The GEMAS dataset is based on low density geochemical sampling of agriculture (Ap) and grassland (Gr) soils across 34 European countries. Sample density covering an area of 5.6 million km2 of 1 site each, arable land (0-20 cm) and land under permanent grass cover (0-10 cm), per 2500 km2. The Geochemical Mapping of Agricultural and Grazing Land Soil comprises more than 70 chemical elements and parameters determined on more than 4000 soil samples. The geochemistry of European agriculture and grazing soils are depicted graphically on maps of the GEMAS geochemical atlas. In 2016 the Geological Survey of Ireland as a European partner contributes to GEMAS and EGDI (European Geological Data Infrastructure) with provision of a GIS spatial data classification and publication of WMS geochemical web mapping services to support European data interoperability of EGDI web portal. The GIS GEMAS sample classification were constructed in ArcGIS 10.1 and the original GEMAS dataset is available as ESRI shapefile format.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2006 is the Scottish Government’s official tool for identifying concentrations of deprivation in Scotland. SIMD06 is the Scottish Government’s second edition since 2004. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) combines seven different domains (aspects) of deprivation: income; employment; health; education, skills and training; geographic access to services; crime; and housing. These domains are measured using a number of indicators to form ranks for each domain. Data zones are ranked from 1 being most deprived to 6,505 being least deprived. Each of the seven domain ranks are then combined to form the overall SIMD. This provides a measure of relative deprivation at data zone level, so it tells you that one data zone is relatively more deprived than another but not how much more deprived.

Marine Planning Zones are defined in the Town and Country Planning (Marine Fish Farming) (Scotland) Order 2007. The Zones designate marine areas for which planning authorities discharge their functions with regard to fish farming developments.

The areas the boundaries show relate to specially identified areas for hill farming.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2009 is the Scottish Government’s official tool for identifying concentrations of deprivation in Scotland. SIMD09 is the Scottish Government’s third edition since 2004. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) combines seven different domains (aspects) of deprivation: income; employment; health; education, skills and training; geographic access to services; crime; and housing. These domains are measured using a number of indicators to form ranks for each domain. Data zones are ranked from 1 being most deprived to 6,505 being least deprived. Each of the seven domain ranks are then combined to form the overall SIMD. This provides a measure of relative deprivation at data zone level, so it tells you that one data zone is relatively more deprived than another but not how much more deprived.

Regional and Local Resilience Partnerships (RRPs/LRPs) are the principal mechanisms for multi-agency co-ordination under The Civil Contingencies Act (2004). They promote co-operation between organisations in preparation for and responding to national emergencies. A Resilience Partnership may be activated to deal with the wider consequences of the emergency and ensure that multi-agency response is well coordinated and effective. Resilience Partnerships can be convened at a local level or across a wider area depending on the nature of the incident and the organisations involved.

Agricultural parishes are based on Civil Parishes which were abolished as an administrative unit in Scotland in 1975. Agricultural parishes continue to be used for boundary and statistical purposes. There are 891 agricultural parishes in Scotland and they are used in the Agricultural Census and for the payment of farming grants and subsidies. The dataset contains parish boundaries, parish names and parish codes.

European Structural Funds are a series of financial tools set up with the explicit purpose of reducing regional disparities across the EU in terms of income, wealth and opportunity. Scotland’s Structural Fund Programmes for 2014-2020 consists of 2 programme areas: Highlands and Islands (with a GDP between 75% and 90% of the EU average), and the rest of Scotland which is made up of the other three NUTS II (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics3) regions (North Eastern Scotland, Eastern Scotland and South Western Scotland) all of whom have a GDP above 90% of the EU average. The Highlands and Islands has been designated as a transition region and the rest of Scotland as a more developed region. The categorisation of the two areas has an impact on the type of projects that the funds can be used to support.

The Scottish Government (SG) Urban Rural Classification provides a consistent way of defining urban and rural areas across Scotland. The classification aids policy development and the understanding of issues facing urban, rural and remote communities. It is based upon two main criteria: (i) population as defined by National Records of Scotland (NRS), and (ii) accessibility based on drive time analysis to differentiate between accessible and remote areas in Scotland. The classification can be analysed in a two, three, six or eight fold form. The two-fold classification simply distinguishes between urban and rural areas through two categories, urban and rural, while the three-fold classification splits the rural category between accessible and remote. Most commonly used is the 6-fold classification which distinguishes between urban, rural, and remote areas through six categories. The 8-fold classification further distinguishes between remote and very remote regions. The Classification is normally updated on a biennial basis, with the current dataset reflective of the year 2016. Data for previous versions are available for download in ESRI Shapefile format.

Intermediate zones are a statistical geography that sit between data zones and local authorities, created for use with the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS) programme and the wider public sector. Intermediate zones are used for the dissemination of statistics that are not suitable for release at the data zone level because of the sensitive nature of the statistic, or for reasons of reliability. Intermediate Zones were designed to meet constraints on population thresholds (2,500 - 6,000 household residents), to nest within local authorities, and to be built up from aggregates of data zones. Intermediate zones also represent a relatively stable geography that can be used to analyse change over time, with changes only occurring after a Census. Following the update to intermediate zones using 2011 Census data, there are now 1,279 Intermediate Zones covering the whole of Scotland.