Landscape Character Assessment 2019: Scotland's National Character Types at 1:50,000 Scale

Scotland's national landscape character types, produced by the Scottish Government in collaboration with Forestry and Land Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland. The dataset represents a revised national suite of landscape character types at a 1:50,000 scale, building upon a program initiated in the 1990s. It was last updated on May 11, 2026.

Use Cases

• Regional land-use planning based on distinct landscape character areas.
• Environmental impact assessments using integrated physical, cultural, and historical characteristics.
• GIS analysis of landscape patterns at a national scale of 1:50,000.

Strengths

• Created in collaboration with Forestry and Land Scotland (FCS) and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) as well as all local authorities.
• Provides a national-scale dataset at a consistent 1:50,000 mapping scale.
• Represents a revised and updated version of a long-running assessment program initiated in the 1990s.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Scottish context.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot

Collection Method

Analytical technique identifying areas with distinct inter-related physical, cultural, historical, and perceptual characteristics.

Time Range

2019

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-11 20:03:24.378685; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Scotland