Targeting investment in natural resource management assets requires detailed spatial and temporal data. Reporting on the results of land management activities that aim to maintain, improve or repair the extent and condition of assets is to some extent dependent on land cover data and information. There is an increasing demand for local and regional scale land cover data to assess trends and changes in the extent and condition of identified targets such as wetlands, species habitats, farmlands, forests, rangelands, soil, water and vegetation.

A number of national and state programs successfully collate or map aspects of land cover based on ad hoc aggregation of diverse national, state and regional scale data. For applications where national consistency and analysis of change are important, severe limitations can arise from ad hoc aggregation of existing datasets. Dynamic land cover mapping seeks to overcome these limitations.

Dynamic land cover mapping involves calibration and pre-processing of comprehensive national time-series satellite-based datasets (e.g. collected daily) that are processed it to give estimates of land cover ( e.g. MODIS data every 2 weeks). Data are integrated and classified using consistent standards and validated using existing ecological and biophysical GIS datasets, ground control sites and feedback from state agencies.

A national dynamic land cover technical committee has been established to promote technical and scientific collaboration aimed at developing surface reflectance and biophysical information products from medium and coarser resolution sensors, and standardised satellite image archives in order to derive consistent national land cover information. The development of a dynamic land cover information system aims to optimise investment and access to existing and future data collections, ensuring this investment is directed at policy and operation needs at national, state/territory and local levels.

We discuss opportunities for accessing appropriate systems for measuring and reporting on seasonal, annual and decadal dynamics that impact on natural resource management assets. We also highlight the benefits of establishing key partnerships interested in dynamic land cover information involving land managers, regional bodies and State and the Australian Government agencies. These opportunities and benefits are illustrated using examples of dynamic land cover information.