Global Islands

The Global Islands dataset groups 369,401 island polygons, derived from a new 30-meter resolution Global Shoreline Vector (GSV) dataset, into four size classes: continental mainlands, big islands, small islands, and very small islands. Continental mainlands are the single, very large polygons representing the five continental landmass interiors (North America, South America, Africa, Eurasia, and Australia). The remaining polygons are classified based on their actual size with Big Islands > 1 km2, Small Islands <= 1 km2 and >= .0036 km2, and Very Small Islands < .0036 km2. The GSV was produced during this effort to provide the spatial linework needed for the generation of the global polygons. The GSV is a 30-meter spatial resolution vector dataset derived by the semi-automated interpretation of 2014 satellite imagery in Google Earth Engine.