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NLCD 2016 Land Cover Reference Data, Conterminous United States

Published by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | Metadata Last Checked: January 27, 2026 | Last Modified: 2020-11-23T00:00:00.000+00:00
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in partnership with several federal agencies, has developed and released five National Land Cover Database (NLCD) products over the past two decades: NLCD 1992, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. U.S. EPA leads the accuracy assessment of NLCD land cover products in coordination with USGS and SUNY-ESF. The posted dataset includes map labels and reference labels for 4629 sample locations (pixels) from the NLCD 2016 database. The sample pixels were selected using a stratified random design based on the dual 2011 – 2016 map labels. The data can be used to re-create the accuracy results reported in a forthcoming paper and in support of other applications. Accuracy results are reported for the 2011 and 2016 land cover products in the NLCD2016 database and for selected 2011-2006 changes.

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