Creating Spatial Information: Commissioning the UK Land Cover Map 2000

Environmental datasets are subject to ontological differences in the way that information is recorded and reported. One of the implications is that environmental monitoring and the identification of loci of change is difficult. This generic problem is explored with reference to land cover mapping in the UK. The decennial land cover projects (LCMGB and LCM2000) are introduced and their differences described. Their different scientific, policy and commission contexts contribute to the overall change in methodology. Increased user participation in the specification of the 2000 dataset is the result of structural changes in the way policy is conducted. The Broad Habitat classification system was determined by many factors and not solely the responsibility of the scientists producing the data. The drive to integrate data that have fundamentally different characteristics and properties is examined and the botanical background to one dataset being used to provide quality measures for another is described. The value of combining two fundamentally different approaches and presenting them as an integrated product may be misleading. Each survey offers a different approach in terms of the spatial detail, extent and data primitives that are recorded.