The European Space Agency working with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization have announced a new land cover, the observed biophysical cover of the earth’s surface, map. The map, called GlobCover, is based upon twenty Terabytes of data and will offer resolution ten times greater than any previous attempt. Current Plans are for the map to be released freely to the public sometime after it’s completion in July.

Scientist will use the map to continue to further refine climate models, analyze the impact of human development, and help manage resources. GlobCover comprises of twenty two different land types and is compatible with the UN Land Cover Classification System. John Latham of FAO said ”The GlobCover product will be the first freely available product at 300m resolution and is therefore a milestone product which will be fundamental to broad level stakeholder community.”

Biotech Mashup is eager to see the final product and cannot wait for the inevitable Google Earth modification. A demonstration of the current map is available in the link.