Mapping Europe’s Changing Landscapes

Europe’s land is used at an intensity which exerts increasing pressure on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Understanding the patterns of Europe’s changing land cover is key to being able to manage the environmental impact of land use change.

In recent decades, several important land cover trends can be observed in Europe, including the growth of urban green space in cities, extensive peri-urban development around large urban centres, and land abandonment in remote rural areas. To understand and manage these issues effectively, researchers and policy-makers need accurate data on Europe’s changing land cover patterns.

Ecometrica have developed an application on our mapping platform, Our Ecosystem, to provide data on European land cover change in an interactive, easy-to-use format suitable for researchers and policymakers.  The application features data from the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) land cover surveys of Europe.

The CORINE land cover maps are a visualisation of the European landscape divided into distinct land cover classes based on the analysis of satellite images. The first CORINE survey was carried out in 1990, and surveys followed in 2000 and 2006. In addition a survey is currently being carried out which will be made publicly available in 2014.  The European Land Cover Change OE app offers policy-makers and researchers a platform to investigate trends and patterns in European land cover across space and time.

The CORINE survey data for the years 1990, 2000, and 2006 can be viewed and queried on the European Land Cover Change OE app by clicking on the image below. This site will be publicly accessible for a limited time period.