Georgia Land Use Trends (GLUT)

As Georgia's population and economy grow, the demand for land is increasing rapidly. Much of the land use change is from forest and agriculture to urban uses. Often, this rapid growth contributes to sprawl, with its attendant environmental and economic impacts. The mission of the Georgia Land Use Trends (GLUT) Project, funded in part by the Turner Foundation, is to track and analyze the changes in Georgia's land use over the past 25 years, providing valuable information for planners, policy makers, and researchers.

GIS databases for the entire state are generated using LANDSAT data. So far, databases for 1974, 1985, 1991, 1998, 2001 and 2005 have been created. Land cover maps are created for each year, distinguishing the following land cover types:

Beaches/Dunes/Mud
Quarries/Strip Mines/Rock Outcrops
Open Water
Low Intensity Urban
High Intensity URban
Clearcut/Sparse
Deciduous Forest

Evergreen Forest
Mixed Forest
Row Crops/Pasture
Forested Wetland (salt water)
Frorested Wetland (freshwater)
Non-forested Wetland

Maps and data for each county and watershed in the state have also been created to include land cover, impervious surface and tree canopy data.

An 18-class Landcover Map is available from the Georgia GIS Clearinghouse View the metadata for the 1998 Landcover Map (Adobe PDF).