This land system map is a comprehensive and high resolution representation of European land systems on a 1-km2 grid integrating important land use and landscape characteristics. There are four main land systems that are dominated by one land cover : settlement systems, forest systems, cropland systems, and grassland systems. Under each of these systems, there are low, medium, and high land use intensity classes. There are also mosaic systems that are not dominated by any land cover, including forest/shrub mosaics and agricultural mosaics. Other land systems in this map include water and wetland systems, shrubs, and rocks and bare soil. Details of the map and applications on Species distribution models can be found in this article: Dou, Y., Cosentino, F., Malek, Z. et al. A new European land systems representation accounting for landscape characteristics. Landscape Ecol (2021). https://doi-org/10.1007/s10980-021-01227-5