ESA WorldCereal’s challenging task is to build an open-source classification system for seasonal crop mapping at the global scale. For every 10 m X 10 m pixel on Earth we need to be able to tell if this pixel is being cultivated or not and if yes, if it was irrigated and if in one of the main agricultural seasons wheat or maize was grown on that pixel.
Given the amount of potential approaches to tackle these tasks, a thorough benchmarking exercise was paramount. This exercise should provide objective arguments allowing us to define what works and what doesn’t and which ultimately should lead to what we believe is the best tradeoff between a scientifically sound yet technically feasible WorldCereal classification module. Kristof Van Tricht shares some results.