The U.S. Geological Survey today released a newly updated and improved National Land Cover Database, known as Annual NLCD, which offers insights into the changing characteristics of landscapes across the conterminous United States from 1985 to 2023. The latest dataset incorporates assessments and projections into six new products, which will now be released on an annual basis:

• Land Cover – This dataset provides 16 land cover classes such as deciduous and evergreen forest, grassland, cultivated crops and developed.
• Land Cover Change – These data represent annual land cover changes from one year to the next.
• Land Cover Confidence – This layer provides confidence levels for the land cover classifications.
• Fractional Impervious Surface – This component provides the proportion of land covered by developed surfaces, such as roads and rooftops.
• Impervious Descriptor – This feature offers additional information about impervious surfaces by distinguishing between roads and other built surfaces.
• Spectral Change Day of Year – This attribute captures the specific day of the year when significant changes in surface reflectance occur.