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A map of the land cover distribution of Canada has been produced through a cooperative project between CCRS and the Canadian Forest Service. Generated using 1995 NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer data, the new map shows the distribution of 31 different land cover types across Canada: 12 classes of forest, 10 of open land, 6 for mosaicked and developed land, and three other types. The nominal map resolution is 1km.

In a collaborative effort with scientists in 10 provincial or territorial government agencies, the development team evaluated the map's accuracy through visual comparison with 100 Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images acquired across Canada and by numerical comparison with classifications derived from TM data of areas in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The map was found to closely parallel the actual patterns of land cover. Quantitatively, it was found to be accurate across large areas.  For example, in the Alberta comparison with TM images, classification accuracies ranged from 0.76% to 2.61%, except for burn areas (12.48%). Some variations were due to errors in classification. The most important cause of misclassification appears to be the effective spatial resolution of the AVHRR data, leading to confusion between features such as small lakes and the adjacent dark coniferous forest. Thus, the AVHRR-based land cover map is generally not precise on a single-pixel basis because most pixels contain several land cover types, even though a particular type may dominate. But it does give a representative picture of land cover distribution over larger areas.

The map is available in digital form as a research product, free of charge, subject to credit being given to the government agencies that produced it. The map file name is lc951_1.tif [TIFF, 27.4 Mb, 5700 X 4800, notice] (in TIF format). The procedure and characteristics of the map have been documented in detail as a text file lc95doc1_1.txt [TXT, 64.3 kb]. Prospective users are advised to become familiar with the documentation for proper use of the product. A CDROM and a paper version are available.