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 Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 dissolved the eight former police and fire areas in to a single service for all of Scotland. Following from this, a new organisational structure for Fire and Rescue Services was created comprised of seventeen Local Senior Officer Areas and three Service Delivery Areas. Local Senior Officer Areas are based on aggregations of Local Authority areas (defined by Ordnance Survey BoundaryLine), and remain in alignment with Local Authorities as these change.

The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 dissolved the eight former police and fire areas in to a single service for all of Scotland. Following from this, Police Division boundaries were defined to enable policing at the local level. Police Divisions are based on aggregations of Local Authority areas (defined by Ordnance Survey BoundaryLine), and remain in alignment with Local Authorities as these change.

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.

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.

16 Agricultural Area Offices provide local support for agricultural issues. This information then feeds into Agricultural Headquarters in Edinburgh.

These are the 5 animal health regions in Scotland. These are part of State Veterinary Service who are an executive agency responsible for delivering agreed services in public health and animal health and welfare within Great Britain (GB). SVS deliver on behalf of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD) and work closely with them to help develop government policies that are both deliverable and focussed on outcomes, whilst being sensitive to the needs of those we deliver to.

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.

Water Supply Zones represent the extend of the area supplied by Scotland's water authority (Scottish Water). These zones represent the extent of the drinking water supply in a given area. The dataset is created new for each calendar year and remains fixed until the next year. The year is also known as the Reporting Year. Each water supply zone must not have a total population greater than 100,000. The water authority must also supply the full name, a unique reference number and a population supplied for each zone.

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.