mean and maximum greenness).
      Year: 1991
      Scale: State
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://agdc.usgs.gov/data/usgs/erosafo/ak_avhrr/1991ak_avhrr.html

    Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative (ARMI)arrow
      About: In response to indications of worldwide declines in amphibian populations, the President and Congress directed Interior Department agencies to initiate a national program of amphibian monitoring, research, and conservation. As a result, the Agency formed the National Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.
      Year: 2000 to present
      Scale: Local, regional and national
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://gisdata.usgs.net/website/armi/

    Arsenic in Ground Water of the United Statesarrow
      About: The Arsenic in Ground Water of the United States image was generated from the most recent arsenic measurement available for each of 31,350 wells and springs across the United States. It shows national-scale patterns of naturally occurring arsenic in potable ground-water resources of the continental United States and Puerto Rico.
      Year: 1973-2001
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/metadata/arsenci020l.faq.html

    Atlas of United States Treesarrow
      About: Maps of the ranges of tree species in North America compiled by Elbert Little, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and others were digitized for use in USGS' vegetation-climate modeling studies. These digital map files are available here for download.
      Year: 1966 - 1978
      Scale: National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/data/atlas/little/

    Bailey's Ecoregions and Subregions of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islandsarrow
      About: Ecoregions are ecosystems of regional extent. Bailey's ecoregions distinguish areas that share common climatic and vegetation characteristics. A four-level hierarchy is used to differentiate the ecoregions, with the broadest classification being the domain. Domains are groups of related climates and are differentiated based on precipitation and temperature.
      Year: 2004
      Scale: National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/ecoregp.html

    Boston University Land Cover and Land Cover Dynamics Researcharrow
      About: We are engaged in a number of land cover and land cover dynamics research activities. The principal activities are developing Land Cover and Land Cover Dynamics products for NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land science team. We also maintain the Confidence Site database for global land cover mapping validation, part of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
      Scale: Global
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www-modis.bu.edu/landcover/

    California - Land Resource Protectionarrow
    California Land Cover Mapping and Monitoring Programarrow
      About: The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the USDA Forest Service conduct land cover mapping and monitoring to enhance fire protection and natural resource management on public and private lands in California. This program uses Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite imagery to map land cover types and derive land cover changes across all ownerships. The state is covered in five unique project areas. One project area is completed each year, then revisited and updated every fifth year.
      Year: 1950 - present
      Scale: Cascade Northeast, North Coast, Northern Sierra, South Coast and Southern Sierra.
      Cost: Cost
      Website: http://frap.cdf.ca.gov/projects/land_cover/index.html

    Causes of Forest Fragmentation in the United States, 1km, 270m 540marrow
      About: The Causes of Forest Fragmentation map layers were derived from NLCD by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These map layers are grid maps of the conterminous United States, showing both forest connectivity and whether fragmentation is from human or natural causes. The layers are the first to identify sources of forest fragmentation, and may be useful for decision makers in identifying forest areas for protection or restoration.
      Year: 1992
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/frfrg2i.html

    Central Nebraska Basins Study Unitarrow
      About: To address the need for consistent and scientifically sound information for managing the Nation's water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey began a full-scale National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991. This program is unique compared to other national water-quality assessment studies in that it integrates the monitoring of surface- and ground-water chemistry with the study of aquatic ecosystems.
      Year: 1991 - Present
      Scale: Regional
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://ne.water.usgs.gov/html/Nawqa/

    Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP)arrow
      About: The NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program is a nationally standardized database of land cover and change information, developed using remotely sensed imagery, for the coastal regions of the U.S. Coastal Change Analysis Program land cover products inventory coastal intertidal areas, wetlands, and adjacent uplands with the goal of monitoring changes in these habitats, on a one-to-five year cycle. This effort is in conjunction with the National Land Cover Dataset 2001.
      Year: 2001
      Scale: Coastal States of the US only
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/lca/ccap.html

    Coastal Great Lakes Land Coverarrow
      About: For this project, the NOAA Coastal Services Center created land cover and change data for the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) according to Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) standards. These data are the first coastal land cover information available region-wide for the Great Lakes since 1992.
      Year: Michigan: 1995 - 2000, All Other States: 1996 - 2001
      Scale: State
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/lca/hawaii.html

    Energy Consumption - Estimated Energy per Capita, 1960-2001arrow
      About: The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA conducts statistical surveys of energy producers, businesses, transporters, and other users; analyzes issues about energy including economics, technology, energy production, prices, distribution, storage, consumption, and environmental effects; and produces forecasts of supply, consumption, prices, and other important factors. These policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses are used to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.
      Year: 1960-2001
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/ete000t.html

