Brazil and South America Soil, Vegetation, and Land Cover Maps

LBA-ECO LC 08 provides seven geospatial classification maps for Brazil and South America. The dataset includes digital soil maps for Brazil at 19, 70, and 249-class detail, vegetation maps for Brazil at 13, 59, and combination-class detail, and a South America land cover map derived from NOAA AVHRR data. Maps are provided as GeoTIFF files with companion PDFs containing class descriptions.

Use Cases

• Analyzing soil type distribution across Brazil using the 249-class classification map.
• Studying historical vegetation patterns with the 59-class digital vegetation map.
• Modeling regional land cover change in South America from 1987-1991 AVHRR-derived data.
• Cross-referencing soil and vegetation classifications using the provided companion PDF documentation.

Strengths

• Provides three levels of classification detail for both soil (19, 70, 249-class) and vegetation (13, 59, combination-class).
• Includes a continent-scale land cover map for South America derived from a multi-year satellite record (1987-1991).
• Companion PDF files offer detailed descriptions of map units, class values, and codes for interpretation.

Limitations

• Conflicting last updated dates exist between sources (1991-12 31 vs. 2026-03-13), suggesting unclear metadata maintenance.
• Original source maps are from 1981 (soil) and 1988 (vegetation), representing historical snapshots.
• Specific spatial resolution, row/column counts, and file sizes are not provided in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD; maps are digital versions of EMBRAPA (1981) soil and IBGE (1988) vegetation publications, with land cover from NOAA AVHRR (Stone et al., 1994).

Collection Method

Digitization of published paper maps and remote sensing classification of satellite imagery.

Time Range

1981-1991

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:03:08.140218

Geography

Brazil (soil and vegetation maps); South America (land cover map).