Note: The LCM was created at a 15-hectare scale using input data from the 2001 National Landcover Database (NLCD). Differences between the NLCD-LCM product and Google Earth images are due to different spatial resolutions, date of maps, geographic projections, and definitions of forest. Land cover mosaic changes since 2001 are not represented in the 2001 NLCD-LCM product.

Instructions for viewing the Landcover Mosaic map (LCM)

Google Earth 4+ is required. Download it here.

Click this link (and then click Open if a File Download box appears). Google Earth will open.

IMPORTANT: For proper display in Google Earth, ensure that in Tools --> Options --> 3D View --> Texture Colors, the Compress option is UNCHECKED, then restart Google Earth.

Open the folder LC Mosaic Tiles. To select and visualize an entry:
1. Toggle the check box to show/hide the entry of interest
2. Double-click to zoom to the selected entry
3. Use the slider at the bottom of the 'Places' panel to adjust transparency of the selected entry.

Use the Tile Locator Map to identify a tile number for a region of interest.

Toggle LCM Map Legend to show/hide the LCM map legend; Click on LCM Map Legend for an explanation of the legend.


LCM Map Legend

Toggle the checkbox for LCM Map Legend to show/hide the legend as an image overlay.

The basic idea is to color the map according to the mixture of agricultural, developed (or 'built-up') and semi-natural landcover in the surrounding 15 hectare neighborhood. The specific color of a place is determined by mixing the three primary colors (red, green, blue) according to the proportions of developed (more red), agriculture (more blue), and semi-natural (more green) in the neighborhood surrounding that place.

The map legend uses a triangle plot to summarize the colors that are used to map the 19 LC Mosaic classes.

To apply and compare these concepts in your neighborhood, consider the proportions of agriculture, developed, and semi-natural landcover within a distance of two or three soccer (football) fields all around you. Think about how the LC Mosaic describes the landscape context within which you live, and how that may change from place to place.

This is just one of the many possible LC Mosaic maps that could be constructed from the same input landcover map. Imagine what would happen if we changed the definitions of 'agriculture,' 'developed,' and 'semi-natural,' or the lines on the triangle plot, or the size of the neighborhood.

Advanced: Use the transparency option in this application to help 'interpret' the underlying Google Earth aerial photos, but recognize that there will be differences because landcover does change over time, and the LC Mosaic map was constructed from 2001 input data.

For more information on the LC Mosaic as used in this application, please see: Riitters et al. 2008. An indicator of forest dynamics using a shifting landscape mosaic. Ecological Indicators, in press. (PDF)

Tile Locator map

Use this map to identify a tile number for a region of interest.

Move the cursor over a marker to see the extent of the corresponding tile.
Click on a marker to see the tile number, or zoom in until the tile number appears.

The map overlay(s) for one or more tiles can then be selected from the folder items in LC Mosaic Tiles.


LC Mosaic Tiles

Use the maps in this folder to show landcover mosaic overlays.

Open this folder to show the regions of interest (tiles).
Toggle one or more tiles 'on' by checking the box(es) next to the name. If necessary, zoom in until the map overlay appears. Center the map by double-clicking a tile name.

Adjust transparency: Click on the name of a tile to select that region, then use the slider bar at the bottom of the "Places" menu to adjust its transparency.

To locate a tile number, use the Tile Locator Map.

Sources and Credits