Land Cover Trends Geotagged Photography

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Land Cover Trends Geotagged Photography collection is a national-scale, ground-reference dataset which initially served as a research tool to aid in Landsat-derived land-use/land-cover (LULC) change analyses and assessments. Between 1999 and 2007, Land Cover Trends scientists collected over 33,000 geographically referenced field photos with associated keywords capturing existing LULC and regional change process taking place. The field photography collection represents the most comprehensive national database of geo-referenced USGS field photography in the United States. In a project funded by the USGS Climate and Land Use Change and Core Science Systems Mission Areas, 13,000 photos distributed across 44 Level III Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ecoregions are currently being disseminated to the public. As the remaining field photographs are geotagged, the online collection will grow to include photos within 40 additional ecoregions. Integrating Land Cover Trends field photography and online mapping technology provides access to new and archived USGS geographic data needed to conduct science and support policy decisions. Sharing this unique field photography provides an excellent resource for the scientific community with potential to develop future research, such as future repeat photography projects or applications where photos may serve as training or test site data for other remote sensing classifications. Serving USGS data interactively to the public is integral to the USGS mission and provides opportunities for future scientific collaboration by communicating USGS land change research to the broader public and scientific community. Land Cover Trends Geotagged Photography is archived and distributed at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. Files are in JPEG format and are searchable by ecoregion, LULC classification, and other pertinent keywords.