(www.eea.europa.eu/data‐and‐maps/data)
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Land cover is the physical material on the surface of the Earth, including artificial materials, such as roads and buildings in urban areas, but also natural and managed vegetated surfaces and inland water. Land cover information has multiple uses, such as the management of natural resources, urban planning, carbon accounting and flood risk modelling. Land cover information also gives us an insight into how the land in a catchment is being used (or was being used previously) and this can be a very useful indicator of ecosystem health/condition and therefore its ability to provide different ecosystem services. Landcover data can be obtained from a variety of sources, but its most important use is to give a broad overview of the catchment landscape character (also see below).
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Landscape Character Areas A Landscape Character Area is defined as "a distinct, recognisable and consistent pattern of elements, be it natural (soil, landform) and/or human (for example settlement and development) in the landscape that makes one landscape different from another, rather than better or worse". The Landscape Character Assessment (LCA) helps us to understand what components give England’s landscapes their unique character.
Landcover & landscape character
(www.ceh.ac.uk/landcovermapping.html)
FREE ALTERNATIVE: Corine Landcover from European Environment Agency.
Overview
Landcover typology
UPGRADE DATA: Land Cover Map 2000 or 2007 from CEH