30 x 30 Protected Areas: Terrestrial Conservation Sites in Scotland

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot provides a geospatial dataset of all terrestrial protected area sites contributing to Scotland's 30x30 commitment to protect 30% of land by 2030. The data includes sites such as SSSIs, SACs, SPAs, Ramsars, and NNRs, clipped to OS BoundaryLine and undissolved to preserve individual site designations. Protected areas are up to date as of 31 May 2024.

Use Cases

• Mapping the spatial distribution of different protected area types based on the PA_Type attribute.
• Analyzing progress towards the 30% land protection target for Scotland by 2030.
• Assessing overlaps and gaps between different conservation designations like SSSIs, SACs, and SPAs.
• Conducting spatial analysis for land-use planning around protected terrestrial sites.

Strengths

• Includes multiple protected area designations (SSSIs, SACs, SPAs, Ramsars, NNRs) in a single layer.
• Data is up to date as of a specific date: 31 May 2024.
• Spatial data is clipped to a standard boundary (OS BoundaryLine) and remains undissolved, allowing identification of individual site types.

Limitations

• Purely geological SSSIs were not included, which may limit geological conservation analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot

Collection Method

Likely compiled from official protected area registers and clipped to OS BoundaryLine.

Time Range

Data reflects protected areas as of 31 May 2024.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:30:33.633122; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Scotland (terrestrial areas)