NLCD 2016 Land Cover Reference Data, Conterminous United States

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with several federal agencies, has developed and released five National Land Cover Database (NLCD) products over the past two decades: NLCD 1992, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. U.S. EPA leads the accuracy assessment of NLCD land cover products in coordination with USGS and SUNY-ESF. The posted dataset includes map labels and reference labels for 4629 sample locations (pixels) from the NLCD 2016 database. The sample pixels were selected using a stratified random design based on the dual 2011 – 2016 map labels. The data can be used to re-create the accuracy results reported in a forthcoming paper and in support of other applications. Accuracy results are reported for the 2011 and 2016 land cover products in the NLCD2016 database and for selected 2011-2006 changes.