Geological Conservation Review Sites (Scotland)

The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is the register of known nationally and internationally important Earth science sites in Great Britain. It underpins the designation of Earth science features in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The dataset is periodically updated and maintained by the Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot.

Use Cases

• Map protected geological features based on GCR site boundaries mentioned in the description.
• Analyze the overlap between statutory protection (SSSIs) and unnotified GCR sites described in the dataset.
• Identify candidate sites for local geodiversity designation based on the description of Local Geodiversity Sites (LGS).
• Assess the extent of statutory protection for nationally important Earth science sites as described.

Strengths

• Dataset is the official national register for important Earth science sites in Great Britain.
• Boundaries indicate the extent of Earth science interest within statutory protected areas (SSSIs).
• Periodically updated, with a last recorded update on 2026-06-24.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Boundaries of GCR sites are often not co-incident with SSSIs, which may complicate spatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot

Collection Method

Initially developed between 1977 and 1990, the GCR network is periodically updated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-24 06:07:48.429144; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Scotland, Great Britain