    EOS - Webster, University of New Hampshirearrow
      About: EOS-WEBSTER provides free, customized Earth Science data. Their data holdings can be searched spatially, temporally, or by keyword, freetext, or collection name.
      Scale: County (USA) to Global
      Website: http://eos-webster.sr.unh.edu/data_guides.jsp

    Federal Lands of the United Statesarrow
      About: National parks, national wildlife refuges, military reservations, Federal prisons, and public-domain land are all examples of lands owned or administered by the Government of the United States. The Federal Government is responsible for managing and protecting these lands to preserve the resources of the United States, to conduct the business of the Government, and to provide recreational and other opportunities to the public. This map layer was compiled by the National Atlas of the United States®.
      Year: 1972-2005
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/fedlanp.html

    Forest Inventory and Analysis Programarrow
      About: Provides information about timber harvesting and timber use across the United States. Also there is a site to allow users to create tabular summaries, make maps and/or download data by state and Inventory.
      Year: Varies per State
      Scale: State
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://fia.fs.fed.us/

    Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project (FRIRP) - select land for a list of datasetsarrow
      About: These high-resolution land use and land cover (LULC) data sets were generated as part of the Land Characterization research activities for the Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project.
      Year: 1930, 1950, 1970, and 1990
      Scale: Colorado
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/frontrange/datasets.htm

    Gap Analysis Programarrow
      About: The goal of the GAP Analysis Program is to keep common species common by identifying those species and plant communities that are not adequately represented in existing conservation lands. GAP is organized on a project basis. Most states have conducted an analysis of their own land cover and vertebrate biodiversity. Regional mapping projects have begun, as have some aquatic projects. These pages provide content detailing the status of projects, as well as links to project contacts, products, and home pages.
      Year: 1995 to present
      Scale: Local, regional and national
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://gapanalysis.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=207&PageID=0&cached=true&mode=2&userID=2

    Geospatial One Stop - geodata.govarrow
      About: geodata.gov will help you: Find Data or Map Services, Make a Map, Browse Community Information, and Cooperate on Data Acquisitions. You may also save searches, maps, and your favorite geography to re-use later. A simple registration process opens up these personalization options.
      Year: Historical - Present
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://gos2.geodata.gov/wps/portal/gos

    GIRAS Landuse/Landcover data for the Conterminous United States by quadrangles at scale 1:250,000arrow
      About: This is land use/land cover digital data collected by USGS and converted to ARC/INFO by the EPA. This data is useful for environmental assessment of land use patterns with respect to water quality analysis, growth management, and other types of environmental impact assessment. Use may be limited due to currency.
      Year: 1977 - 1980
      Scale: Water Basin
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2006/240/

    Global Land Cover Networkarrow
      About: In response to the high demand of natural resource information to meet multi-user requirements, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) have jointly developed the Global Land Cover Network - GLCN initiative.
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Authentication Required
      Website: http://www.glcn.org/

    Ground Water Climate Response Networkarrow
      About: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Program, in cooperation with hundreds of Federal, State, and local agencies, collects nationally-consistent information about the Nation's ground water resources and helps define and manage those resources.
      Year: 2005
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/gwwst0x.html

    Hawaii Land Cover Analysisarrow
      About: This project was accomplished through the assistance of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program, other agencies associated with the Hawaii Gap Analysis Program (U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Hawaii, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Hawaii Natural Heritage Program), and the U.S. Geological Survey EROS Data Center. For this project, the NOAA Coastal Services Center created the first comprehensive baseline land cover map for the Hawaiian Islands.
      Year: 2000
      Scale: State
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/lca/hawaii.html

    Indian Lands of the United Statesarrow
      About: Indian lands are areas with boundaries established by treaty, statute, and (or) executive or court order, recognized by the Federal Government as territory in which American Indian tribes have primary governmental authority. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for the administration and management of 55.7 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives, and maintains a list of the 562 Federally recognized tribal governments. This map layer was compiled by the National Atlas of the United States®.
      Year: 2005
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/indlanp.html

    kentucky Geological Survey GeoPortalarrow
      About: Users of KGSGeoPortal specify a geographic area of interest by selecting a method (e.g., county name, coordinate location, or stream name) and specifying a value for that feature type. A basemap shows the area selected and the user can refine the map extent by using zoom or pan functions. Links to other Internet services can then be initiated using the coordinate extents of the map. The linked services start in a new browser window, so that multiple services can be compared. The feature for linking to other services can also be imbedded in existing internet map services to provide service-to-service functionality.
      Scale: State
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://kgsmap.uky.edu/website/KGSGeoPortal/KGSGeoPortal.asp

