The most detailed map ever made of the Earth's land surface is being created with the European Space Agency's Envisat environmental satellite. The GLOBCOVER project aims at producing a global land cover map to a resolution three times sharper than any previous satellite map. It will be a unique depiction of the face of the planet in 2005, broken down into more than 20 separate land cover classes, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The completed GLOBCOVER map will have numerous uses, including plotting worldwide land use trends, studying natural and managed ecosystems and modelling climate change extent and impacts.