Land Cover of Scotland 1988 (LCS88)

This dataset is the first ever national census of land cover in Scotland . It was produced at The James Hutton Institute on behalf of SEERAD (then The Scottish Office) to assist in developing and monitoring the effectiveness of policies affecting the state of the countryside in Scotland . Baseline scale is 1:25 000. The classification system allows for 126 land cover types to be identified as point, line or area features. Area features are delineated where they are > 10 ha for semi-natural ground vegetation, > 5 ha for built-up land or > 2 ha for woodland. An important aspect of the classification system is that it allows for mosaics of the single land cover features to be identified. Mosaics are defined as mixtures of 2 land cover features where the patches of both are below the minimum mapping area criterion for separate identification. The recognition of mosaics expands the number of land cover classes from 126 to 1323.

From 1 st April 2001 SEERAD and Ordnance Survey will no longer collect leasing fees for this dataset. The James Hutton Institute will act as agent for the delivery of LCS88 data. Leasing Agreements will continue to be set up for each data lease and there will be a charge for delivery of £350 + VAT for a study area or for the Scotland dataset. The setting up of leasing agreements and delivery of data is mainly carried out by email.

Note on LCS88

The Land Cover of Scotland Dataset is Crown Copyright 1992. It shall not be reproduced in any form whatever without the permission of The Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. It is reproduced from OS Pathfinder Series with the permission of the Controller of HMSO.

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