National Trees Outside Woodland Map

The National Trees Outside Woodland (TOW) V1 map is a vector product funded by DEFRA’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme produced under Forest Research’s Earth Observation for Trees and Woodlands (EOTW) project.

The TOW map identifies canopy cover over 3m tall and 5m2 area which exists outside the National Forest Inventory (National Forest Inventory - Forest Research). Canopy cover is categorised into the following woodland types - lone trees, groups of trees and small woodlands.

The data set was derived from the Vegetation Object Model (VOM) (Environment Agency, EA), the National Lidar Survey (EA), and Sentinel-2 (European Space Agency) imagery using spatial algorithms. The method is fully automated with no manual manipulation or editing. The map and its production method has been quality assured by DEFRA science assurance protocols and assessed for accuracy using ground truth data.

Because the process classifies objects based on proximity to features within OS mapping, there could be some misclassifications of those objects not included in the OS (specifically: static caravans, shipping containers, large tents, marquees, coastal cliffs and solar farms).

This is a first release of this dataset, the quality of the production methods will be reviewed over the next year, and improvements will be made where possible.

The TOW map is available under open government licence and free to download from the Forestry Commission open data download website (Forestry Commission) and view online on the NCEA ArcGIS Online web portal (Trees Outside Woodland). A full report containing details on methodology, accuracy and user guide is available.

TOW map web portal link : ncea.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=cf571f455b444e588aa94bbd22021cd3

FR TOW map web page : https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/trees-outside-woodland-map/ Attribution statement: © Forestry Commission copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

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Last Updated July 3, 2025, 17:07 (UTC)
Created April 3, 2025, 22:08 (UTC)