Scotland's Ecosystem Service Demand Maps for Six Key Services

Six geospatial TIFF files map human-centric demand for ecosystem services across all of Scotland. The dataset models demand for inland flood mitigation, insect pollination, access to nature, air quality improvement, noise regulation, and local temperature regulation. It was published by the Scottish Government via SpatialData.gov.scot and was last updated in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing flood mitigation infrastructure based on modelled areas where river flooding may impact people and infrastructure.
• Identifying habitats critical for pollination services based on travel range to areas in need of pollination.
• Assessing equitable access to greenspace based on indicators of distance, population size, and population health.
• Mapping air quality improvement demand using indicators like distance to major roads and proportion of man-made surfaces.
• Evaluating noise regulation needs by scoring areas based on proximity to noise sources, population, and health indicators.

Strengths

• Covers the entire geographic area of Scotland.
• Models demand for six distinct ecosystem services: inland flood mitigation, insect pollination, access to nature, air quality improvement, noise regulation, and local temperature regulation.
• Each service demand is modelled using specific, described indicators, such as distance to greenspace, population, and health.

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 its focus on Scotland.

Provenance

Source

Scottish Government SpatialData.gov.scot

Collection Method

Environmental modelling based on described indicators.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 21:03:51.250262; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Scotland