Physical environment: key data sources
The website Scotland's Environment, aims to bring available information on Scotland's environment together in one place. The site includes trends and indicators to help understand Scotland's environment as well as a library of relevant publications and a host of other resources.
The Scottish Government publish data on indicators from the Environmental Strategy Monitoring Framework, including access to green and blue space and air pollution.
The ScotPHO profiles tool includes data on active travel, proximity to a derelict site and neighbourhood perception by local authority.
Reports from Public Health Scotland’s COVID-19 Early years resilience and impact survey (CEYRIS) contain information about children’s use of outdoor spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.
Greenspace Scotland make a range of resources available including:
- Scotland’s Greenspace Map. This is an innovative GIS based map which provides comprehensive information on the location, extent and type of greenspace across Scotland.
- The State of Scotland's Greenspace Reports (last produced in 2018) draw on both Scotland’s Greenspace Map and the Greenspace Survey to produce summary statistics on the extent and type of urban greenspace in all 32 local authority areas.
NatureScot (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage) publish a range of research, including:
- Data on outdoor visits and engagement with nature during the Coronavirus lockdown
- Scotland's People and Nature Survey (SPANS), a survey of how people use, value and enjoy the natural environment.
- Scottish Nature Omnibus, a biennial report monitoring behaviour and attitudes around a range of nature-related issues.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) website allows access to a range of environmental data sets.
Scottish Statistics hosts a number of environment related indicators including proximity to derelict sites and air quality.
A range of information relating to neighbourhoods and the environment, including data on greenspace, traffic and transport, perceptions of safety and maintenance, is produced by the Scottish Household Survey. Data on travel and transport from this survey is reported in the Transport and Travel in Scotland report.
Levels of 'cleanliness' of different areas in Scotland can be assessed by means of data collated by Keep Scotland Beautiful's Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS).
Understanding Scottish Places provides a variety of data at the locality level, including the number of buildings at risk, and hectares of greenspace per 1000 population.
Transport statistics are available from the Transport Scotland website.
The Scottish Environmental Incident Surveillance System contains data on environmental incidents in Scotland, where they may be a risk to public health.
Environmental health-related publications from before mid-March 2020 can be found on the Health Protection Scotland topic areas website, under sections such as ‘Air pollution and health’ and ‘Built environment’. More recent publications can be found on the Public Health Scotland website by filtering for topics such as Environmental health or Place.
Among other topics, some limited data on transport and travel, and environmental factors, are available through Scotland's Wellbeing Report as part of the National Performance Framework.
Environmental data are also available within:
National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NETCEM)
