Mapping of the current distributions of forest-cover types across the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (the swamp) is critical to understanding the success of ongoing hydrologic and other management techniques used to restore the forest communities of the swamp to those present across the swamp in early colonial times. Aerial photographs, orthophotographs, and vector digital data were used to map forest-cover types of the swamp. The forest-cover types were interpreted and mapped using composition, height, and canopy-closure classes derived from this imagery and field verification. The imagery was obtained using a near-infrared sensor (NIR)carried in an airplane flown across the swamp during the mid-to-late spring of 2015. The original dataset was provided in Universal Transverse Mercator meters, Zone 18, NAD 83 projection. The resolution of the imagery was 0.3-meter pixels. This report explains the metadata for the vector digital geodatabase for forest cover as interpreted from the imagery and field verification. One or two species composition codes represent the major forest types in the canopy of each stand. The first code represents the forest type forming at least 50 percent of the canopy. The second code represents the forest type forming 25 to less than 50 percent of the canopy. A single code indicates that only that forest type forms at least 25 percent of the canopy. Where the forest covered less than 25 percent of an area, the area was classified as emergent species. Minimum mapping areas were 5 acres for forested land and 1 acre for emergent species.