Identification

Title

National Scenic Areas - Scotland

Alternative title(s)

NSAs

Abstract

National Scenic Areas (NSAs) are a national landscape designation of areas that have been identified as having outstanding scenic value in a national context. The designation’s purpose is both to identify our finest scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development through the planning system. They are broadly equivalent to the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty found in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are 40 NSAs in Scotland, mainly in remote and mountainous areas, including spectacular mountain ranges (e.g. Skye Cuillins, Ben Nevis, Glencoe), dramatic island landscapes (e.g. the Hebrides, Northern Isles) and picturesque, richly diverse scenery (e.g. Perthshire, Dumfries and Galloway). They were identified in 1978 by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (a predecessor of NatureScot) in its publication Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, and their boundaries remain unchanged today. All NSAs have been surveyed to record their special qualities that, individually or combined, make each area's scenery outstanding and justify their designation as NSAs.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WMSServer?

protocol: OGC:WMS

name: NationalScenicAreas

description: OGC View Service

function: information

https://maps.gov.scot/server/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/WFSServer?request=GetCapabilities&service=WFS

protocol: OGC:WFS

name: PS:NationalScenicAreas

description: OGC Feature Download

function: download

https://maps.gov.scot/server/rest/services/ScotGov/ProtectedSites/MapServer/3

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

name: National Scenic Areas

description: ESRI REST Service

function: download

https://maps.gov.scot/ATOM/shapefiles/SG_NationalScenicAreas_1998.zip

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

description: ESRI Shapefile Download

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

SG_NationalScenicAreas

codeSpace

www.gov.scot

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

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

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-06-01

Keyword set

keyword value

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

originating controlled vocabulary

title

IPSV Subjects List

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-11-18

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-8.80

East bounding longitude

-0.71

North bounding latitude

60.87

South bounding latitude

54.63

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

IS0 3166-2

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 NatureScot) 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. This digital dataset was originally digitised against Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 raster data circa 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 NSAs 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

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

false

explanation

Data format

name of format

WMS

version of format

1.3.0

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Available under the terms of the Open Government Licence. The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: © 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

2023-02-07T16:02:35

Metadata language

eng