RESEARCH · RESEARCH · #2897
Google DeepMind and WRI release ForTy: a 10‑m global 2020 forest typology map
Google DeepMind and the World Resources Institute published ForTy (Forest Typology), a global 2020 land‑cover map at 10‑meter resolution that assigns each pixel to one of six classes (primary forest, naturally regenerating forest, planted forest, plantation, tree crops, other). ForTy uses DeepMind’s AlphaEarth Foundations embeddings plus multi-stage image‑recognition models (with assistance from Google’s Gemini) and reached 90.2% overall accuracy on a sample of 8,190 sites; it outperformed European Commission maps on the same test data but detected only about half of tree crops and planted forests and ~60% of plantations.
KEY POINTS
- Google DeepMind and the World Resources Institute published ForTy (Forest Typology), a global 2020 land‑cover map at 10‑meter resolution that assigns each pixel to one of six classes (primary forest, naturally regenerating forest, planted forest, plantation, tree crops, other).
- ForTy uses DeepMind’s AlphaEarth Foundations embeddings plus multi-stage image‑recognition models (with assistance from Google’s Gemini) and reached 90.2% overall accuracy on a sample of 8,190 sites; it outperformed European Commission maps on the same test data but detected only about half of tree crops and planted forests and ~60% of plantations.
- This creates a 2020 reference map that can support EUDR compliance and other conservation initiatives, but notable detection gaps for plantations and tree crops limit immediate reliability for supply‑chain enforcement.
WHY IT MATTERS
This creates a 2020 reference map that can support EUDR compliance and other conservation initiatives, but notable detection gaps for plantations and tree crops limit immediate reliability for supply‑chain enforcement.