Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency has, in conjunction with several other Swedish agencies and organizations, taken the initiative to produce such a map that covers the entire country.
Mapping the entire country
Land cover and land use maps are an important source of information for activities involving biological diversity, sustainable development, ecosystem services, civil planning and climate and risk management. That is why the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, together with several other agencies, has produced a land cover\ land use map over the entire country. There are also a number of complementary products and related documentation. This collaboration has successfully resulted in a useful product that myriad users working on environmental issues in Sweden can benefit.
Available products
The following products can be accessed.
- National Land Cover Database, original version.
- National Land Cover Database, generalized version.
- Additional layer: Land Use.
- Additional layer: Object Height and Extent.
- Additional layer: Productivity.
- Additional layer: Forests in Mountainous Regions.
- Webb Mapping Service, along with the ability to download the data per administrative county, for the original version of the Land Cover Database.
- National Quality Control/ Quality Assurance report.
- Final report with an up-to-date product description.
- Technical documentation.
- Soil moisture index map (an intermediary result from the database production)
Examples
The Nation Land Cover Database is used in various ways depending on the organization in question. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency uses the data as input into a web-based mapping service that details a risk classification for fire fuels.
It is primarily the forest vegetation’s susceptibility to fire that is classified based on the National Land Cover Database. The classification can also be used as input to derive the fire risk for larger contiguous areas comprised of vegetation that is typically prone to catch fire. The classification can also be instrumental for management purposes during actual firefighting efforts in order to get a better grip on potential spreading paths or, for example, to determine which areas need to be evacuated. Even after the fire is put out, a fire risk map can be input into an analysis of the fire’s behavior, how it developed and its intensity.
Future management and updating
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and other interested parties want a well-organized long term plan for the management and distribution of the land cover data. Functional and efficient methods for continuous updating is important. That is why the Swedish EPA, together with like-minded actors, are partaking in a project financed by Vinnova called Agenda for the Landscape. The aim of this project is to establish the management plan and methods, mentioned above - as well as validating and assuring quality.
Contacts
- Birgitta Olsson, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
- Ola Inghe, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
- Emma Granqvist, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency