Dataset reference · ESA WorldCover · land cover at 10 m
What is on the ground — and why that is not what happens on it
Land cover is the easiest number to over-read in site analysis, because a "built-up" share sounds like an activity measure and is not. This page covers the classes LocateRight reads, the resolution they are read at, the annual release cadence, and the distinction between cover and use that determines what the figure can support. Licence table: data sources. Computation: methodology.
Resolution and how the coverage figure is computed
ESA WorldCover classifies global land cover at 10 metre pixel resolution, produced by the European Space Agency and partners from satellite imagery. Ten metres is fine enough to resolve individual city blocks and fine enough to be misleading about anything smaller.
The methodology page records how LocateRight uses it: class coverage is reported as a share of the sampled cells falling inside the analysis area, with the raster version and the retrieval timestamp attached. The shares sum to the coverage of the sampled area, and any cell the raster does not classify is reported as unclassified rather than folded into a neighbouring class.
Land cover is not land use
This is the single most consequential limitation on this page, and it is worth stating plainly because the two words are routinely used interchangeably.
| Land cover describes | Land use describes |
|---|---|
| The physical surface present | Human activity occurring on that surface |
| Water, forest, cropland, built-up, bare land | Housing, retail, office, industrial, recreation, transport |
| Observed from imagery classification | Requires business, planning or field data |
| What WorldCover provides at 10 m | What place records and planning data partially approximate |
A built-up class can contain terraced housing, offices, retail parks, warehouses, roads and industrial sheds side by side. A high built-up share tells you the area is intense. It does not tell you who is there, what they buy, or whether they will visit. Reading it as a customer base is the most common misreading of this dataset, and it is why the coverage figure is presented alongside place records and population rather than on its own — see WorldPop and Overture Places for the complementary blocks.
What the coverage figure cannot tell you
| Question | Answerable? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Is this area built up? | Yes | The dataset's home ground |
| Is there water or vegetation here? | Yes | Physical surface classes are reliable |
| What do people do on this land? | No | Cover does not encode use |
| Is a specific building retail? | Not at 10 m | A 10 m pixel cannot identify a single unit within a block |
| What does this site look like today? | No | Annual release — a period, not a live view |
| What is the current state of this land? | No | A site that changed since the release still reads as its old class |
Licence and vintage
ESA WorldCover is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, recorded in LocateRight's licence registry as approved for commercial use with attribution required and no share-alike obligation.
Releases are annual, so the imagery represents a period rather than a current view. The raster version and retrieval timestamp are attached to the coverage figure so the vintage is always visible — a result you cannot date is a result you cannot re-check.
ESA WorldCover: FAQ
What resolution does ESA WorldCover provide?
10 metre pixels, which for most urban analysis is fine enough to see individual blocks but not individual buildings. LocateRight reads the coverage of each class as a share of the sampled cells inside the analysis area and reports the raster and its version as part of provenance.
Why does LocateRight distinguish land cover from land use?
Because the distinction decides how the number can be used. Land cover describes the physical surface — water, forest, built-up, cropland. Land use describes human activity on that surface. A built-up class can contain housing, offices, retail parks, roads and industry alike, so a high built-up share indicates intensity, not a customer base.
Can I use WorldCover data commercially?
Yes. ESA WorldCover is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, recorded in LocateRight's licence registry as approved for commercial use with attribution required and no share-alike obligation.
What is the gap year or freshness of the WorldCover release?
WorldCover releases are annual, so the imagery reflects a period rather than a live view. LocateRight attaches the raster version and retrieval timestamp to the coverage figure so the vintage of a result is always visible and two runs can be compared honestly.
Read cover, population and places together
Run an analysis and see the surface composition, the population and the place records side by side — with the vintage of each attached.