Ground cover

Ground cover describes the physical cover of the earth’s surface. Ground cover in a general sense (land cover) means the characteristics of the earth’s surface in terms of diverse near-natural sites or those transformed by human activity (e.g. areas of water, wetlands, vegetation areas, sealed or built-up areas). More narrowly, ground cover (vegetative soil cover) can also be understood to mean the specific type of vegetation

Regarding land use, ground cover encompasses aspects of human usage. In the classification of geodata as well as the creation of map legends, ground cover and land use are frequently linked.