LCM2020: UK Land Cover Raster Web Map Service

2020 land cover for Great Britain and Northern Ireland is described in this 25-meter resolution raster dataset. It uses UKCEH Land Cover Classes based on UK Biodiversity Action Plan broad habitats, derived from rasterising the LCM2020 Classified Land Parcels product. The dataset is supported by the UK-SCAPE programme under Natural Environment Research Council award NE/R016429/1.

Use Cases

• Habitat monitoring and reporting based on UK Biodiversity Action Plan broad habitat classes.
• Land use change analysis using the 2020 temporal snapshot and 25m spatial resolution.
• Environmental modelling and scenario planning supported by the UK-SCAPE national capability programme.
• Creating baseline maps for conservation planning across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Strengths

• Provides a complete 2020 snapshot of land cover for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
• Data is derived from a classified land parcel product, suggesting a structured source.
• Supported by a specific research council grant (NE/R016429/1) as part of a national capability programme.

Limitations

• Metadata on specific columns, row counts, and data size is unavailable across all sources.
• One source lists no update information, while others show an update in 2026, suggesting potential metadata inconsistency for a 2020 dataset.
• Access is limited to a Web Map Service (WMS), which may restrict direct data analysis compared to downloadable raster files.

Provenance

Source

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), via Government Digital Service platforms.

Collection Method

Derived by rasterising the properties of the LCM2020 Classified Land Parcels product.

Time Range

2020

Freshness

2026-04-02 08:40:03.839818

Geography

Great Britain and Northern Ireland