
Land Cover Data Project 2013/2014
Precision conservation—projects at the right place, the right scale, the right size, the right time, and making sure they are working—is going to redefine how landscape conservation is approached. Instead of sweeping acquisitions or all-encompassing legislation, we can use the latest high-resolution datasets to conduct advanced geospatial analysis that allows us to better target and implement on-the-ground a...
Learn MoreChesapeake Conservancy is pioneering the production of large, high resolution land cover classification datasets. These categorize natural and human-made features that exist on the landscape, such as buildings, tree canopy, and water. In partnership with the University of Vermont and WorldView Solutions, Inc., the Conservancy’s Conservation Innovation Center completed the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, one of the nation’s largest, high-resolution land cover datasets, in 2016. The dataset was created for the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP)—a regional partnership of EPA, other federal, state, and local agencies and governments, nonprofits, and academic institutions that leads and directs Bay restoration efforts—which was looking to improve its data related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed landscape.
For 10 months, analysts worked to produce one-meter resolution land cover data for approximately 100,000 square miles of land in and surrounding the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This new classification is 1-meter resolution providing much more detail and information about the landscape than the conventional 30-meter resolution land cover data. For example, where we once saw only development, we now can see buildings, street and trees, and where once we saw all forest, we now can pick out roads or houses within the trees. This gives us a more accurate look at what is really on the landscape and the challenges facing it—how fragmented is a forest, how connected are the streamside buffers?
The land cover data represents land cover conditions as evident in NAIP (National Agriculture Imagery Program) imagery for the years 2013/2014. Updates for the years 2017/2018 and 2021/2022 are currently planned, assuming NAIP continues as anticipated, and will be shared once complete (See our CBP Objective page for more information). The land cover data is providing CBP and partner organizations with the power to practice precision conservation—putting the right practices and the right skills, at the right place and the right time—by making effective and impactful decisions about where to target their efforts. It has allowed the CIC to leverage technology not only to identify and prioritize high priority restoration and conservation areas, but also to support partners throughout the watershed in saving time as well as money in implementing projects such as Best Management Practices.
Informational webinar
How the data was made
Introduce yourself to the datasets and remote sensing techniques used to make the land cover.
Classification description
Understand the land cover classes and data specifications.
Sample use cases
Preview real-world applications of the land cover data.

User Guide
Class Descriptions
Access data through web viewer or download links below.
Data downloads last updated June 1, 2020 :
All datasets below are still representative of 2013/2014 timeframe.
Washington, D.C.
Maryland
New York
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania statewide dataset
- Adams County
- Bedford County
- Berks County
- Blair County
- Bradford County
- Cambria County
- Cameron County
- Carbon County
- Centre County
- Chester County
- Clearfield County
- Clinton County
- Columbia County
- Cumberland County
- Dauphin County
- Elk County
- Franklin County
- Fulton County
- Huntingdon County
- Indiana County
- Jefferson County
- Juniata County
- Lackawanna County
- Lancaster County
- Lebanon County
- Luzerne County
- Lycoming County
- McKean County
- Mifflin County
- Montour County
- Northumberland County
- Perry County
- Potter County
- Schuylkill County
- Snyder County
- Somerset County
- Sullivan County
- Susquehanna County
- Tioga County
- Union County
- Wayne County
- Wyoming County
- York County
Virginia
Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN), in coordination with Worldview Solutions, created a separate VA statewide high-resolution land cover dataset, which has unique class names and descriptions. For the purposes of a matching bay-wide dataset, this VA dataset was reclassified and some classes were edited to better match the Chesapeake Bay Dataset class definitions above.
The Chesapeake Conservancy is pioneering the production of large, high resolution land cover classification datasets. These categorize natural and human-made features that exist on the landscape, such as buildings, tree canopy, and water. In partnership with the University of Vermont and WorldView Solutions, Inc., the Conservancy’s Conservation Innovation Center completed the Chesapeake Bay High-Resolution Land Cover Project, one of the nation’s largest, high-resolution land cover datasets in 2016. The dataset was created for the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP)—a regional partnership of EPA, other federal, state, and local agencies and governments, nonprofits, and academic institutions that leads and directs Bay restoration efforts—which was looking to improve its data related to the Chesapeake Bay watershed landscape.
For 10 months, analysts worked to produce 1 meter by 1 meter resolution land cover data for approximately 100,000 square miles of land in and surrounding the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This new classification provides 900 times the amount of information as conventional land cover data. For example, where we once saw only development, we can now see buildings, street and trees, and where once we saw all forest, we can now pick out roads or houses within the trees. This gives us a more accurate look at what is really on the landscape and the challenges facing it—how fragmented is a forest, how connected are the streamside buffers?
The dataset is providing CBP and partner organizations the power to practice precision conservation—putting the right practices and the right skills, at the right place and the right time—by making effective and impactful decisions about where to target their efforts. It has allowed the CIC to leverage technology not only to identify and prioritize high priority restoration and conservation areas, but also to support partners throughout the watershed in saving time as well as money in implementing projects such as Best Management Practices.
Access web viewer or download the maps directly below
Washington, D.C.
Maryland
- Allegany County
- Anne Arundel County
- Baltimore County
- Baltimore City
- Calvert County
- Caroline County
- Carroll County
- Cecil County
- Charles County
- Dorchester County
- Frederick County
- Garrett County
- Harford County
- Howard County
- Kent County
- Montgomery County
- Prince George’s County
- Queen Anne’s County
- Somerset County
- St. Mary’s County
- Talbot County
- Washington County
- Wicomico County
- Worcester County
New York
- Allegany County
- Broome County
- Cayuga County
- Chemung County
- Chenango County
- Cortland County
- Delaware County
- Herkimer County
- Livingston County
- Madison County
- Oneida County
- Onondaga County
- Ontario County
- Otsego County
- Schoharie County
- Schuyler County
- Steuben County
- Tioga County
- Tompkins County
- Yates County
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania statewide dataset
- Adams County
- Bedford County
- Berks County
- Blair County
- Bradford County
- Cambria County
- Cameron County
- Carbon County
- Centre County
- Chester County
- Clearfield County
- Clinton County
- Columbia County
- Cumberland County
- Dauphin County
- Elk County
- Franklin County
- Fulton County
- Huntingdon County
- Indiana County
- Jefferson County
- Juniata County
- Lackawanna County
- Lancaster County
- Lebanon County
- Luzerne County
- Lycoming County
- McKean County
- Mifflin County
- Montour County
- Northumberland County
- Perry County
- Potter County
- Schuylkill County
- Snyder County
- Somerset County
- Sullivan County
- Susquehanna County
- Tioga County
- Union County
- Wayne County
- Wyoming County
- York County
Virginia
Accuracy Assessment
Read about our detailed accuracy assessment methods and results in this Chesapeake Conservancy report.