The basic datasets used in global crop production estimation including Air temperature, Rainfall, Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), Potential biomass, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Vegetation Health Index (VHI). Based on these, multiple novel indicators and methods such as Environmental Indices (EI), Cropping Intensity (CI), Cropped Arable Land Fraction (CALF), maximum Vegetation Condition Index (VCIx), Cropping structure, time profile clustering and NDVI process analysis are proposed and applied in environmental assessment, crop monitoring and production estimation for four major crops (maize, wheat, rice and soybean). Definition of above indices and more information about the methodologies please refer to CropWatch online resources on the main bulletin page at www.cropwatch.com.cn.