Availability: Existing land use

To what extent is existing land use information available as open data?

DefinitionsResearch GuidanceQuestion sub-componentsIndicator Justification

Definitions and identification

Land use is commonly defined as a series of operations on land, carried out by humans, with the intention to obtain products, and/or benefits through using land resources. Land use refers to the purposes to which land is put; these may be residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, forestry, or recreational.

This indicator focuses on data that describes actual uses of land rather than planned uses, asking about structured datasets that detail the kinds of activities occurring in particular locations, with associated geospatial references. Land use data should cover uses of public land and non-public land, as well as land use zoning and its enforcement; it should also include metadata that describes the land use nomenclatures and hierarchies used. Further, to track how land use changes over time, there should also be a well-maintained archive of previous existing land uses.

Examples

• The Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP) makes land use maps available for exploring online, as well as making them accessible through APIs and downloads.

Note: Land use data may have different levels of detail, depending on the area covered. National land use maps tend to cover wider areas but with limited detail, while more local publications tend to offer detailed land use data in smaller units, such as parcels.

Start by looking for national-level datasets that provide information about current land uses, cover a wide range of land uses, and include geospatial references. You may find digital maps and/or other kinds of downloadable files such as .xls, .shp, .geoJSON, etc. If there is no single national dataset or repository of local datasets, look for land use datasets for smaller areas.

As a methodological warning, land use data tends to be very localized. In some cases, national maps are published by combining different local sources. In some cases, gaps are filled by commercial initiatives. Often, different publishing systems within a country may not be consistent with one another.

Starting Points

• Search:

  • Open data portals;
  • National geographic institutes;
  • Environment agencies;
  • Land information offices;
  • Geoportals.

• Consult:

  • Organizations that work with land issues;
  • Experts on land use land use change (LULUC);
  • Geospatial data experts;
  • Climate action advocates.

What to look for?

To complete the assessment for this question you will need to access and explore the available data. This may involve running queries on datasets to check the variety of land uses and other features included.

Look for evidence of:

• A land uses dictionary that provides an overview of possible land uses and the nomenclature used.
• A register or archive of previous uses that makes it possible to track changes in land use over time.

To answer the sub-question, ‘How comprehensive is the data available in terms of types of land uses?’ you will have to determine if the available land use data covers only one or a few land use categories (protected areas, industrial use, etc.), or if covers a wide range of land uses.

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

• Is this data available online in any form?

  • Data is not available online.

    Supporting questions: Are there other offline ways to access this data in the country? (e.g., attending an office to inspect it).

  • Data is available, but not as a result of government action.

    Supporting questions: If government is not providing access to data, how is this data available? Please provide a URL(s) for where this data can be found.

  • Data is available from government, or because of government actions.

    Supporting questions: Please provide a URL(s) for where this data can be found.

• Extent of existence:

• How nationally comprehensive is the data assessed for this indicator? (The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality., The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities., The data assessed provides national coverage.)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Which locality or localities does this data cover?

  If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Please explain your response.

  If The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without data available or with data of a lesser quality. or The data assessed covers one or more localities and is representative of the kind of data that can be found for most but not all localities.: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary.

• How comprehensive is the data available in terms of types of land uses? (The dataset(s) available cover one or a very limited number of land uses., The dataset(s) available cover a wide range of land uses, but not the majority of them., The dataset(s) available cover the majority or all relevant land uses in the country.) Answer that the data available covers 'one or a limited number of land uses' if you have only found data on particular land uses (e.g., information on protected areas or mining zones may be released in a single dataset by the agency in charge). Answer that data covers 'the majority or all relevant land uses in the country' when you can confirm that data covers most or all of the relevant land use categories in your country.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If The dataset(s) available cover one or a very limited number of land uses. or The dataset(s) available cover a wide range of land uses, but not the majority of them. or The dataset(s) available cover the majority or all relevant land uses in the country.: Which land uses are covered by the data(s) available?

• Existence summary:

• Please summarize your answers to the preceding existence sub-questions, including the extent of existence. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the existence sub-questions for this indicator.

  Supporting questions

  Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Elements

• Kinds of data:

• Data is available on uses of public land. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary

• Data is available on uses of non-public land. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary

• Data is available on enforcement of land use zoning. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary

• Data fields and specifics:

• Each record is categorized according to a standardized land use dictionary. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary

• Each record includes a geospatial reference. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer 'No' if there is data about land use at a country level, but it is aggregated and cannot be mapped with detail. Answer 'Partially' if only some records of land use have a geospatial reference or if each record of land use has a geospatial reference, but lacks more granular details (e.g., only includes references at a state or province level). Answer 'Yes' if each record includes a geospatial reference associated with a precise location.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide supporting URL(s) as necessary

• Metadata provides information about the source(s) from which the data was built. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer 'Partially' if the institutional source is stated, but not the technical approach. Answer 'Yes' if metadata includes information about the tools used to collect the data and build the dataset, such as: satellite images, remote sensing, aerial photography, LiDAR, administrative records, volunteered geographic information (VGI), vector, raster, classification, etc.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially or Yes: What kinds of sources are mentioned?

  If Partially or Yes: Please explain your response.

