OFFICIAL information on Scotland’s tree cover and land use has been made public for the first time – thanks to new government funding.
The Improvement Service (IS) has launched open access to the Spatial Hub, a local government data resource containing a wide range of information valuable to organisations and companies with an interest in forestry.
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The Spatial Hub collects data directly from local authorities and other partner organisations, which is then compiled and published in Scotland-wide datasets for others to use. Until now, these were only available to local government, public sector organisations and academics, but new funding from the Scottish Government has allowed the IS to make this information available to everyone.
Several Spatial Hub datasets include trees and land cover and can be used to assess what opportunities and protections are in place for such important landscape features.
Ron Wilkinson, spatial information services programme manager at the IS, said: “This is the first time in the UK that such a significant resource is being made available as open data; open for anyone to access, use and share as they see fit.
“The availability of these Spatial Hub datasets will save organisations time and money, as they will no longer need to source this data from individual local authorities.”
To see the data for yourself, visit: data.spatialhub.scot/
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