The Global Land-Cover Characteristics Database: The users' perspective

A unique global land-cover characteristics database developed by the U.S. Geological Survey has been available to users since mid-1997. Access to the data is through the internet under the EROS (Earth Resources Observation Systems) Data Center's home page (http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/glcc/glcc.html). Since the release of the database, the data have been incorporated into various environmental research and modeling applications, including mapping global biodiversity, mesoscale climate simulations, carbon cycle modeling, and estimating habitat destruction. Since the early stages of the project, user feedback has provided a means to understand data utility in applications, garner suggestions for data improvements, and gain insights into the technical challenges faced by users. Synthesis of user feedback provided a means to generate a user profile and derive a list of applications-critical criteria for land-cover data. User suggestions have lead to revisions in the database, including label changes, alternative classification schemes, and additional projections for the data.