Carbon and Peatland Map for Scotland, 2016 High-Level Planning Tool

NatureScot prepared a consolidated spatial dataset of carbon-rich soils, deep peat, and priority peatland habitats in Scotland. The map is derived from existing soil and vegetation data from the James Hutton Institute and Land Cover Scotland 1988. It serves as a predictive, high-level planning tool to indicate the likely presence of peat at a coarse scale.

Use Cases

• Identify areas of carbon-rich soil for conservation planning based on the mapped soil and vegetation data.
• Assess the likely presence of deep peat for land-use planning based on the predictive mapping approach.
• Develop spatial frameworks for planning authorities based on the consolidated map of priority peatland habitats.

Strengths

• Consolidated from authoritative sources including James Hutton Institute soil data and Land Cover Scotland 1988.
• Designed as a high-level planning tool to promote consistency and clarity for planning authorities.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and specific spatial resolution are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

NatureScot, derived from James Hutton Institute and Land Cover Scotland data.

Collection Method

Consolidation and updating of existing soil and vegetation spatial datasets.

Time Range

Based on source data from 1988 and earlier work; the consolidated map is from 2016.

Freshness

Last updated date is unknown.

Geography

Scotland