'The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of involvement in multi-scale, and multi-temporal land cover characterization and mapping of the world. During the 1970\'s, the Anderson System for land use and land cover classification system was developed and the conterminous United States (US) was mapped using aerial photographs. During 1980\'s, 75% of state of Alaska was mapped using Landsat satellite data. During the 1990\'s, (i) land cover characteristics database concept was demonstrated, (ii) Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium was formed with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and US Forest Service (USFS), (iii) Global Land Cover Characteristics database was completed, and (iv) land cover and vegetation databases of the U.S. using Landsat TM data were completed. During 2000-2002, a forest canopy density map was produced as a part of Forest Resources Assessment 2000 for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and MRLC-2001 dataset was released. In 2003, land cover mapping of North America was carried out as a contribution to the Global Land Cover 2000 project being implemented by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of European Commission (EC). '