This view shows a 1km resolution raster version of the Land Cover Map 2007 for Northern Ireland. Each 1km pixel represents the dominant aggregate class across the 1km area. The aggregate classes are aggregations of the target classes, broadly representing Broad Habitats (see below). The dataset is part of a series of data products produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology known as LCM2007. LCM2007 is a parcel-based thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. The map updates and upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) 1990 and LCM2000. Like the earlier 1990 and 2000 products, LCM2007 is derived from a computer classification of satellite scenes obtained mainly from Landsat, IRS and SPOT sensors and also incorporates information derived from other ancillary datasets. LCM2007 was classified using a nomenclature corresponding to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompasses the entire range of UK habitats. In addition, it recorded further detail where possible. The series of LCM2007 products includes vector and raster formats, with a number of different versions containing varying levels of detail and at different spatial resolutions.

This view service displays Environmental Zones which are aggregations of ITE Land Classes; these classes are derived from repeatable multivariate analysis of environmental data collected for each 1 km square in the country. Thus the classes, and hence the zones, are determined by combinations of environmental characteristics, not by just one or two. This means that the naming of classes (and zones) is not straightforward and cannot be achieved by reference to single parameters such as altitude. The approach taken with the ITE Land Classes is to give each a numeric identifier, rather than a text name, and to supplement these Land Class numbers with a brief description of the class.