    Lake Tahoe Data Clearinghousearrow
      About: This Lake Tahoe Data Clearinghouse website, created and maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey in partnership with Federal, State, tribal, and local agencies and groups, is a gateway to information and data on Lake Tahoe and its basin.
      Year: 1997 to present
      Scale: Lake Tahoe
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://tahoe.usgs.gov/

    Land Cover Analysisarrow
      About: This Web site provides land cover mapping data, tools, and assistance to the coastal management community. The NOAA Coastal Services Center works with resource managers and mapping professionals to promote the use of land cover mapping to address coastal management issues.
      Scale: U.S. coastal zone
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/crs/lca/

    Land Cover Diversityarrow
      About: Land cover diversity data describe the variety of land covers surrounding a particular location. If only a few land cover types are found nearby, the diversity index is low. If many types of land cover are found nearby, the diversity index is high.
      Year: 1992-1993
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/lcdvrsi.html

    Land Cover Topic Centerarrow
      About: In the Global Land Cover Network framework, FAO and UNEP set up in Rome and in Florence a Land Cover Topic Centre, to provide updated information, technical support, products (LCCS, GEOVIS and MAP software) in the field of land cover mapping.
      Scale: Global
      Cost: Registration Required
      Website: http://www.glcn-lccs.org/

    Land Cover Trendsarrow
      About: Land Cover Trends is a research project focused on understanding the rates, trends, causes, and consequences of contemporary U.S. land use and land cover change. The rates of land use and land cover change are estimated using a stratified random sampling of 10-km by 10-km blocks allocated within an ecoregion-based spatial framework. The Land Cover Trends project uses the Environmental Protection Agency defined Level III ecoregions as the spatial framework for national assessment and reporting.
      Year: 1973 to 2001 (working project - not all data available)
      Scale: Ecoregion format, USA
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://eros.usgs.gov/LT/

    Land Surface Characterization in Alaska and Arctic Regionsarrow
      About: The Alaska Geographic Science Office of the USGS Alaska Science Center, conducts investigations into the use of remote sensing and GIS technologies for characterizing terrestrial ecosystems and land processes in the Arctic region. Many of these projects directly support the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change Research Program, an operational component of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). The Alaskan and Arctic research activities described in this page relate primarily to the USGS theme of Land Surface Characterization and Land Remote Sensing.
      Year: Varies
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: FREE
      Website: http://mapping-ak.wr.usgs.gov/research.html

    Landfire Projectarrow
      About: LANDFIRE produces digital geospatial data describing existing vegetation composition and structure; potential fire behavior and effects; fuel models; simulated historical fire regimes; and fire regime condition class. Mapped data is produced based on peer-reviewed science from the fields of remote sensing, ecosystem simulation, predictive landscape modeling, vegetation and disturbance ecology, and fire behavior and effects.
      Year: 2006, 2008, 2009 (working project - not all data available)
      Scale: Zonal format, USA
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.landfire.gov/Products.html

    Landsat Dataarrow
      About: Landsat satellites have been collecting images of the Earth's surface for more than thirty years. NASA launched the first Landsat satellite in 1972, and the most recent one, Landsat 7, in 1999. Instruments onboard the satellites have acquired millions of images of the Earth. These images provide a unique resource for people who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research.
      Year: 1984 - Present
      Scale: National
      Cost: COSTS
      Website: http://landsat.usgs.gov/data_products/index.php

    Louisiana Coastal Area - Louisiana, Ecosystem Restorationarrow
      About: Beginning in November 2001, the Corps and the State of Louisiana began a cooperative interagency study effort to develop a comprehensive plan to restore Louisiana`s coastal ecosystem. The purpose of this study was to develop a comprehensive plan that would form a blueprint for the construction of projects for ecosystem restoration of the state`s coastal wetlands.
      Year: Historical - present
      Scale: Louisiana
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://www.lca.gov/landchangemaps.aspx

    Major Dams of the United Statesarrow
      About: The National Inventory of Dams (NID) is a collection of information about dams in the United States and its territories, produced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The National Inventory of Dams contains more than 79,000 dams, provided voluntarily by a wide variety of agencies. This information is used to track information on the country's water control infrastructure and to allocate Federal resources for dam safety programs.
      Year: 2002-2004
      Scale: Local, Regional and National
      Cost: No Charge
      Website: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/mld/dams00x.html

    Mapping Partnership Office of Texasarrow
      About: The Texas Mapping Partnership Office (MPO) fosters partnerships with federal, state, and local GIS entities in Texas. The office participates in statewide policy and technical councils related to mapping, assists agencies to standardize data integration to match surrounding states and Mexico, and implements geographic science and applications projects.
      Year: 1999 to Present
      Scale: Texas
      Cost: Free
      Website: http://tx.usgs.gov/geography/