WMS

NatureScot and Joint Nature Conservation Committee have collated data from various sources forming the Geodatabase of Marine features adjacent to Scotland (GeMS). This collation of species and habitat records provides information on the known recorded distribution of Scottish Priority Marine Features (PMFs), and Annex I habitats in the marine environment and is used as the core evidence base to support the Scottish Marine Protected Area (MPA) network.

This web map service is a redacted version of the latest GEMS, providing non-sensitive data on the species and habitats included in the collation.

 
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are those areas of land and water (to the seaward limits of local authority areas or MLWS) that Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) considers to best represent our natural heritage - its diversity of plants, animals and habitats, rocks and landforms, or a combinations of such natural features. This is a Web Mapping Service (WMS) that contains the locations of SSSI's in Scotland.

Nature Conservation Orders (NCOs) are made to protect any natural feature of land that is within (1) a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), (2) a European site or (3) other land of special interest, and where it is either being actively damaged or there is evidence that it is under threat of damage. The Orders set out certain prohibited operations and the land to which they apply. This layer displays NCOs in Scotland.

This dataset was created by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), further metadata is provided by SNH via the following link: https://spatialdata.gov.scot/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search

A Ramsar site is the land listed as a Wetland of International Importance under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat (the Ramsar Convention) 1973. The Scottish Government has designated 51 RAMSAR sites in Scotland, covering 326,719 hectares. This layer displays the Ramsar sites across Scotland.

Data directly available from:

• https://jncc.gov.uk/our-work/uk-protected-area-datasets-for-download/ 
• https://sitelink.nature.scot/home