UKCEH Land Cover Maps

Land Cover Map 2020 (LCM2020) datasets describe the UK land surface in 2020. These were produced by classifying satellite images from 2020. The 2020 editions provide more detail than ever before, as a high-resolution 10m product is available for the first time.

Currently only available for Great Britain, with Northern Ireland coverage to be added soon.

Land Cover Map 2019 datasets describe the UK land surface in 2019. These were produced at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2019.

Land Cover Map 2018 datasets describe the UK land surface in 2019. These were produced at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2018.

Land Cover Map 2017 datasets describe the UK land surface in 2017. These were produced at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2017.

LCM2015 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes.

Land Cover Map 2007 (LCM2007) is a parcel-based thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. LCM2007 is derived from a computer classification of satellite scenes obtained mainly from Landsat, IRS and SPOT sensors.

The Land Cover Map 2000 (LCM2000) is a series of data products based on a parcel-based thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. LCM2000 is derived from a computer classification of satellite scenes obtained mainly from the Landsat sensor.

The first digital Land Cover Map of Great Britain was produced in the early 1990s. In 2020, a new Land Cover Map 1990 was released, which applies the methods developed for LCM2015 to satellite data from 1990. It uses the same Broad Habitat-based classes as LCM2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, and uses the same spatial framework as LCM2007 onward; it also maps Northern Ireland.

This consistency enabled the production of the first UK Land Cover Change data set.

This shows change between 1990 and 2015 in six simplified land cover classes and in 25m raster format.

Academic research and education

The series of Land Cover Maps is available for free to subscribers to the EDINA Environment Digimap service, which include all staff and students at more than 160 UK further and higher educational establishments.

If your academic institution does not subscribe to EDINA, please contact the UKCEH Licensing Team via our Data Request Form or email Spatial Data for more information.

Non-commercial use of raster data

All of UKCEH’s raster Land Cover Maps are available to download and use for free for non-commercial organisations and their contractors from the Environmental Information Data Centre:

• Land Cover Map 2020
• Land Cover Map 2019
• Land Cover Map 2018
• Land Cover Map 2017
• Land Cover Map 2015
• Land Cover Map 2007
• Land Cover Map 2000
• Land Cover Map 1990

Non-commercial use of vector land parcels data

Non-commercial organisations and their contractors can access all vector Land Cover Maps for Great Britain from UKCEH under licence. While data fees will not be charged, administration fees (total of £300 plus VAT) will apply. A condition of the licence is that information on how the data are used is provided to help inform our product development. Understanding how and where our data are being used ensures they are kept fresh and relevant. Please make a request using this licence application form (Word).

Commercial internal business use

All of UKCEH’s Land Cover Maps are available for commercial internal business use under licence and subject to payment of a licence fee. Please make a request via our Data Request form or email Spatial Data for more information.

Innovation use and value-added reselling

UKCEH encourages use of our data to develop your ideas for new products and services. You can assess the datasets for potential commercial opportunity or to see what benefits they may bring under a free-of-charge innovation licence, which may lead to a bespoke value-added-reseller agreement. Please make a request via our data request form or email Spatial Data  for more information.

Working for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)?

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and UKCEH have signed a licence, which will give the Defra family of agencies and public bodies* access to Land Cover Map vector data for Great Britain at no additional cost to that agency/public body. If you work for one of these, or if one of them funds your project, please contact the UKCEH Data Licensing team.

*Scroll to Defra in the list and click view all.

Web mapping service

UKCEH provides a Web Mapping Service for Land Cover Map 2007, 2015, 2017-2019 25m raster data, as well as Land Cover Map 2007 and 2015 1km raster data.  Soon the Land Cover Map 2020 10m raster data will be added. Using our map viewer, high-resolution data for the whole of Great Britain can be seen, but not downloaded. Images of Land Cover Map data can be captured but, if these are published, they must be acknowledged appropriately.

Customer: Norfolk Rivers Trust

Project: Diffuse Pollution Risk Mapping
Land Cover Map product: Land Cover Map 2007 25m raster data

"My project aims to identify high-risk sites for water runoff. To give me a good idea of where to concentrate my effort, I ran the SCIMAP Model. Using Land Cover Map 2007 25m raster data, as well as rainfall and digital terrain data, the model highlighted risky areas of flow within the River Nar catchment. When I went out on site to these identified areas during heavy rain, I could see the flow of water out of fields and down roads. I wouldn’t solely rely on the model to tell me where to look because there was other evidence elsewhere in the catchment, but it is a good indicator."

Helen Mandley, Farming & Water Project Officer.

Customer: Severn Trent Water

Project: Risk mapping to support catchment management and drinking water safety planning.
Land Cover Map product: Land Cover Map 2007 vector data

CEH's Land Cover Map 2007 vector dataset. which defined the baseline land parcels, was used in support of archival satellite imagery to produce annual land use maps. In turn, these land use maps were overlaid with inherent field risk (soil type, slope and proximity to water) to develop pesticide risk maps.

Customer: OFCOM, Microsoft and other global technology companies

Project: TV White Space - Europe's first major pilot project to support wireless innovation.
Land Cover Map product: Land Cover Map 25m raster data

Land Cover Map 2007 25m raster data is a vital component of this pilot project, which is investigating the potential for the gaps or "white spaces" in the frequency band for digital terrestrial TV to be used for other applications at certain times. The amount of white space available varies by location, hence the requirement for Land Cover Map. Examples of the applications include monitoring the behaviour of cities, enhancing traffic information, improving broadband in hard-to-reach places and developing intelligent devices.