England Hedgerow And Tree Line Extent Model 2016-2021

A model of woody linear features on field boundaries in England, derived from Environment Agency lidar captured between 2016 and 2021. The dataset maps the extent and height class of hedgerows, tree lines, and thickets, excluding urban areas, woodlands, open water, and mountain terrain.

Use Cases

• Map hedgerow and tree line extent across England for habitat connectivity analysis.
• Analyze height class distributions of woody linear features for carbon stock estimation.
• Integrate this model with the UKCEH Land Cover Map using consistent polygon boundaries for land use studies.
• Assess field boundary structure changes over the 2016-2021 period using lidar-derived features.

Strengths

• Derived from the national-scale Environment Agency lidar product captured over a 5-year period (2016-2021).
• Linework is consistent with the authoritative UKCEH Land Cover Map polygon boundaries.
• Excludes areas of low feature density and uncertainty (e.g., urban, woodland, water) to focus model confidence.

Limitations

• Coverage excludes significant land classes like urban areas, woodlands, and open water, limiting applicability in those environments.
• A specific 24 x 25 km area on the North Yorkshire Moors was excluded due to missing source lidar data.
• The model focuses on woody linear features, omitting other boundary types like walls or fences.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Derived from processing of the Environment Agency National Lidar Programme data.

Time Range

2016-2021

Freshness

null

Geography

England