FROM-GLC Plus: toward near real-time and multi-resolution land cover mapping

Global land cover has undergone extensive and rapid changes as a result of human activities and climate change. These changes have had a significant impact on biodiversity, the surface energy balance, and sustainable development. Global land cover data underpins research on the development of earth system models, resource management, and evaluation of the ecological environment. However, there are limitations in the classification detail, spatial resolution, and rapid change monitoring capability of global land cover change data. Building on the earlier Global Land Cover Mapping (Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring - Global Land Cover, FROM-GLC), we developed the improved Global Land Cover Change Monitoring Platform (FROM-GLC Plus) using methods such as multi-season sample space-time migration, multi-source data time series reconstruction, and machine learning. The FROM-GLC Plus system provides a capacity for producing global land cover change data set from the 1980s with flexibility in spatio-temporal details. The preliminary results show that FROM-GLC Plus provides a framework for near real-time land cover mapping at multi-temporal (annual to daily) and multi-resolution (30 m to sub-meter) levels.

Automated summary

Global land cover changes have significant impacts on biodiversity, surface energy balance, and sustainable development. However, the existing global land cover change data have limitations. To address this, we developed the FROM-GLC Plus system, which provides improved spatio-temporal resolution and monitoring capability.