Rowland, C.S.; Morton, R.D.; Carrasco, L.; McShane, G.; O'Neil, A.W.; Wood, C.M.

Land Cover Map 2015 (vector, N. Ireland)

https://doi.org/10.5285/60764028-adeb-4316-987a-14b3b21a8f9a Cite this dataset

This dataset consists of the vector version of the Land Cover Map 2015 (LCM2015) for Northern Ireland. The vector data set is the core LCM data set from which the full range of other LCM2015 products is derived. It provides a number of attributes including land cover at the target class level (given as an integer value and also as text), the number of pixels within the polygon classified as each land cover type and a probability value provided by the classification algorithm (for full details see the LCM2015 Dataset Documentation). The 21 target classes are based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompass the entire range of UK habitats. LCM2015 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes.

LCM2015 consists of a range of raster and vector products and users should familiarise themselves with the full range (see related records, the CEH web site and the LCM2015 Dataset documentation) to select the product most suited to their needs.

LCM2015 was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. It is one of a series of land cover maps, produced by UKCEH since 1990. They include versions in 1990, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Publication date: 2017-04-12

Formats

ESRI file geodatabase
Shape file
KML (Google Earth)
Geography Markup Language (GML)
MapInfo TAB

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type: Vector
Spatial reference system: TM75 / Irish Grid

Temporal information

Temporal extent: 2013-01-01 to 2015-12-01

Provenance & quality

For LCM2015, per-pixel classifications were conducted, using a random forest classification algorithm to classify the different land cover types. The resultant classifications were then mosaicked together, with the best classifications taking priority. This produced a per-pixel classification of the UK, which was then 'imported' into the spatial framework, recording a number of attributes, including the majority class per polygon which is the Land Cover class for each polygon. The 25m raster classification product is the majority class per polygon i.e. the dominant class for each polygon.

LCM2015 uses a spatial framework that is similar to the LCM2007 framework. For both LCM2007 and LCM2015 the framework is based on generalised OS MasterMap (R). The generalisation (or simplification) process was used to remove very small objects, which provided unnecessary detail. In LCM2007 larger polygons were split using image segmentation; however this was not done for LCM2015.