National Forest Inventory Woodland Map for England 2020

2020 data from the National Forest Inventory (NFI) maps all forest and woodland in England exceeding 0.5 hectares with at least 20% canopy cover. It is produced by the Forestry Commission using Ordnance Survey MasterMap, Sentinel 2 imagery, and aerial photography, and includes annual updates. Woodland areas are classified into 16 interpreted forest types, and non-woodland open areas are categorized into 11 interpreted open area types.

Use Cases

• Monitor forest extent and canopy cover changes based on annual updates and satellite imagery.
• Classify woodland composition based on the 16 interpreted forest type categories.
• Analyze land use patterns within forested areas based on the 11 interpreted open area categories.
• Assess the impact of forestry activities like new planting, felling, or windblow based on included change categories.

Strengths

• Defines woodland with clear, quantitative criteria: areas over 0.5 hectares with a minimum 20% canopy cover.
• Includes 16 specific interpreted forest type categories and 11 interpreted open area categories for detailed classification.
• Updated annually using Ordnance Survey MasterMap and satellite imagery from 2019 and 2020.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is limited; actual data quality and file formats require manual inspection after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission / Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Interpreted from aerial photography, Sentinel 2 satellite imagery, Ordnance Survey MasterMap, and grant scheme data.

Time Range

2020, with updates using imagery from 2019 and 2020.

Freshness

Updated annually; includes data from 2019/2020.

Geography

England