The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) have generated a 1-km resolution global land cover characteristics data base for use in a wide range of environmental research and modeling applications. The global land cover characteristics database was developed on a continent-by-continent basis. All continental databases share the same map projections (Interrupted Goode Homolosine and Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area), have 1-km nominal spatial resolution, and are based on 1-km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data spanning April 1992 through March 1993.
http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/glcc/glcc.asp
