ACT Canopy Cover 2020: Urban Tree Canopy Percentage for Canberra

ACTGOV 2020 Canopy Cover provides estimated percentage coverage of vegetation above 3 meters for blocks, divisions, and road polygons in Canberra. The dataset is derived from LiDAR data captured in April 2020 by Aerometrex and the ACT Government, processed to a 1-meter resolution. The total tree canopy cover estimate for Canberra's urban divisions in 2020 is 22.5%.

Use Cases

• Assess urban tree canopy coverage for sustainability planning based on the reported 22.5% total cover.
• Model urban cooling and heat island effects based on vegetation coverage data.
• Monitor changes in urban forest extent over time based on the 5-year update schedule.
• Support policy decisions for the Urban Forest Strategy based on block and division-level canopy statistics.

Strengths

• Derived from LiDAR data captured at 12 points per square meter in April 2020.
• Provides a specific total canopy cover estimate of 22.5% for Canberra's urban divisions.
• Canopy modelling was completed at a 1-meter resolution.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Comparison to the 2015 canopy data is not recommended due to methodological differences stated in the caveat.

Provenance

Source

ACT Government Geospatial Data Catalogue (ACTmapi), derived from LiDAR by Aerometrex and ACT Government.

Collection Method

LiDAR point clouds processed with ArcGIS to produce canopy footprints, then aggregated to polygon statistics.

Time Range

April 2020

Freshness

Update schedule: every 5 years

Geography

Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Canberra region