GISCO (Geographic Information System of the COmmission) is responsible for meeting the European Commission's geographical information needs at three levels: the European Union, its member countries, and its regions. In addition to creating statistical and other thematic maps, GISCO manages a database of geographical information, and provides related services to the Commission. Its database contains core geographical data covering the whole of Europe, such as administrative boundaries, and thematic geospatial information, such as population grid data. Some data are available for download by the general public and may be used for non-commercial purposes. For further details and information about any forthcoming new or updated datasets, see http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco/geodata. This metadata refers to the whole content of GISCO reference database extracted in July 2018, which contains both public datasets and datasets to be used only internally by the EEA. The document GISCO-ConditionsOfUse.pdf provided with the dataset gives information on the copyrighted data sources, the mandatory acknowledgement clauses and re-dissemination rights. The license conditions for EuroGeographic datasets in GISCO are provided in a standalone document "LicenseConditions_EuroGeographics.pdf". The database is provided in GDB and in SQLITE, with datasets at scales from 1:60M to 1:100K, with reference years spanning until 2016. The database manual, a file with the content of the database, and a document with the naming conventions are also provided with the database. For particular datasets extracted from this database (NUTS 2016 and COUNTRIES 2016) please refer to the associated resources in the EEA SDI catalogue. NOTE: This metadata file is only for internal EEA purposes and in no case replaces the official metadata provided by Eurostat.

Metropolitan regions 2021 are NUTS 3 regions or a combination of NUTS 3 regions which represent all agglomerations of at least 250 000 inhabitants. Version 2021 is based on NUTS 2021, based on the Commission Delegated Regulation 2019/1755. These agglomerations were identified using the Urban Audit's Functional Urban Area (FUA). Each agglomeration is represented by at least one NUTS 3 region. If in an adjacent NUTS 3 region more than 50% of the population also lives within this agglomeration, it is included in the metro. For more information see: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/metropolitan-regions/background https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Territorial_typologies_manual_-_metropolitan_regions IMPORTANT NOTE: This metadata is adapted from the corresponding Eurostat GISCO metadata and it is intended only for internal EEA use.

The dataset shows the percentage of croplands under high pressure from management practices in 2010. The area percentage is calculated in relation to the total cropland area within NUTS3 regions (NUTS2 for Germany). The management pressure on croplands was calculated by combining information of nitrogen input from the Farm Structure Survey (FSS), the Corine Land Use/Land Cover dataset and other environmental characteristics such as topographic conditions, soil and climate conditions (etc). This dataset is part of the condition/pressures assessments done for agroecosystems under ETC/SIA actions for MAES (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services).

The Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) - version 1 (09/2013) is a dataset produced within the Spatial analysis of Marine Protected Area Networks in Europe´s seas, elaborated by ISPRA (Rome, Italy) and coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in 2013-2014. SPAMI are marine protected areas (MPAs) declared in the frame of the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the marine environment and the coastal Region of the Mediterranean Sea (Barcelona Convention). Since no official layer of all the SPAMI areas was available in 2013, the shapefiles of each SPAMI were downloaded from the MAPAMED website (www.mapamed.org) and, for the purpose of running spatial MPA analysis and evaluations, they were merged in a unique dataset. Then, they were joined to a tabular list of SPAMI provided by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RACSPA), containing information on the names, dates of establishment and general characteristics of the sites (i.e. surface area). This list was received directly through the Secretariat, who is the depository of this information. NB: Reprojection issues have been identified for some polygons (e.g. in islands West of Italy)

