Map Impact, the pioneering environmental services data provider, is delighted to announce the launch of its BiodiversityView product and a partnership agreement with UKHab.
New Environmental legislation is focussed on improving land habitat biodiversity and is demanding increased attention on the state and condition of existing habitats. Land users and developers are now having to account for imposed requirements, such as Biodiversity Net Gain and Nutrient Neutrality, which require an early assessment of existing site biodiversity and habitat condition. Bristol based Map Impact can now provide this through its innovative BiodiversityView, a product that uses satellite derived data analysis and assessment, delivered by remote means that negates the need for an initial onsite visit.
BiodiversityView has been developed to align with the UK Habitat Classification, which covers terrestrial and freshwater habitats throughout the UK. This classification, first published in 2018, has created a unique, integrated hierarchical system that allows habitats to be described consistently whether from field or remote-sensed data. The UKHab system is adopted by statutory bodies, such as Natural England and DEFRA, and widely used by professional ecologists. Agreeing a partnership with UKHab has been a key step in the design and development of BiodiversityView.
Announcing the product launch and UKHab partnership, Richard Flemmings, CEO Map Impact commented: “The launch of our innovative BiodiversityView product will help land and freshwater stakeholders to understand the condition of existing habitats in their areas of interest. As these assessments can be undertaken remotely, it will be a more cost-effective and timely alternative approach for an initial screening. Ecologists are a scarce resource, and we believe that using latest technology enables ecology professionals to deal with the more detailed planning that follows a remote base-line assessment. We are also delighted to be partnering with UKHab, which ensures that the BiodiversityView data outputs conform to the UKHab Classification System.”
Bob Edmonds, Director UKHab, said: “With an increasing focus on nature recovery across the UK, and significant new legislation in England coming into force in January 2024, it is essential that we swiftly adopt robust and consistent approaches to habitat survey, assessment and monitoring. We are very pleased to welcome Map Impact into the UKHab Partner Programme with its BiodiversityView screening product and can see huge value in this remote-sensed habitat dataset supporting the data derived from professional field surveys to inform a wide-range of development and land-use planning decisions.”
