5-Foot Resolution Land Cover Classification for Knox County, Tennessee

Land cover classification at 5-foot resolution for Knox County, Tennessee, created by Chris DeRolph. The dataset includes five classes—tree canopy, grass/herbaceous vegetation, impervious surfaces, bare/pervious ground, and open water—derived from USGS 3DEP LiDAR (2015-2016) and USDA NAIP imagery (2014). Overall classification accuracy was assessed at 72.6% across five urban park validation sites.

Use Cases

• Analyze urban tree canopy coverage based on the 'tree canopy' class.
• Model stormwater runoff potential based on the distribution of 'impervious surfaces' and 'bare/pervious ground'.
• Assess green space availability in urban parks based on the 'grass/herbaceous vegetation' class.
• Map water bodies for environmental planning based on the 'open water' class.

Strengths

• High spatial resolution of 5 feet (1.5 meters).
• Classification accuracy was quantitatively assessed via 1,000 random points, with an overall accuracy of 72.6%.
• Producer's accuracy for the impervious surfaces class is reported as 94.2%.

Limitations

• Validation focused on five urban park sites; accuracy in other environments is not assessed.
• Producer's accuracy for the bare ground class is reported as 1.4%, indicating poor classification for that category.
• Wetlands and cultivated agriculture were not mapped as distinct classes.

Provenance

Source

Chris DeRolph via figshare.

Collection Method

Rule-based landscape segmentation using USGS 3DEP LiDAR (2015-2016) and USDA NAIP imagery (2014).

Time Range

Based on source imagery from 2014-2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-03 14:23:55; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Knox County, Tennessee, USA.