Environment Counts | Global forest change, visualization and analysis :

Published by on Tuesday, January 24th, 2017

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Global Forest Watch (GFW) is a dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system. The system uses satellite technology, open data, and crowdsourcing to provide free and open access to continually updated information about the Worldâ€™s forests and forest change. The system adheres to open source and open data policy.
The various data layers include global forest (tree) cover for the year 2000 at 30 Ã— 30 meter resolution. Data in this layer were generated using multispectral satellite imagery from the Landsat 7 thematic mapper plus (ETM+) sensor. The clear surface observations from over 600,000 images were analyzed using Google Earth Engine. Tree cover was defined as all vegetation taller than 5 meters in height and may take the form of natural forests or plantations existing over a range of canopy densities.
Other layers include forest change, forest use, conservation (protected areas and biodiversity hotspots) and base maps (with a variety of map backgrounds to facilitate visual comparison with other data).
GFW has a broad base of partners which contribute data, technical capabilities, funding, and expertise. Partners include NASA, UNEP, University of Maryland, UNFAO, Google, WRI and various international aid agencies.

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