Identification

Title

National Scenic Areas

Alternative title(s)

NSAs

Abstract

National Scenic Areas (NSAs) are Scotland's only national landscape designation, and defined as areas “of outstanding scenic value in a national context” for which special protection measures are required. The designation’s purpose is both to identify our finest scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development. NSAs are broadly equivalent to the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty found in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are regarded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Category V Protected Landscapes. There are 40 NSAs in total covering roughly 1 million hectares (13% of Scotland).

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

http://sedsh127.sedsh.gov.uk/arcgis/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WMSServer?

protocol: OGC:WMS

name: National Scenic Areas

description: OGC View Service

http://sedsh127.sedsh.gov.uk/arcgis/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WFSServer?

protocol: OGC:WFS

name: National_Scenic_Areas

description: OGC Feature Download Service

http://sedsh127.sedsh.gov.uk/arcgis/rest/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/3

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

name: National Scenic Areas

description: ESRI REST Service

http://sedsh127.sedsh.gov.uk/Atom_data/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/SG_ProtectedSites.atom.en.xml

protocol: INSPIRE-ATOM

name: Protected Sites

description: ATOM Download Service

http://sedsh127.sedsh.gov.uk/Atom_data/ScotGov/ZippedShapefiles/SG_NationalScenicAreas_1998.zip

protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download

name: National Scenic Areas

description: ESRI Shapefile Download

Unique resource identifier

code

SG_NationalScenicAreas

codeSpace

www.gov.scot

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

authority code

EPSG

code identifying the spatial reference system

OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG:27700)

Additional information source

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/Countryside/Heritage/Areas

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

environment

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Protected sites

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2006-04-03

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.8

East bounding longitude

-0.71

North bounding latitude

60.87

South bounding latitude

54.63

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2007-12-13

code identifying the extent

GB-SCT

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1998-01-01

Frequency of update

asNeeded

Quality and validity

Lineage

NSAs were first identified by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (a predecessor to Scottish Natural Heritage) in 1978 and described in the Commission’s report "Scotland's Scenic Heritage". While originally established in 1980 under planning legislation, NSAs were formally designated under The Town and Country Planning (National Scenic Areas) (Scotland) Designation Directions 2010 in December 2010. The dataset was digitised against Ordnance Survey 1:50K raster data in 1998 and follows the textual description in the Countryside Commission report. The textual description contains ambiguities and the maps associated with the text (also in the publication) don't always agree. The dataset covers all NSA's including offshore extensions - no new areas have since been identified. Most areas are in private ownership although the Forestry Commission has some sizeable land holdings.

Conformity

Data format

name of format

WMS

version of format

1.3.0

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

No limitations on public access

Constraint set

Use constraints

The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Copyright Scottish Government, contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year)

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

United Kingdom

email address

GI-SAT@gov.scot

responsible party role

publisher

Responsible party

contact position

Natural Resources

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

United Kingdom

email address

steven.dora@gov.scot

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

Geographic Information Science and Analysis Team

organisation name

Scottish Government

full postal address

Victoria Quay

Edinburgh

EH6 6QQ

United Kingdom

email address

GI-SAT@gov.scot

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2018-12-27

Metadata language