The Tacoma, WA Meter Urban Land Cover (MULC) dataset was generated from 1-meter image pixel resolution data sourced from 2011 USDA National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) four band (red, green, blue and near infrared) aerial ortho-imagery. LiDAR point density data (9/m^2 point spacing), available for years 2010 and 2011, was used to map most areas of Pierce County, and supplemental LiDAR data, available for earlier years, was used to map area segments where 2010-2011 LiDAR data was not available. A 7-band stack consisting of 1-meter, four-band (red, green, blue, and near-infrared) aerial photography, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and lidar-derived intensity and height above ground was created and primarily used to classify land cover using Genie Pro automated feature extraction software. Several ancillary datasets, such as hydrographic and transportation feature data, were edited in ArcGIS and integrated into the classification workflow.

The Tacoma, WA land cover dataset includes data for the Tacoma metropolitan area of Pierce County, WA, and encompasses a total approximate area of 1,995 square kilometers. The thematic landcover data is confined to areas included within the US Census Bureau's 2010 Urban Statistical area boundaries for Pierce County, WA, with an additional 1km buffer extension that include bits of Kitsap, King and Thurston Counties.

The following seven land cover classes were mapped: Water, Impervious, Soil or Barren, Trees or Forest, Grass or Herbaceous, Woody Wetlands and Emergent Wetlands.

Mapped water bodies were generated using combined high-resolution LiDAR and ancillary hydrological data.

Integrated wetland features were derived using ancillary National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) polygon data (version 2), downloaded from the Unites States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Wetland Mapper web mapping service (https://www.fws.gov/wetlands/data/mapper.html). Metadata for the NWI wetlands data layer can be found at http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Data/Metadata.html.

An accuracy assessment of the classified product, using 482 completely random and 46 (Soil/Barren) stratified random photo-interpreted land cover reference sample points yielded an overall user's accuracy (MAX) of 85.1 percent and a fuzzy user's accuracy (RIGHT) of 86.9 percent.

For data workflow processing details see Overview Description section.

This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (http://enviroatlas.epa.gov/EnviroAtlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (http://enviroatlas.epa.gov/EnviroAtlas/DataFactSheets).