Northern Ireland Land Classification - Grade 1 and 2

The Northern Ireland Land Classification (Cooper 1986) was constructed to provide the basis of a stratified random sampling programme for field survey of land use, ecological resources and landscape attributes. It provides a convenient framework for summarising landscape variation and describing resource differences within study areas.

The NI Land classification was developed using the Merlewood method of multivariate land classification. This involved selecting a sample of 700 1km grid squares, representing 5% of NI land area. For each of these squares, attributes on climate, elevation & topography, vegetation, hydrology, settlement, geology, and soils were recorded from maps. Using TWINSPAN, this data was used to produce a land classification hierarchy, yielding 23 land classes for N.Ireland. This was then used to classify all remaining 1km grid squares in N. Ireland. In total, 14,377 1km grid squares were assigned to one of the 23 land classes.

For detailed information on the methodology and descriptions of each of the land classes see:

• https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/daera/Land%20Classification%20report%20edited.pdf