Anglian Coastal Habitat Map Derived From Aerial Photography And Lidar

The Anglian Coastal Habitat Map 2021 classifies coastal ecosystems using ortho-rectified aerial photography and LIDAR elevation data. The Environment Agency produced the map from imagery captured between May 1 and September 8, 2021. It categorizes habitats like saltmarsh, seagrass, sand dune, vegetated shingle, and blue mussel beds using the Integrated Habitat System (IHS) version 2.001.

Use Cases

• Classify habitat types like saltmarsh or seagrass from segmented imagery and LIDAR-derived elevation features.
• Analyze the spatial distribution and adjacency of priority habitats and Annex 1 classes defined by the IHS system.
• Validate habitat classification outputs against known ground-truthed datasets for specific coastal features.
• Monitor changes in coastal ecosystems by comparing segmented parcel data from this 2021 survey with future maps.

Strengths

• Integrates multiple data sources: 25cm true-color ortho-rectified photography (resampled to 1m) and contemporaneous LIDAR elevation data.
• Uses a standardized classification system (Integrated Habitat System v2.001) that integrates UK Priority habitats and Annex 1 classes.
• Map creation involved manual interpretation and class allocation to segments derived from imagery and LIDAR.

Limitations

• Validation confidence varies per habitat class, as ground truthing data was not collected specifically for this classification.
• Original aerial photography resolution was reduced from 25cm to 1m for the segmentation process, potentially losing fine detail.
• The temporal coverage is limited to a four-month period in 2021, representing a single snapshot.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency, derived from the Anglian Coastal Monitoring Programme.

Collection Method

Created from masking and segmenting 1m resolution aerial photography and LIDAR data, with manual class allocation.

Time Range

Imagery captured between May 1, 2021 and September 8, 2021.

Freshness

Data represents a snapshot from 2021; platform record was last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Anglian coastal region, United Kingdom.