Szantoi, Zoltan; Brink, Andreas; Lupi, Andrea; Mammone, Claudio; Jaffrain, Gabriel (2020): Greater Virunga Key Landscape for Conservation Land Cover and Validation Datasets (2015) [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.915849

The Greater Virunga land cover dataset covers an area of 39062km2 and mapped with both dichotomous (8 land cover classes) and modular (up to 32 land cover classes) levels based on FAO's Land Cover Classification System (LCCS).

High-resolution optical satellite imagery were used to generate dense time-series data from which the thematic land cover map was derived (2015). The map was fully verified and validated by an independent team to achieve the Copernicus Global Land Monitoring Programme's strict data quality requirements. An independent validation dataset was also collected and it is shared here. The validation dataset contains 4630 verified land cover points based on the [up to] 32 modular level land cover classes. Furthermore, two predefined symbology (QGIS legend files) for the land cover and validation datasets based on FAO's LCCS is also shared here to ease the visualization of them (Dichotomous and Modular levels). Further details regarding the sites selection, mapping and validation procedures are described in the corresponding publication: Szantoi, Z., Brink, A., Lupi, A., Mannone, C., and Jaffrain, G.: Key Landscapes for Conservation Land Cover and Change Monitoring Thematic and Validation Datasets for Sub-Saharan Africa, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12-3001-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3001-2020.

Two datasets are shared here.

Data format: vector (shapefile, polygon - LC dataset), vector (shapefile, point - validation dataset),

Geographic Coordinate System (LC/LCC dataset): World Geodetic System 1984 (EPSG:4326) and its datum (EPSG:6326),

Projected coordinate system (validation data): Africa Albers Equal Area Conic (EPSG:102022),

Minimum mapping unit: 0.5-5ha.

Land cover dataset attributes:

[mapcode_A] - dichotomous level,

[mapcode_B] - modular level (Mapcode),

[name_B] - corresponding modular class name.

Validation dataset attributes:

[plaus2015] - modular level (Mapcode),

The naming of all attributes follow the same structure in all shapefiles - see Table 2 Dichotomous and Modular thematic land cover/use classes in the corresponding publication.