Accuracy assessment of a 300 m global land cover map: The GlobCover experience

Abstract

The GlobCover project supported by ESA has developed an operational service dedicated to the generation of global land cover maps through an automated classification of MERIS FRS time series. This paper reports the independent accuracy assessment of the global GlobCover product as the first global exercise implemented according to the CEOS Land Product Validation Subgroup recommendations. Based on a network of 16 international experts and on-line tools, a unique, globally distributed reference data set was collected in a standardized manner and used to derive mapping accuracy figures. The overall accuracy, weighted by the area proportions of the various land cover classes, is 73 % based on a set of 3167 samples. These results are discussed with regards to the previous experiences.