National Forest Inventory Scotland: Woodland Map and Forest Types

All forest and woodland areas over 0.5 hectares with a minimum 20% canopy cover are mapped, including areas of new planting, clearfell, windblow, and restock. The dataset classifies woodland into interpreted forest types such as Conifer, Broadleaved, and Mixed, using Sentinel 2 satellite imagery and aerial photography. It is updated annually, with changes referenced against Ordnance Survey MasterMap® and informed by grant scheme data from Forestry and Land Scotland.

Use Cases

• Monitoring forest cover change based on annual updates and satellite imagery analysis.
• Assessing forest composition and health using the interpreted forest type (IFT) classification.
• Planning forestry operations and grant allocations using data on new planting and felled areas.
• Conducting ecological studies by analyzing the distribution of conifer, broadleaved, and mixed woodland types.

Strengths

• Annual updates ensure the map reflects recent changes like new planting and windblow.
• Uses multiple authoritative data sources including Sentinel 2 imagery, aerial photography, and Ordnance Survey MasterMap®.
• Provides a detailed classification of woodland into 11 interpreted forest types (IFT).

Limitations

• Metadata for size, row count, license, and specific columns is consistently missing across all platform entries.
• Conflicting information exists regarding the financial year for new planting data (2020/2021 vs. 2023/2024) and the imagery year (2021 vs. 2024) across different entries.
• Woodland patches smaller than 0.5 hectares are excluded from the main map, though surveyed separately.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service (associated with one entry); methodology references Forestry and Land Scotland, Forestry England, and Natural Resources Wales.

Collection Method

Interpretation of aerial photography and Sentinel 2 satellite imagery, combined with administrative data from forestry grant schemes and sub-compartment databases.

Time Range

Annual updates; specific assessment years referenced include 2021, 2022, and 2024.

Freshness

2026-04-07 (latest platform update date)

Geography

Scotland, with notes on areas crossing country borders. Includes both urban and rural woodland.