Agricultural land use (raster) : National-scale crop type maps for Germany from combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat data (2017 to 2021)

The dataset contains maps of the main classes of agricultural land use (dominant crop types and other land use types) in Germany, which are produced annually at the Thünen Institute beginning with the year 2017 on the basis of satellite data. The maps cover the entire open landscape, i.e., the agriculturally used area (UAA) and e.g., uncultivated areas. The map was derived from time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Landsat 8 and additional environmental data. Map production is based on the methods described in Blickensdörfer et al. (2022).

All optical satellite data were managed, pre-processed and structured in an analysis-ready data (ARD) cube using the open-source software FORCE - Framework for Operational Radiometric Correction for Environmental monitoring (Frantz, D., 2019), in which SAR and environmental data were integrated.

The map extent covers all areas in Germany that are defined in the respective year as cropland, grassland, small woody features, heathland, peatland or unvegetated areas according to ATKIS Basis-DLM (Geobasisdaten: © GeoBasis-DE / BKG, 2020). 

Version v201:
Post-processing of the maps included a sieve filter as well as a ruleset for the reduction of non-plausible areas using the Basis-DLM and the digital terrain model of Germany (Geobasisdaten: © GeoBasis-DE / BKG, 2015).

Version v202:
Additional post-processing was performed to detect and mask additional non-plausible areas that were not adequately covered by the first post-processing (e.g., areas with sparse vegetation, montane forests) based on the „Ökosystematlas Deutschland“ (© Statistisches Bundesamt, Deutschland, 2024). As a consequence, the current version includes a new class “Small woody features on other land”. Furthermore, the class "permanent grassland" was refined. Each pixel that was classified as "cultivated grassland" in at least five years (between 2017 and 2022) was translated to "permanent grassland" in the annual maps.

The maps are available as cloud optimized GeoTiffs, which makes downloading the full dataset optional. All data can directly be accessed in QGIS, R, Python or any supported software of your choice using the provided URL to the datasets (right click on the respective data set --> “copy link address”). By doing so the entire map area or only the regions of interest can be accessed. QGIS legend files for data visualization can be downloaded separately.

Class-specific accuracies for each year are provided in the respective tables. We provide this dataset "as is" without any warranty regarding the accuracy or completeness and exclude all liability. 

References:

Blickensdörfer, L., Schwieder, M., Pflugmacher, D., Nendel, C., Erasmi, S., & Hostert, P. (2022). Mapping of crop types and crop sequences with combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 data for Germany. Remote Sensing of Environment, 269, 112831.

BKG, Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (2015). Digitales Geländemodell Gitterweite 10 m. DGM10. https://sg.geodatenzentrum.de/web_public/gdz/dokumentation/deu/dgm10.pdf (last accessed: 28. April 2022).

BKG, Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (2020). Digitales Basis-Landschaftsmodell.
https://sg.geodatenzentrum.de/web_public/gdz/dokumentation/deu/basis-dlm.pdf (last accessed: 28. April 2022).

Frantz, D. (2019). FORCE—Landsat + Sentinel-2 Analysis Ready Data and Beyond. Remote Sensing, 11, 1124.

Statistisches Bundesamt, Deutschland (2024). Ökosystematlas Deutschland
https://oekosystematlas-ugr.destatis.de/ (last accessed: 08.02.2024).

___________________________________________________________________________
National-scale crop type maps for Germany from combined time series of Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat data (2017 to 2021) © 2024 by Schwieder, Marcel; Tetteh, Gideon Okpoti; Blickensdörfer, Lukas; Gocht, Alexander; Erasmi, Stefan;  licensed under CC BY 4.0. 

Funding was provided by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture as part of the joint project “Monitoring der biologischen Vielfalt in Agrarlandschaften” (MonViA, Monitoring of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes).

The study was financially supported by the European Environment Agency and the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101060423 (LAMASUS).