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| The Land Cover of Scotland 1988 exercise (LCS88) was the first detailed census of the Land Cover of Rural Scotland. The work was instigated in 1987 by The Scottish Office, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) (then Nature Conservancy Council) and the Forestry Commission (FC). There were 2 main components of the review: an assessment of user reactions to LCS88 and an exploration of the options for the future provision of information about change in the Land Cover of Scotland. Information for the review was gathered from an extensive series of interviews with sponsors and users, discussion with experts in land cover surveys and liaison with those responsible for related research projects. |
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| Main findings |
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- The review of the use of LCS88 showed that the data was now widely used in The Scottish Office, SNH, FC, Local Government, especially at Regional level, other environmental organisations such as the River Purification Boards and the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments, MLURI and the private sector.
- User reactions were overwhelmingly positive with the general view that the information was a key data source and had led to improved quality advice to support policy formulation, development and evaluation.
- Considerable benefit was seen to be derived from using the Land Cover information in conjunction with other data using geographic information systems.
- Interviewees consider that significant further benefit could be achieved if LCS88 could be used as a baseline to identify changes in the countryside.
- The consensus view was that a repeat of LCS88 in 1998-2000 would be appropriate and would add significantly to the value of the original exercise.
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| Land Cover of Scotland 1988 |
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| LCS88 was undertaken to provide authoritative information on the Land Cover of Scotland for both policy and research purposes and to provide a baseline against which past and future change might be monitored. |
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| LCS88 was conducted in 3 phases: 1. medium scale air photography was flown for the whole of Scotland; 2. this photography was interpreted to obtain a census map of land cover information which was then converted to computer readable form using geographic information systems; 3. the derived data was then compared to conditions on the ground to produce accuracy assessments. |
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| The majority of stages 2 and 3 were carried out by the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute. |
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| Comments on the Methodology of LCS88 |
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| The programme of interviews showed: 1. very strong support for a census rather than a sample based approach to the collection of data; 2. the decision to use GIS to store the census data was a very positive aspect commended by respondents; 3. there was very strong support for the decision to derive land cover information by interpreting air photographs; 4. while there was general support for the classification developed by MLURI there was a strong feeling that there was a need to give more attention to the treatment of mosaic classes in any future work. |
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| Future Provision of Land Cover Information |
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| Interviewees considered that significant further benefits would be derived from LCS88 if information were available on changes in land cover. This potential derives from the choice of methodology and the quality of implementation which provided a robust base for assessing change. |
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| The consultants identified widespread support among interviewees for a repeat of LCS88. |
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| The consultants conclude that the only option that is likely to deliver authoritative information on changes in the land cover of Scotland is a repeat survey using a similar methodology to LCS88 to produce an aerial photography interpretation derived census of land cover. |
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| "Review Provision of Land Cover Information", the research report summarised in this Research Findings, may be purchased (price £5 per copy). |
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Cheques should be made payable to The Stationery Office Books and addressed to:
The Stationery Office Bookshop,
71 Lothian Road,
Edinburgh EH3 9AZ.
Telephone: 0131-228 4181 or Fax: 0131-229 2734. The report can also be ordered online from:www.thestationeryoffice.co.uk |
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Further copies of this Research Findings may be obtained from:
The Scottish Office Central Research Unit
Room 306
St Andrew's House
Edinburgh EH3 3DG
Telephone 0131-244 2112 |