Description

This map of North American land cover at a spatial resolution of 250 meters provides a harmonized view of the physical cover of Earth's surface across the continent. Nineteen land cover classes were defined using the Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) standard developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nations.

The land cover map is the first in a series of maps produced by the North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS). NALCMS is a collaborative initiative between Canada, Mexico, and the United States to monitor land cover and its change over time. The NALCMS product displayed in this map represents land cover based on monthly composites of 2005 Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite imagery. The NALCMS is a joint project between Natural Resources Canada/Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (NRCan/CCRS); the United States Geological Survey (USGS); and three Mexican organizations: Insituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía - INEGI; Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad - CONABIO); and Comisión Nacional Forestal - CONAFOR. The project is facilitated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

Downloadable files

ERDAS IMG [52.4 MBs]	MXD file [69.3 MBs]
GeoPDF file [3 MBs]	Metadata [194 KBs]
Terms of Use [22 KBs]	Release Statement [33 KBs]
KMZ file [0.1 MBs]