North and South Luangwa Key Landscape for Conservation Land Cover and Validation Datasets (2015)

The North and South Luangwa land cover dataset covers an area of 34880km2 and mapped with dichotomous (8 land cover classes) level 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 1335 verified land cover points based on the 8 dichotomous 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.