View In:
ArcGIS JavaScript
ArcGIS Online Map Viewer
ArcGIS Earth
ArcMap
ArcGIS Pro
View Footprint In:
ArcGIS Online Map Viewer
Service Description: Information on the distribution and fundamental properties of soils was collected on a national basis by the soil survey organisations based at Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen (Scotland) and at Silsoe College, Bedfordshire (England and Wales). With the addition of data on climate and characteristics of topography this information can be interpreted to provide an evaluation of the potential of land for a variety of uses. The Land Capability Classification for Agriculture (Bibby et al. 1982) is an example; the Land Capability Classification for Forestry, described here, is an attempt to provide a similar classification in terms of forestry. It is based on an assessment of the increasing degree of limitation imposed by the physical factors of soil, topography and climate on the growth of trees and on silvicultural practices. The system described is designed for use at several levels depending on the amount and accuracy of the available data and on the purpose for which the information is required. Strategic and regional planning needs can be satisfied by generalised maps at scales of 1:250 000 and 1:50 000. Sufficient information is currently available for this to be attempted in Britain, and has been done for the island of Islay (Bibby and Heslop 1986). Requirements of a more detailed nature, for example planning within the forest enterprise or by estate managers dealing with integration of agriculture and forestry, will require larger scale maps (1:25 000 and 1:10 000) and more accurate base data. The main use of the Land Capability Classification for Forestry is as an aid to decision-making at broad planning levels, as a guide for land managers and as a statement of the natural resources of the land of Britain in terms of forestry potential for educational and general interest purposes. The system is an interpretation derived from several sources and, as with all such approaches, will be subject to some degree of arbitrary decision. A careful study of the assumptions and explanations underlying the classification is advised so that the scheme is properly understood and its benefits and limitations appreciated.
Map Name: Layers
Legend
All Layers and Tables
Layers:
Description:
Copyright Text: Please refer to metadata
Spatial Reference:
27700
(27700)
Single Fused Map Cache: true
Tile Info:
- Height: 256
- Width: 256
- DPI: 96
-
Levels of Detail: 10
- Format: PNG
- Compression Quality: 0.0
- Origin: X: -5220400.0
Y: 4470200.0
- Spatial Reference: 27700
(27700)
Initial Extent:
XMin: -369131.2542119566
YMin: 612870.7223913039
XMax: 915715.807853261
YMax: 1202068.41173913
Spatial Reference: 27700
(27700)
Full Extent:
XMin: 54130
YMin: 530200
XMax: 470173.96875
YMax: 1220373
Spatial Reference: 27700
(27700)
Units: esriMeters
Supported Image Format Types: PNG32,PNG24,PNG,JPG,DIB,TIFF,EMF,PS,PDF,GIF,SVG,SVGZ,BMP
Document Info:
Title:
Author:
Comments: The classification of land for agricultural purposes in Scotland is, in the general sense, as old as farming itself but the first national surveys were the Land Utilisation Survey directed by Sir Dudley Stamp during the late thirties and the classification of arable land carried out by the staff of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland in the forties. Both, however, were based largely on observation of the land use then current. In the mid-sixties interpretations of soil survey maps, laying more stress on the properties of land and its potential for agriculture, were developed at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen. A standard system of Land Use Capability Classification, applied by the Soil Surveys of Scotland, and of England and Wales was published in 1969 (Bibby and Mackney).
In 1973 following a recommendation in the White Paper 'Land Resource Use in Scotland: The Government's Observations on the Report of the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs', a Standing Committee on Rural Land Use was established. One of the first subjects considered by the Committee was land use capability classification and the decision was reached that a published land classification was desirable and that a review should be carried out to establish the one most suitable to Scottish requirements. The Chief Agricultural Officer of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr C. Mackay, was
appointed chairman of a working party and in subsequent reports (1975 and 1977) it was concluded that the future direction of land classification and mapping in Scotland should be based on the system developed by the Macaulay Institute with some modifications and additions. The reports, which were accepted by the Standing Committee, encouraged continued co-operation with England and Wales through the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service Closed Conference of Advisory Soil Scientists Land Capability Classification Working Party. This had been established in 1974 and included representatives of the Department and Colleges of Agriculture in Scotland and the Macaulay Institute.
From 1974 to 1981 the discussions of this committee were of the utmost value in developing the rationale and guidelines for land classification now presented. Under the able chairmanship of Mr B. Wilkinson, the following members contributed: J. S. Bibby, J. C. Clark, H. A. Douglas, P. E. Francis, G. Goodlass, D. Hewgill, F. M. B. Houston, A. D. Hughes, D. Mackney, M. J. Silverwood. R. B. Speirs, R. W. Swain, J. F. B. Tew, A. J. Thomasson and R. J. Unwin. Organisations represented included the Agricultural Science and Land and Water Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture for Scotland, the Scottish Colleges of Agriculture, the Meteorological Office (Agrometeorological Branch) and the Soil Surveys of Scotland, and of England and Wales.
The scientific discussions held within the Working Party plus the field excursions in Scotland, England and Wales in order to study the practical application of the system in various land classification exercises contributed significantly to the system's development and final refined version.
In 1980 with progress on a 1:250 000 scale, soil and land capability programme well forward in Scotland, it became necessary to produce firm proposals to allow the work to proceed. The land classification for agriculture now presented owes much to the original United States Department of Agriculture Land Capability Classification (Klingebiel and Montgomery 1961), to the Land Use Capability Classification (Bibby and Mackney 1969) and to the Survey staff who have helped to improve that classification, to the various working parties and, finally, to individual discussions, contributions from Mr E. L. Birse of the Macaulay Institute being particularly helpful. The assistance of such a wide range of authorities and people is gratefully acknowledged. Nevertheless, the responsibility for errors, omissions and short-comings rest entirely with the authors.
The Land Capability Classification for Agriculture incorporates significant advances in methods of assessment and is the basis of the interpretative maps produced by the Soil Survey Department of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.
Ownership of this data set was passed to the James Hutton Institute on 1st April 2011.
Subject: The Land Capability Classification for Agriculture has as its objective the presentation of detailed information on soil, climate and relief in a form which will be of value to land use planners, agricultural advisers, farmers and others.
Category:
Keywords: agriculture,forestry,provisioning,materials
AntialiasingMode: None
TextAntialiasingMode: Force
Supports Dynamic Layers: false
MaxRecordCount: 1000
MaxImageHeight: 4096
MaxImageWidth: 4096
Supported Query Formats: JSON, geoJSON
Supports Query Data Elements:
Min Scale: 4000000
Max Scale: 8000
Supports Datum Transformation: true
Child Resources:
Info
Supported Operations:
Export Map
Identify
QueryDomains
QueryLegends
Find
Return Updates