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South African National Land Cover (SANLC)

The South African National Land Cover (SANLC) datasets are a series of land cover classification datasets for South Africa. The datasets are based on the gazetted land-cover classification standard (SANS 19144-2) and have 73 classes of information. New updates includes the 2020 SANLC apart from the 2018 dataset included earlier.The South African National Land-Cover 2018 dataset has been generated from 20 meter multi-seasonal Sentinel 2 satellite imagery. The imagery used represents the full temporal range of available imagery acquired by Sentinel 2 during the period 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. The SANLC 2018 dataset is based primarily on the new gazetted land-cover classification standard (SANS 19144-2) with 73 classes of information and is comparable, with the previous 1990 and 2013-14 South African National Land-Cover (SANLC) datasets. The previous land cover classes are also included for comparisons.

The SANLC 2018 data was launched on the 1st October 2019 and is now available for download from the E-GIS website, download link: https://egis.environment.gov.za/gis_data_downloads.

sa_nlc2018

Earth Engine Snippet

var sa_nlc2018 = ee.Image('projects/sat-io/open-datasets/landcover/SA_NLC_1990');
var sa_nlc2018 = ee.Image('projects/sat-io/open-datasets/landcover/SA_NLC_2018');
var sa_nlc2013_2014 = ee.Image('projects/sat-io/open-datasets/landcover/SA_NLC_2013_2014');
var sa_nlc_2020 = ee.Image('projects/sat-io/open-datasets/landcover/SA_NLC_2020');

Sample Code: https://code.earthengine.google.com/?scriptPath=users/sat-io/awesome-gee-catalog-examples:regional-landuse-landcover/SOUTH-AFRICA-LULC

No. Legend Colour 2018 NLC Class Name
1 #F2F2F2 Contiguous (indigenous) Forest (combined very high, high, medium)
2 #065106 Contiguous Low Forest & Thicket (combined classes)
3 #005F00 Dense Forest & Woodland (35 - 75% cc)
4 #008500 Open Woodland (10 - 35% cc)
5 #F74006 Contiguous & Dense Planted Forest (combined classes)
6 #F9764D Open & Sparse Planted Forest
7 #F9906C Temporary Unplanted Forest
8 #B8ABD1 Low Shrubland (other regions)
9 #8FAB39 Low Shrubland (Fynbos)
10 #AC92C5 Low Shrubland (Succulent Karoo)
11 #AC9CDA Low Shrubland (Nama Karoo)
12 #85D285 Sparsely Wooded Grassland (5 - 10% cc)
13 #D2B485 Natural Grassland
14 #00009F Natural Rivers
15 #041FA7 Natural Estuaries & Lagoons
16 #0639AB Natural Ocean, Coastal
17 #0D50AC Natural Lakes
18 #125FAC Natural Pans (flooded @ obsv time)
19 #1373B4 Artificial Dams (incl. canals)
20 #1D81B6 Artificial Sewage Ponds
21 #1F8EB8 Artificial Flooded Mine Pits
22 #06DEDC Herbaceous Wetlands (currently mapped)
23 #06E0D0 Herbaceous Wetlands (previous mapped extent)
24 #9F1FEC Mangrove Wetlands
25 #ffffe0 Natural Rock Surfaces
26 #DCDAC5 Dry Pans
27 #F9E0E0 Eroded Lands
28 #F9F9C5 Sand Dunes (terrestrial)
29 #F9F9A7 Coastal Sand Dunes & Beach Sand
30 #CDD2E0 Bare Riverbed Material
31 #ffffe0 Other Bare
32 #A62C39 Cultivated Commercial Permanent Orchards
33 #B31F5C Cultivated Commercial Permanent Vines
34 #DB0000 Cultivated Commercial Sugarcane Pivot Irrigated
35 #9F3978 Commercial Permanent Pineapples
36 #FF0000 Cultivated Commercial Sugarcane Non-Pivot (all other)
37 #F64D6C Cultivated Emerging Farmer Sugarcane Non-Pivot (all other)
38 #381A12 Commercial Annuals Pivot Irrigated
39 #521F1C Commercial Annuals Non-Pivot Irrigated
40 #85402C Commercial Annuals Crops Rain-Fed / Dryland / Non-Irrigated
41 #C5735F Subsistence / Small-Scale Annual Crops
42 #C1436C Fallow Land & Old Fields (Trees)
43 #C55E82 Fallow Land & Old Fields (Bush)
44 #D27592 Fallow Land & Old Fields (Grass)
45 #E0AAB8 Fallow Land & Old Fields (Bare)
46 #DB90A9 Fallow Land & Old Fields (Low Shrub)
47 #ECDB0F Residential Formal (Tree)
48 #F6EC13 Residential Formal (Bush)
49 #F9F81F Residential Formal (low veg / grass)
50 #FFFF29 Residential Formal (Bare)
51 #EC82EC Residential Informal (Tree)
52 #F691E0 Residential Informal (Bush)
53 #F99FCF Residential Informal (low veg / grass)
54 #FFC5CF Residential Informal (Bare)
55 #ECC500 Village Scattered (bare only)
56 #FFD91F Village Dense (bare only)
57 #AC7879 Smallholdings (Tree)
58 #B89192 Smallholdings (Bush)
59 #C49C9E Smallholdings (low veg / grass)
60 #D2B8B8 Smallholdings (Bare)
61 #BFFF00 Urban Recreational Fields (Tree)
62 #33FF33 Urban Recreational Fields (Bush)
63 #66FF66 Urban Recreational Fields (Grass)
64 #99FF99 Urban Recreational Fields (Bare)
65 #C49F0D Commercial
66 #8F8506 Industrial
67 #F9DD03 Roads & Rail (Major Linear)
68 #FFFF00 Mines: Surface Infrastructure
69 #B30606 Mines: Extraction Sites: Open Cast & Quarries combined
70 #C50606 Mines: Extraction Sites: Salt Mines
71 #D21D1A Mines: Waste (Tailings) & Resource Dumps
72 #F95479 Land-fills
73 #6CE7DC Fallow Land & Old Fields (wetlands)

License

The South African National Land-Cover 2018 dataset is available on an open licence agreement.

Created by: Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Republic of South Africa

Curated by: Geethen Singh & Samapriya Roy

Keywords: : land use, South Africa, land cover, Sentinel-2, copernicus, sentinel, satellite

Last updated: 2023-09-07

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