Public data for nature and land projects: what is available?
Updated
Much of the baseline information for a nature project is already available as open public data. The challenge is finding the right layers, retrieving them for your specific site and remembering which version you used.
MARS
The platform for the Green Tripartite (Grøn Trepart), covering screening, planning, applications and status. Most of the data is available through a public WFS service.
Danmarks Arealinformation (Denmark's land information portal)
The mapping service from Danmarks Miljøportal (Denmark's environmental portal), with layers on land use, nature conservation and regulations, such as protected habitat types. Layers are added using the layer selector.
Orthophotos
GeoDanmark Ortofoto provides nationwide aerial photographs that have been geometrically corrected so they can be used as maps. They are available through Datafordeleren (Denmark's public data distribution platform).
Danmarks Højdemodel (DHM, Denmark's elevation model)
DHM covers all of Denmark and can be downloaded through Dataforsyningen (Denmark's geospatial data service). The terrain model is useful for understanding where water will flow and collect when drains and ditches are altered.
Sentinel-2
The EU's Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites provide free imagery with a resolution of up to 10 m in four bands. They provide time series that can show changes in vegetation across seasons and years.
Weather on the flight day
The weather affects both photographs and vegetation. Freyra records weather data from DMI (the Danish Meteorological Institute) for the flight day so that differences between flights can be explained.
Remember the retrieval date
Public data is updated. A record of § 3 nature areas (areas protected under section 3 of the Danish Nature Protection Act) or a lowland map may change. Always record the dataset and retrieval date so that it is clear what an assessment was based on. Freyra shows the status for each source: retrieved, partial or unavailable.
Frequently asked questions
Is Danmarks Højdemodel free?
Yes. DHM can be downloaded free of charge through Dataforsyningen.
What resolution does Sentinel-2 have?
Sentinel-2 has four bands with a resolution of 10 m, six at 20 m and three at 60 m.
Sources
Terms in this article
Articles on this topic
- MARS: the four modules explained
- Danmarks Arealinformation: find § 3 protected habitats and low-lying land on the map
- Sentinel-2 in nature projects: what can satellite data show?
- Applying via MARS: how the grant application process starts
- Screening in MARS: get started without logging in
- Orthophoto or drone photograph? When you need which
- The elevation model in lowland projects: read the terrain before the water does