It was developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) using L-band synthetic aperture radar sensors on the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2 PALSAR-2) and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS PALSAR).
It was generated through random forest, utilizing variances in the backscattering coefficients among different land cover classes in diverse ecological regions.
The product has a spatial resolution of 25 m. Forests are defined as land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 m and a canopy cover of more than 10%.
This includes forested areas that have not yet reached but are expected to reach the criteria, as well as forest roads, firebreaks, and other small open areas.
It includes rubberwood, cork oak, and Christmas tree plantations, but excludes plantations in agricultural production systems, such as oil palm plantations, fruit tree plantations, and olive grove orchards.
The accuracy was evaluated using ground photographs and high-resolution optical satellite images. The overall accuracy for three classes—forests, non-forests, and water—was higher than 86%.