• Data publication:

• The data is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes) This means that the data is accessible without any cost, unlike cases where accessing datasets requires a one-off payment or a subscription fee.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

• The data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes) This means that the data is provided under a license that clearly states that anyone may reuse it, with minimal restrictions on its reuse (e.g., attribution, share-alike).

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If No: If there are explicit restrictions placed on reuse of the data, briefly describe those.

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially or Yes: If the data is provided with an explicit open license, please provide the name of that license and/or a link to it.

• The data is published with sufficient language coverage to make it accessible to all or almost all members of the public. (No, Partially, Yes) Assess this sub-question using the list of languages provided by your regional coordinator. If the country has only one official language (or de facto official language) and no national languages but there are other languages in use in the country, answer “Partially” if the data is available only in a single language. If the country has multiple official, national, or co-official regional languages, answer “Yes” if the data is available in the majority of these languages.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe the language coverage available.

• There are accessible and open official tools available to help users explore data. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Partially” if tools make it possible to get at extracts of data without having to download a full dataset. Answer “Yes” if there is an interactive tool that displays user-filtered extracts of the data to answer simple questions without downloading data at all.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially: What are the main barriers to accessibility and usability?

  If Partially or Yes: Do these tools rely on AI or machine-learning tools? For example, as interfaces. Please briefly explain.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s).

• The data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes) If you have also assessed an associated governance framework, evaluate timeliness by comparing against the relevant schedule laid out in that framework. If there is no such schedule, look first for other indications of an expected schedule (e.g., does the site say the data is updated once a year?), and then examine the frequency, regularity, and recency of updates.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially: If only some of the relevant data is updated, please explain which.

  If Partially or Yes: When was the most recent update to this data?

• Historical data is available that allows users to track change over time. (No, Partially, Yes)

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially or Yes: For what time period(s) (i.e., start and end dates) is data available?

• The data is provided in machine-readable format(s). (No, Partially, Yes) Assess the datasets you have provided in response to this indicator’s sub-questions; if there are multiple datasets, use the best example you can locate in terms of availability of open data. Note this selection in the elements summary box and then also answer the following sub-question (on bulk downloading) with respect to that specific dataset.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially: What prevents you from assessing this data as fully machine-readable?

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide a comma separated list of the formats available

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where machine-readable data is located.

• The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “No” if it's only possible to access individual records. Answer “Partially” if it's possible to export extracts of the data. Answer “Yes” if there are bulk downloads or APIs providing access to the whole dataset without financial, technical, or legal barriers.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide the URL(s) where bulk download access is available or described.

  If Partially or Yes: If bulk access is provided through an API, please provide a link to where the API is described.

• Negative Scoring

• This information is missing required data. (There is no evidence of data gaps., There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing., There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.) In cases where the indicator itself identifies a dataset(s) to assess against—or a separate governance indicator has asked you to determine data requirements of a relevant governing framework—assess against that. In cases where there is no such identified dataset(s) or related governance indicator, please assess based on: the parameters laid out in the publication of the information (e.g., are some fields entirely empty when they shouldn't be?); your local knowledge (e.g., if the data is supposed to include information for all public officials, does the number of total entries seem reasonable?); and any broader research you may have done for this topic (e.g., have media articles decried the incompleteness of this data?). Note: this sub-question examines omissions only of mandated data; so if, for example, laws do not require the reporting of data below certain thresholds, that data is not considered “missing.”

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing. or There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.: Please briefly explain.

• Nonscoring:

• There is evidence of use of this data. (No, Partially, Yes) Answer “Yes” for more than one example; answer “Partially” for a single example.

  Supporting questions (conditional)

  If Partially: Please explain your “Partially” response.

  If Partially or Yes: In the example(s) provided, who is using this data? E.g., government, civil society, private sector, media, academia, others.

  If Partially or Yes: In the example(s) provided, for what purpose(s) is the data being used? E.g., for accountability, to improve access for marginalized populations, to influence policy for equity or inclusion, for red flag analysis, etc.

  If Partially or Yes: Please provide URL(s) for example(s).

• Elements summary:

• Please summarize your answers to the preceding element sub-questions. [Open Text] Drawing on the research you have conducted and the evidence you have gathered for this section, describe what you have found (or not found) when answering the element sub-questions for this indicator.

  Supporting questions

  Please provide the URL(s) for the evidence that supports the summary provided.

Good governance in land use is critical to achieving goals related to socioeconomic development, maintaining ecological systems, and enabling adaptation to climate change (Quan 2017). International organizations have identified effective land use and management as key for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and addressing issues such as desertification, food security, and employment and migration challenges.

Both land use restrictions as well as land use decision-making processes should be transparent, efficient, and predictable (Deininger et al. 2011). Thus, the Food and Agriculture Organization encourages states to conduct regulated spatial planning and monitor and enforce compliance with those plans. This should be done in a manner that promotes diverse and well-balanced sustainable territorial development, taking into consideration the variety of tenure systems, as well as particular issues such as the gendered aspects of land use and indigenous peoples' land rights and uses (FAO 2012).

When used in conjunction with land tenure or land ownership data, land use data opens up avenues for addressing environmental issues, corruption, land access, food sovereignty, housing, health, and a plethora of other challenges.

This indicator focuses on current and historical land use data, with special attention to forest and protected areas.