The source data for this dataset is the draft version of the Dynamic Land Cover Map based on MODIS Data, obtained from Geoscience Australia.
The Dynamic Land Cover Map presents land cover information for every 250m by 250m area of the country from April 2000 to April 2008. The classification scheme used to describe land cover categories in the Dynamic Land Cover Map conforms to the 2007 International Standards Organisation (ISO) land cover standard (19144-2). The Dynamic Land Cover Map shows Australian land covers clustered into 34 ISO classes. These reflect the structural character of vegetation, ranging from cultivated and managed land covers (crops and pastures) to natural land covers such as closed forest and sparse, open grasslands.
This dataset was reclassified into Annuals, Perennials, Water Bodies and Urban Areas.
Annuals - Extraction Sites, Bare Areas, Rainfed Cropping, Irrigated Cropping and Irrigated Pasture and Rainfed Pasture
Perennials - Wetlands, Forbs (open and closed), Tussock, Alpine and Hummock Grasses (Open, Closed and sparse), Shrubs (open and closed), Rainfed Sugar
Irrigated Sugar and Trees (Open, closed, scattered and sparse)
Water Bodies - Inland Waterbodies and Salt Lakes
To obtain urban areas, the dataset was unioned with the 250k topographic map series obtained from Geoscience Australia.