Land Cover Map 2007: 1km Dominant Habitat Classes for Northern Ireland

LCM2007 provides a 1km resolution raster classification of land cover for Northern Ireland, with each pixel representing the dominant aggregate habitat class. The map was produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite imagery from Landsat, IRS, and SPOT sensors, updating previous land cover maps from 1990 and 2000. It uses a nomenclature based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee's Broad Habitats framework for the UK.

Use Cases

• Analyze broad habitat distribution patterns based on the 1km dominant aggregate class data.
• Monitor land cover change over time by comparing with earlier LCM1990 and LCM2000 products.
• Model ecological connectivity or habitat suitability using the JNCC Broad Habitats classification.
• Support regional environmental policy and reporting based on satellite-derived land cover.

Strengths

• Provides a UK-wide consistent classification based on the JNCC Broad Habitats framework.
• Updates and upgrades two previous national land cover maps (LCMGB 1990 and LCM2000).
• Derived from multiple satellite data sources (Landsat, IRS, SPOT) and ancillary datasets.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The 1km resolution represents dominant classes, which may obscure finer-grained land cover details.

Provenance

Source

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, provided by the Environmental Information Data Centre.

Collection Method

Computer classification of satellite scenes (Landsat, IRS, SPOT) incorporating ancillary data.

Time Range

2007

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-02 19:17:01.168832; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.