National Forest Inventory Woodland Map for England 2019

Forestry Commission data maps all woodland in England over 0.5 hectares with a minimum 20% canopy cover or potential. The inventory is updated annually using Ordnance Survey MasterMap, Sentinel 2 imagery, aerial photography, and grant scheme data. Woodland areas are classified into 16 interpreted forest types, such as Conifer, Broadleaved, and Felled.

Use Cases

• Analyzing forest composition and distribution based on interpreted forest type categories like Conifer and Broadleaved.
• Monitoring changes in woodland boundaries and canopy cover based on annual updates using satellite imagery.
• Identifying non-woodland open areas within forests based on interpreted open area categories like Grassland and Urban.
• Assessing the impact of forestry management activities based on categories like Felled, Windblow, and Young trees.
• Mapping new planting and restocking areas based on information from grant schemes and sub-compartment databases.

Strengths

• Includes all woodland areas over 0.5 hectares, regardless of ownership, providing a complete national inventory.
• Uses multiple authoritative sources for updates, including Ordnance Survey MasterMap, Sentinel 2 imagery, and Forestry England grant data.
• Classifies woodland into 16 specific interpreted forest types, offering detailed compositional data.

Limitations

• Row count and file formats are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to its focus on England.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission

Collection Method

Interpreted from aerial photography, satellite imagery (Sentinel 2), Ordnance Survey MasterMap, and administrative data from grant schemes.

Time Range

2019, with updates using imagery from 2018 and planting data from 2018/2019.

Freshness

Updated on an annual basis.

Geography

England