Land Cover Command
The Land Cover command of CivilGEO software allows the user to display both natural and man-made land cover data for a selected region on the Map View. Supported regions include the United States, Canada, Canada – Ontario, Europe, Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand. This command is an important tool for watershed analysis, hydrologic modeling, ecological assessment, and land-use planning. It allows users an immediate visual reference for the physical characteristics of the study area directly within the software.
Land cover data represent the physical characteristics of Earth’s surface—whether it is forest, tidal wetland, urbanized region, or grassland. Using land cover data, the user can examine landscape patterns and characteristics as given below:
- The extent, availability, and condition of lands.
- The extent, structure, and condition of ecological systems.
- The potential dispersion and environmental effects of chemicals and other pollutants.
Land cover also influences or has an impact on watershed hydrology, including water quality, environmental conditions, habitat and species composition, climate, and carbon storage. It also alters hydrologic regimes, runoff patterns, and flood buffering in watersheds.
The user can use land cover data as a starting point from which various monitoring activities (change detection) can be performed. This land cover information can be used for many purposes, such as assessing non-point sources of pollution, understanding landscape variables for ecological analysis, assessing the behavior of chemicals, and analyzing the effects of air pollution.
Note that a coordinate reference system (CRS) should be assigned to the project before running the Land Cover command. Otherwise, the software will display the informational dialog box below.
To learn more about the coordinate reference system (CRS), refer to this article in our knowledge base.
Displaying Land Covers for Different Regions
To display land cover on the Map View, select the Land Cover dropdown menu from the Map Data ribbon menu.
The following countries are listed under the Land Cover dropdown menu:
| Country | Description |
|---|---|
| USA | Displays seamless land cover information from the national land cover database published in 2024 by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. This layer contains 8 levels of classification and generalizes to the level of vegetative physiognomy (i.e., grassland, shrubland, forest, etc.). |
| Canada | Displays the 30 m land cover map of Canada generated by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS). This land cover dataset is also the Canadian contribution to the 30 m spatial resolution 2015 Land Cover Map of North America, which is produced by Mexican, American, and Canadian government institutions under a collaboration called the North American Land Change Monitoring System (NALCMS). This land cover dataset for Canada is produced using observations from the Operational Land Imager (OLI) Landsat sensor. An accuracy assessment based on 806 randomly distributed samples shows that land cover data produced with this new approach has achieved 79.90% accuracy with no marked spatial disparities. |
| Canada – Ontario | Displays standardized classification, which has been accomplished at the expense of the more detailed class structures in the source land cover products. Where possible, the original land cover products should be used for analysis. This is an update to OLCC v1.0. In this version, the Far North Land Cover component has been updated and extends further south into the Area of Undertaking (AOU) and into Manitoba than the previous version. |
| Europe | Displays the Corine Land Cover 2018 (CLC2018) datasets produced within the frame of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service referring to the land cover/land use status from the year 2018. CLC service has a long-time heritage (formerly known as the “CORINE Land Cover Programme”), coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). It provides consistent and thematically detailed information on land cover and land cover changes across Europe. CLC datasets are based on the classification of satellite images produced by the national teams of the participating countries – the EEA members and cooperating countries (EEA39). National CLC inventories are then further integrated into a seamless land cover map of Europe. |
| Africa | Displays the land cover map of Africa at 20 m based on 1 year of Sentinel-2A observations from December 2015 to December 2016. The legend includes 10 generic classes that appropriately describe the land surface at 20m, for example, “tree cover areas”, “grassland”, “cropland”, “open water”, etc. |
| India | Displays the Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) for India on a 1:250,000 scale and is published under Bhuvan-Thematic Services of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The different categories of LULC cover built-up, agricultural, and natural areas. The LULC maps were generated using multi-temporal satellite data for the years 2005-06, 2010-11, and 2015-16. |
| Australia | Displays the dynamic Land Cover Dataset of Australia, i.e., the first nationally consistent and thematically comprehensive land cover reference for Australia. It is the result of a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences and provides a baseline for identifying and reporting on changes and trends in vegetation cover and extent. |
| New Zealand | Displays the New Zealand Land Cover Database (LCDB), i.e., a multi-temporal, thematic classification of New Zealand’s land cover. It identifies 33 mainland land cover classes. LCDB is suitable for use in national and regional environmental monitoring, forest and shrubland inventory, biodiversity assessment, trend analysis, and infrastructure planning. |
Clicking on any of the desired countries listed above will cause the software to display the Land Cover dialog box, as shown below.
The Layer name entry field allows the user to define the name of the new land cover layer to be created and displayed in the Map Data Layers panel. The software sets “NLCD Land Cover 24” as the default layer name, which is editable.
The Land cover data source dropdown combo box allows the user to select which land use data source to utilize for the newly created layer. By default, the software selects the latest land use data. The following options are available in the dropdown combo box:
- NLCD Land Cover 2024
- NLCD Land Cover 2021
- NLCD Land Cover 2019
- NLCD Land Cover 2016
- NLCD Land Cover 2013
- NLCD Land Cover 2011
- NLCD Land Cover 2008
- NLCD Land Cover 2006
- NLCD Land Cover 2004
- NLCD Land Cover 2001
If the “Overwrite existing data” checkbox option is checked, then the new land cover data selected in the Land cover data source dropdown combo box will overwrite the existing land cover data (if one exists). This is useful when updating the project to use a more recent land cover dataset without creating a duplicate layer.
Note that for countries other than the USA, the Land cover data source dropdown combo box and Overwrite existing data checkbox options are not available.
Adding Land Cover Layer on the Map View
Once the layer name and data source have been defined, click the [OK] button to add the land cover layer for the selected region on the Map View.
In the Map Data Layers panel, the software will provide a data legend for each land cover layer that lists the land cover classification categories included within that layer. The user can expand the layer to view the data legend, as shown below.