UKCEH Land Cover Map 2017: 20m Classified Pixels for Northern Ireland

UKCEH Land Cover Map 2017 (LCM2017) provides a 20-meter resolution raster classification of land cover for Northern Ireland. It was produced using a Random Forest classification on multi-season spectral data combined with context layers and includes a band for land cover class and a band for classification confidence. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of the UK-SCAPE programme.

Use Cases

• Mapping habitat types based on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan broad habitats classification.
• Analyzing land cover change over time using the 2017 temporal snapshot.
• Assessing classification uncertainty for specific areas using the provided confidence indicator band.
• Integrating land cover data into ecological or hydrological models for Northern Ireland.

Strengths

• Provides a 20-meter spatial resolution, offering detailed land cover information.
• Includes a dedicated band for classification confidence, allowing for uncertainty assessment.
• Based on a Random Forest classification of multi-season spectral data, a method that likely helps resolve spectral confusion.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is specific to 2017 and Northern Ireland, limiting temporal and geographic scope.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Random Forest classification result from a 20m pixel raster containing multi-season spectral information combined with context layers.

Time Range

2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-19 07:33:49.321323; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Northern Ireland