CORINE Land Cover (CLC) Database, 1990-Ongoing

The CORINE Land Cover (CLC) Database was finalized in the early 1990s as part of the European Commission program to COoRdinate INformation on the Environment (CORINE). Since then, the database was updated in 2000 and 2006. CORINE land cover raster and vector data from the 1990, 2000, and 2006 inventories are available as well as changes between these inventory intervals. Land coverages that can be downloaded include: continuous urban fabric; discontinuous urban fabric; industrial or commercial units; road and railroad networks and associated lands; port areas; airports; mineral extraction sites; dump sites; construction sites; green urban areas; sport and leisure facilities; non-irrigated arable land; permanently irrigated land; rice fields; vineyards; fruit trees and berry plantations; olive groves; pastures; annual crops associated with permanent crops; complex cultivation patterns; land principally occupied by agriculture, with significant areas of natural vegetation; agro-forest areas; broad-leaved forests; coniferous forests; mixed forests; natural grasslands; moors and heathland; sclerophyllous vegetation; transitional woodland-shrub; beaches, dunes & sands; bare rocks; sparsely vegetated areas; burnt areas; glaciers and perpetual snow; inland marshes; peat bogs; salt marshes; salines; intertidal flats; water courses; water bodies; coastal lagoons; estuaries; and sea and ocean expanse. Geopgraphical coverage includes: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia the former Yugoslavian Republic of, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and United Kingdom. With the help of CLC data, it is possible to provide support for protecting ecosystems, halting the loss of biological diversity, tracking the impacts of climate change, assessing developments in agriculture, and implementing the EU Water Framework Directive.