Historic Environment Records for Scotland: Archaeological Sites and Land-Use Planning

Historic Environment Records (HERs) provide systematically organized information on Scotland's historic environment, including archaeological sites and built heritage. The dataset is maintained by Local Planning Authorities and Historic Environment Scotland, with its role in planning formalized by government guidance issued in 1994. Data is curated for public benefit according to national and international standards.

Use Cases

• Informing development proposals and land-use planning decisions based on spatially defined historic environment data.
• Supporting sustainable conservation and environmental improvement projects based on records of archaeological and built heritage.
• Advancing public understanding and education about the local historic environment based on the accessible information resource.
• Contributing to economic regeneration strategies by referencing the historic environment's role in environmental improvement.

Strengths

• Data is curated according to national and international standards, as stated in the description.
• The dataset's role in land-use planning is supported by formal government guidance issued in 1994 and regularly updated.
• Records are spatially defined and dynamically curated for relevance to land use management.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• For some Local Planning Authority areas, data is sourced from the Canmore database, which is noted as not equivalent to HER data.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot, Local Planning Authorities, and Historic Environment Scotland.

Collection Method

Systematically organized records curated by specialist staff and archaeological services from Local Planning Authorities and the Canmore database.

Time Range

Records developed from the 1960s onwards, with planning guidance first issued in 1994.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:33:17.526237; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Scotland