What was the motivation for the creation of the National Land Cover Data Set?
A. Many federal agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, state goverments, and various environmental groups need up-to-date intermediate scale land cover data. The most recent intermediate scale land cover data set generated for the conterminous United States was developed by the USGS in the 1970’s. Although this data set is probably still adequate for some applications, many land cover changes have occurred since the data set was compiled. The main objective of this project is to generate a relatively current, consistent, seamless, and accurate land cover data set for the conterminous United States.
