Interactive Map of Africa: here you can access Africa from a continental down to a regional scale, with information on the visual appearance of the landscapes, topography and population distribution. You can zoom into a region of interest down to a ground resolution of 1 km per pixel and analyse the following datasets (use the navigation buttons above the map window to switch between these datasets):

• Satellite Image Mosaic - this dataset was compiled using 23 scenes acquired with the Spot 4 Vegetation sensor and gives an idea of the visual appearance of the earth's surface according to land cover (e.g. vegetation in different intensities, sand, rock, water bodies). Note that data acquired around August are used for the northern part of the continent and data acquired around February for the southern part.
• Digital Elevation Model - this dataset is based on the global elevation dataset GTOPO30 from the USGS (US Geological Survey). It shows the topography of the selected region (elevation above sea level, relief, spatial relation with surrounding regions) and for example can be used to analyse the influence of the terrain on local climate and vegetation.
• Population Distribution - this dataset provides an estimate of the spatial distribution of the population of Africa. It is based on the Landscan 2000 dataset, which was produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory from model calculations using census counts at a provincial level together with information such as roads, slopes, land cover, populated places, and nighttime lights acquired for example by DMSP satellites. Because of the methodology used, the data provide a good overview of the general population distribution but cannot be used to obtain information about specific locations.

Continental Overview: in this section you can obtain information on a continental scale. It contains a map with a political overview, a climatic overview and a Radarsat map of Africa. Use this data to analyse relations and interactions on a large scale.