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Tropical Tree Cover x Global Forest Watch API

Last updated: July 3, 2025
Tropical Forest

Table of Contents

  1. Before you get started
  2. Steps
  3. Find the version
  4. Find the relevant fields
  5. Query dataset

Before you get started

If you are new to the Global Forest Watch API, it is a good idea to begin with the foundational guide. It covers essential steps like signing up, getting access token and API key. You can find it here:

Getting started using Global Forest Watch Data API

Getting started using Global Forest Watch Data API

Steps

  • Find the version of the dataset
  • Find the fields to query
  • Make a query

Find the version

To receive data about the Tropical Tree Cover dataset, you can use a GET request to the /dataset/wri_tropical_tree_cover endpoint.

SH
1curl -X GET 'https://data-api.globalforestwatch.org/dataset/wri_tropical_tree_cover'

If successful, this will return a response like this, with metadata and versions:

JSON
1{
2  "data": {
3    "created_on": "2023-01-20T19:25:00.656830",
4    "updated_on": "2023-01-20T19:25:00.656836",
5    "dataset": "wri_tropical_tree_cover",
6    "is_downloadable": true,
7    "metadata": {
8      ...
9    },
10    "versions": [
11      ...
12      "v2020.1",
13      "v2020.2"
14    ]
15  },
16  "status": "success"
17}

For the next steps you can pick a specific version of the dataset or just use /latest for the latest version.

Find the relevant fields

Before querying the dataset, you will need to know what fields to get from the dataset. To retrieve this, you can use a GET request to dataset/wri_tropical_tree_cover/latest/fields

SH
1curl -L -X GET 'https://data-api.globalforestwatch.org/dataset/wri_tropical_tree_cover/latest/fields'

Tropical Tree Cover dataset is a default raster asset. The response will include all Global Forest Watch raster tile sets that use the same grid as the raster default asset. Common fields like area__ha, latitude, and longitude are also included.

The other relevant field for Tropical Tree Cover dataset are:

  • wri_tropical_tree_cover__decile
  • wri_tropical_tree_cover__percent

Query dataset

In addition to the dataset identifier wri_tropical_tree_cover and version, you need to construct an SQL query and a geometry to limit the area of interest.

Limit data to area of interest

There are two ways to do this; using Geostore, or using GeoJson in a Post request. Both methods require geojson format. The possible geometry types available in Global Forest Watch is Polygon and MultiPolygon. To easily generate this format, visit https://geojson.io.

Using POST request with a polygon

Example using polygon:

SH
1curl -L -X POST 'https://data-api.globalforestwatch.org/dataset/sbtn_natural_forests_map/latest/query/json' \
2  -H 'x-api-key: <YOUR_API_KEY>' \
3  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
4  --data-raw '{
5        "sql": "SELECT sum(area__ha) FROM results WHERE wri_tropical_tree_cover__percent > 90",
6    "geometry": {
7      "type": "Polygon",
8      "coordinates": [[
9            [-60.474,-18.695],
10            [-60.474,-18.922],
11            [-60.231, -18.922],
12            [-60.231,-18.695],
13            [-60.474,-18.695]
14      ]]
15    }
16  }'

If successful the response will look something like this:

JSON
1{
2    "data": [
3        {
4            "area__ha": 53110.23464
5        }
6    ],
7    "status": "success"
8}

You can read more about Geostore and constructing SQL queries from in the Global Forest Watch tutorial.

Getting started using Global Forest Watch Data API

Getting started using Global Forest Watch Data API


Last updated: July 3, 2025

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