Nova Scotia Land Cover Polygons from Aerial Photography

2026-updated land cover data for Nova Scotia, derived from aerial photography. It includes treed areas larger than 3600 square meters and over two meters tall, plus orchards, nurseries, and landmark trees. Feature codes and descriptions are provided in a separate table.

Use Cases

• Map and quantify treed area coverage using the defined 3600m2 size and 2m height thresholds for environmental analysis.
• Analyze spatial distribution of orchards and nurseries as distinct land cover categories for agricultural planning.
• Identify and locate single landmark trees for conservation or urban forestry management.
• Integrate land cover polygons with other NSTDB layers using the provided feature codes for comprehensive landscape modeling.

Strengths

• Maintained and updated from aerial photography, ensuring spatial accuracy.
• Includes specific, defined features like treed areas over 3600m2 and 2m height.
• Provides a feature code table for interpreting land cover classifications.
• Offered in multiple GIS formats including SHP, GEOJSON, and KML for interoperability.

Limitations

• Land cover is limited to specific vegetation types, excluding other land uses.
• The minimum size threshold of 3600m2 omits smaller wooded patches from the dataset.

Provenance

Source

Government of Nova Scotia

Collection Method

Updated and maintained from aerial photography.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Nova Scotia, Canada