Land use–land cover (LULC) is an important feature for ecological environment research, land resource management and evaluation. Although global high-resolution LULC data sets are booming, their regional performances were still evaluated in limited regions. To demonstrate the local applicability of global LULC data products, six emerging LULC data products were evaluated and compared in Guangxi, China. The six products used are European Space Agency GlobCover (ESAGC), ESRI Land Use–Land Cover (ESRI–LULC), Finer Resolution Observation and Monitoring of Global Land Cover (FROM–GLC), the China Land Cover Dataset (CLCD), the Global Land Cover product with Fine Classification System at 30 m (GLC_FCS30) and GlobeLand30 (GLC30). Reference data were obtained from the local government statistical yearbook and high-resolution remote sensing images on Google Earth. The results showed that CLCD, ESRI–LULC and GLC30 were found to agree well with the forest reference data, with the highest correlation coefficient of 0.999. For the cropland areas, GLC30, CLCD and ESAGC agreed well with the reference data, and the highest correlation coefficient was 0.957. Combined with the comparison with the high-resolution images obtained by Google Earth, we finally concluded that ESAGC, CLCD and GLC30 can best represent the LULCs in Guangxi. Furthermore, the spatial consistency analysis showed that three or more products identified the same LULC type as high as 96.98% of the area. We suggest that majority voting might be applied to global LULC products to provide fused products with better performances on a regional or local scale to avoid the error caused by a single data product.

This study is based on six major land use/land cover remote sensing data products that are widely used in China and the world, namely ESA Global Land Cover Product (ESAGC), ESRI Global 10-meter Land Use/Land Cover Data (ESRI-LULC), Tsinghua University high-resolution global land cover product (FROM-GLC), Wuhan University China Land Cover Dataset (CLCD), global 30-meter high-resolution system land cover product (GLC_FCS30) and GlobeLand30 (GLC30). By reclassifying multiple data products, we developed a multi-source data product fusion method based on consistency assessment, and compiled a new Guangxi region land use/land cover data product in 2020 with a correlation coefficient greater than 0.94 with local statistical yearbook data. The study further used three sets of long sequence data (CLCD, GLC_FCS30 and GLC30) to create three land use/land cover fusion data products in Guangxi in 2000, 2010 and 2020. This study provides a methodological basis for the application of regional land use/land cover data products. The fusion of data can better support related research on regional environmental protection, agricultural production planning, and urban development planning in Guangxi.