Getting Started with the LCMAP WMS in QGIS Quick Guide The Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative released an Open Geospatial

Consortium (OGC) compliant (Version 1.3) Web Map Service (WMS) endpoint for all ten LCMAP science

products. The WMS layers are enabled with a Time dimension, meaning that users can access the entire 35+

year archive of LCMAP data. The available timesteps can be found in the Time Dimension tag in the WMS

GetCapabilities link for the endpoint. The WMS consists of a single endpoint that contains links to access all

ten LCMAP layers. The LCMAP WMS can be consumed using software such as QGIS, ESRI’s ArcMap, or directly

using programming languages such as Python. Users can also view the LCMAP WMS directly in a web browser

using the LCMAP Web Viewer.

This Quick Guide provides step-by-step instructions for interacting with the LCMAP WMS endpoint in QGIS.

Be sure to check out the LCMAP WMS page on the LCMAP Website for instructions on working with the

LCMAP WMS using other software.

LCMAP WMS Endpoint

Table 1. List of LCMAP Products and corresponding LCMAP WMS layers.

LCMAP Product WMS Layer Title

Primary Land Cover (LCPRI) primary-landcover_conus_year_data

Secondary Land Cover (LCSEC) secondary-landcover_conus_year_data

Primary Land Cover Confidence (LCPCONF) primary-confidence_conus_year_data

Secondary Land Cover Confidence (LCSCONF) secondary-confidence_conus_year_data

Annual Land Cover Change (LCACHG) cover-change_conus_year_data

Time of Spectral Change (SCTIME) change-day_conus_year_data

Change Magnitude (SCMAG) change-magnitude_conus_year_data

Time Since Last Change (SCLAST) spectral-lastchange_conus_year_data

Spectral Stability Period (SCSTAB) spectral-stability_conus_year_data

Spectral Model Quality (SCMQA) model-quality_conus_year_data

Required Software: These instructions were produced using QGIS Version 3.16.9. It is recommended that

users install the most recent LTR (long term release) for their operating system. In particular, certain timestep

capabilities may not be provided or may require plugins in order to iterate through different time periods

(years) for the layers using older versions of QGIS. QGIS is freely available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux at:

https://qgis.org/en/site/forusers/download.html.

Instructions:

1. Open QGIS and start a new project.

2. Using the Menu Toolbar, select Layer > Add Layer > Add WMS/WMTS Layer.

Figure 1. Navigating to Add WMS/WMTS Layer.

3. In the Data Source Manager Window, Select New.

Figure 2. Adding a New data source in the Data Source Manager Window.

4. In the Create a New WMS/WMTS Connection Window, add a Name such as “LCMAP”.

5. Add the LCMAP WMS URL:

https://dmsdata.cr.usgs.gov/geoserver/lcmap/wms?service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities

6. Select OK to add the endpoint.

Figure 3. Creating a new connection to the LCMAP WMS endpoint.

7. In the Data Source Manager Window, select Connect.

Figure 4. Connecting to the LCMAP WMS endpoint in the Data Source Manager Window.

8. The WMS should now appear in the table. In the table, under ID 0, click on the dropdown next to 1 to expand the list of LCMAP layers available.

Figure 5. Expanding the layers from the LCMAP WMS connection.

9. Ten layers should appear. See Table 1 above to match each layer to the LCMAP product it represents.

10. Select your desired layer and click Add in the bottom right corner of the window. Close the Data Source Manager Window.

Figure 6. LCMAP WMS layers in the Data Source Manager Window.

11. The layer should now appear in the Map View and under the Layers Table of Contents. By default,

the WMS will add the most recent year of LCMAP data available.

12. In the Layers Panel, you should see a clock symbol ( ) next to the layer you have added. If you don’t

see that symbol, you may need to update the version of QGIS you are using (see above).

13. In the Map Navigation Toolbar, click the Clock symbol ( ) to open the Temporal Controller Panel.

Figure 7. QGIS Project showing the Temporal Controller icon.

14. By default, Temporal navigation is disabled. Click on the fixed range temporal navigation button in

the Temporal Controller Panel.

Figure 8. Opening the Temporal Controller Panel in QGIS.

15. The Range should automatically default to 1985 (the first timestep available) and the map should

now be showing LCMAP data from 1985. Enter a new year in the range and wait for the map to

reload to view data from a different year.

16. Zoom in to your region of interest, and begin exploring the LCMAP time series. Here we have

zoomed in to Las Vegas, NV to look at urban expansion from 1985 to 2019.

Figure 9. Primary Land Cover over Las Vegas, NV from 1985.

Figure 10. Primary Land Cover over Las Vegas, NV from 2019.

17. In the Temporal Controller Panel, highlight the year and use the up/down arrows to browse

through the time series.

Figure 11. Temporal Controller Panel showing how to change the year and browse through the time series.

Having Issues?

• Web Map Services stream information over the internet. Verify that you have an internet

connection.

• Check your version of QGIS, it is recommended to be using QGIS Version 3.16.9 (or higher).

• Contact USGS EROS Customer Services.