GLOBE Observer: Land Cover is an app-based tool that will help you document what is on the land (land cover). Once you have downloaded the app and created an account, the Land Cover tool will guide you through the observation process. You will report on current surface conditions, then take photographs in all four cardinal directions, up and down. For more details about how to take observations, including tips and tricks, additional tutorials beyond what is in the app, and frequently asked questions about how to observe, visit the Taking Observations page. Our Resource Library includes additional activities, references, videos and book lists.
Why are my observations important?
Land cover is the base dataset for many areas of critical science, including hazard analysis for floods, fires and landslides, mapping wildlife habitat, and tracking the impacts of climate change. Even though land cover is familiar to everyone on the planet, the most detailed satellite-based maps of global land cover are still on the order of hundreds of meters [about 330 feet] per pixel. That means that a park in a city may be too small to show up on the global map. GLOBE Observer: Land Cover can fill in local gaps and contribute to consistent, detailed global maps. Find out more about the science of land cover and how it is studied on the Land Cover Science page.
Because land cover can influence the atmosphere (clouds), mosquito habitats, and defines the broader ecosystem for trees, it is helpful if you take a land cover observation whenever you observe mosquito habitats, trees, or clouds.