Supplied Land Cover Classification Schemas - USEPA/ATtILA2 GitHub Wiki
Introduction
An attempt has been made to standardize the land cover classification compiled metric fields among the C-CAP, MULC, NLCD (1992 Beta), NLCD, and WorldCover data sets. Slightly different land cover classification schemes were used for each of these, although in some cases the only real difference is in the nomenclature. For example, NLCD (1992 Beta) describes three urban classes as low density residential, high density residential, and commercial/industrial. Later NLCD outputs and C-CAP describe the three urban classes as low intensity developed, medium intensity developed, and high intensity developed. In the standard land cover classifications provided here, the latter terminology was adopted, primarily to aid the user in making comparisons among these data sets. The Developed metric for each consists of these three urban descriptions plus urban grasslands.
In a few cases, it was not possible to complete standardization. The NLCD (1992 Beta) data contains separate descriptions of natural and man-made barren lands, while the later NLCD and C-CAP data do not make this distinction. Therefore, the user must be cautious in making comparisons or drawing conclusions based on the barren metric.
Supplied schemes may be designated as either "ALL" or "LAND" (e.g. NLCD ALL vs. NLCD LAND). Schemes designated as "ALL" include all land cover classes in reporting unit area calculations, while those designated as "LAND" include only terrestrial land cover classes, with non-terrestrial land cover classes such as water and snow/ice excluded.
When a classification scheme with excluded land cover classes is selected, the areas of the excluded classes are disregarded in metric calculations. This means, when selecting a "LAND" classification scheme, the tool will process individual land cover classes and calculate metrics based on the total terrestrial area they occupy within the reporting unit, rather than the percent of the total area within the reporting unit. Thus, when using a "LAND" classification scheme, a calculated output value of 70% forest in say the Land Cover Proportions tool means that 70% of the land area in the reporting unit is covered by forest.
Five sets of land cover classification schemas supplied with ATtILA:
They are stored in the ToolboxSource > LandCoverClassifications folder in the ATtILA toolbox destination folder (see Installing ATtILA).
Top of the page | 
Shortcut Keys | 
C-CAP ALL