The UKCEH Land Cover Maps (LCMs) do exactly that – map UK land cover. They do this by describing the physical material on the surface of the United Kingdom providing an uninterrupted national dataset of land cover classes from grassland, woodland and fresh water to urban and suburban built-up areas.
UKCEH has a long history of using satellite imagery to map land cover from the first national Land Cover Map of Great Britain in 1990 to the current production of annual Land Cover Maps and land cover change data.
Main users
Government, researchers, councils, charities, consultancies and utility companies all use Land Cover Maps for a wide range of applications in pursuit of academic, policy-related and commercial interests in the following areas:
| Atmosphere and climate | Agriculture and forestry |
| Water and catchments | Landscape planning |
| Ecosystem service assessment | Telecommunications |
| Marine and coastal | Urban planning and studies |
| Ecology and conservation | Statistics, information and maps |
| Impact assessment | Flood risk modelling |
| Health and hazards | Carbon accounting |
The latest land cover map is from 2024 and information on this and other details can be found on the UKCEH website.
New addition to the maps – Explore How Land Cover Varies Between Different Parts Of The UK
An exciting new addition to the UKCEH Land Cover Map means people can easily see how the makeup of our landscape varies between counties and nations of the UK.
The maps, which have been regularly updated over the past 30 years, use data based on high-tech satellite imagery to show what broad habitats – ranging from broadleaved woodland to arable to fresh water to urban – are where in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
In the highest resolution maps, each pixel represents a 10-metre square of land, which means one can identify narrow features of the landscape such as small woodland patches or waterways.
The latest map, containing 2024 data, was used to calculate statistics for each county (based on Office of National Statistics boundaries) and nation of the UK, and every region in England.
Previously, the data had to be downloaded and analysed in geospatial software to extract these statistics. This presented a barrier for some users because it required them to know how to use specialist software.
The statistics data are available in hectares and as a percentage of total land area and enable users to explore how the extent of different land cover types vary across the UK.
Find out more on the UKCEH website