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LULC datasets coming soon See the datasets page for a list of other datasets we host on Cecil.
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Land use and land cover are two overlapping concepts that describe the types of land features found on the Earth’s surface. The Earth’s surface is a mosaic of natural and non-natural land features, which land use and land cover classify into a pre-defined set of named classes.
Although theoretically similar, land use and land cover differ in the emphasis they place on different types of land features. Land cover emphasises physical features, with classes typically including:
| Land cover class | Notes |
|---|---|
| Coastline | A line feature, so not explicitly quantified by all data sources |
| Impervious surfaces | Includes paved surfaces and bare rock |
| Bare rock | May be a subclass within “Impervious surfaces” |
| Bare soil | May include subclasses for different soil types |
| Ice | May include subclasses (e.g. sea ice; glacier) |
| Water bodies | May include subclasses (e.g. river, lake, pond) |
| Terrestrial vegetation | Always includes subclasses (e.g. forest, grassland, wetland, cropland) |
| Urban | May cover both impervious (e.g. buildings) and built-up green features (e.g. rooftop parks) |
Land use emphasises how humans use the Earth’s surface. Land use classes are less consistent among data sources than land cover classes, but can include:
| Land use class | Notes |
|---|---|
| Agricultural | May include subclasses (e.g. cropland, rangeland) |
| Urban | May include subclasses (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial) |
| Protected area | May include subclasses (e.g. UNESCO, NNR, National Park) |
| Recreational | - |
Land cover is a spatially explicit concept, meaning that a single point or pixel cannot be classified as more than one land cover class (e.g. water and forest). Land use also tends to be spatially explicit, although it is possible for there to be some overlap between land use classes (e.g. recreational and protected areas). In combination, land use and land cover are not spatially explicit, in that it is usual for a point or pixel to have both a land use class (e.g. protected area) and land cover class (e.g. forest).
Areas containing multiple points or pixels are either represented as a grid of classes or aggregated to a relative fraction (%) of each class.
<aside> <img src="/icons/merge_gray.svg" alt="/icons/merge_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In practice, land use and land cover are usually combined into a single concept — here LULC — although some data sources only quantify one or other of them.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/info-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> LULC is of foundational and direct importance to nature data teams, in that it contributes directly to business operations and regulatory compliance.
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LULC is a basic identifier for what is present at a specific location at a given point in time. This makes LULC of direct value to strategic and operational workflows, including auditing natural assets (i.e. what is where), planning management interventions (e.g. new planting), and monitoring change over time (e.g. deforestation, infrastructure expansion).
LULC also supports other concepts by setting expectations about how a specific location should behave. Examples include using LULC classes to understand why species richness is low in certain areas (e.g. urban, cropland) and using LULC variation across a site to create a stratified sampling strategy for in situ measurements.
Finally, LULC is required for some regulatory compliance frameworks, such as TNFD.
LULC is a natural complement to plant biomass data. For instance, LULC can determine which plant biomass data source to use (e.g. Planet Forest Carbon is optimised for forest), provide ecological context to plant biomass data (e.g. low canopy height in cropland), and explain sudden changes to plant biomass over time (e.g. after land use conversion).
LULC also unlocks new use cases that require LULC plus plant biomass data, such as identifying candidate sites for forest regeneration.