Member States provide an annual assessment of air quality in comparison to EU air quality thresholds. Commission Decision 2004/461/EC provides a questionnaire to be used by the Member States for the annual reporting under the Framework Directive and the related four Daughter Directives 1999/30/EC, 2000/69/EC, 2002/3/EC and 2004/107/EC. Member States have to divide their entire territory into zones. Zones can be regarded as the primary territorial units for assessment and management of air quality under the air quality directives. Consequently, unambiguous definition of all zones is needed. Member States have employed different approaches for the definition of their zones. Some Member States have divided their territory into a single set of zones serving all pollutants. Other Member States have defined a single base set of zones and modified some of the zones for the application to particular pollutants. Where a Member State has distinguished different sets of zones in relation to health protection and ecosystem/vegetation protection respectively, a single location can be situated in several zones, e.g. in a zone defined for all pollutants except lead and in another, larger zone defined for lead. More information about EU air quality standards is available on the DG Environment web site at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/quality/standards.htm. Pursuant to Article 22 of Directive 2008/50/EC, Member States may notify to the Commission when in their opinion the conditions are met in a given zone or agglomeration for postponing the attainment deadline for the limit values for nitrogen dioxide and benzene, or for being exempt from the limit values for PM10. More information is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/quality/legislation/time_extensions.htm . Additional information is available in The annual technical overview and analysis of the reports submitted by Member States (http://acm.eionet.europa.eu/databases/aq-questionnaire/annual_reports_aqq.html). Zones are designated for the following pollutants: B – Benzene; BaP – Benzo(a)pyrene; C – Carbon Monoxide; L – lead; AsCdNi – Heavy metals: Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel; NH – Nitrogen Dioxide for human protection; NV – NOx for vegetation protection; O – ozone; PM10 – particulate matter less than 10 microgrammes; PM25 – particulate matter less than 2.5 microgrammes; SE – SO2 for ecosystems protection; SH – SO2 for human protection.

This map shows the natural susceptibility of agricultural soils to compaction if they were to be exposed to compaction. The evaluation of the soil’s natural susceptibility is based on the creation of logical connections between relevant parameters (pedotransfer rules). The input parameters for these pedotransfer rules are taken from the attributes of the European soil database, e.g. soil properties: type, texture and water regime, depth to textural change and the limitation of the soil for agricultural use. Besides the main parameters auxiliary parameters have been used as impermeable layer, depth of an obstacle to roots, water management system, dominant and secondary land use. It was assumed that every soil, as a porous medium, could be compacted. The map of natural soil susceptibility to compaction was created from the evaluation of selected parameters from the ESDB. The soil susceptibility to compaction was divided into 4 categories. Two additional categories represent the data concerning places where this evaluation was either not relevant or could not been provided because of lack of information. In total there are 6 categories (attribute "Evaluation" in the shapefile): 0 - no soil. This represents water bodies, glaciers and rock outcrops 1 - low susceptibility to compaction 2. - medium susceptibility to compaction 3. - high susceptibility to compaction 4. - very high susceptibility to compaction 9. - no evaluation possible. This was the case of towns including also soils, soils disturbed by man and marsh. This metadata record is adapted from the orginal one received from JRC.

The Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL) is an initiative implemented by FAO within the EC-FAO Food Security Programme funded by the European Commission (http://www.foodsecinfoaction.org/News/news_06_06.htm). The GAUL aims at compiling and disseminating the most reliable spatial information on administrative units for all the countries in the world, providing a contribution to the standardization of the spatial dataset representing administrative units. The GAUL always maintains global layers with a unified coding system at country, first (e.g. regions) and second administrative levels (e.g. districts). In addition, when data is available, it provides layers on a country by country basis down to third, fourth and lowers levels. The GAUL is released once a year and the target beneficiary of the GAUL data is the UN community, the Universities and other authorized international and national institutions/agencies. Data might not be officially validated by authoritative national sources and can not be distributed to the general public. A disclaimer should always accompany any use of the GAUL data. About 21 countries have been updated respect to the previous release (see countries_updated.dbf). The GAUL keeps track of administrative units that has been changed, added or dismissed in the past for political causes. Changes implemented in different years are recorded in the GAUL on different layers. For this reason the GAUL product is not a single layer but a group of layers, named "GAUL Set" (see Gaul_Set.pdf). The original dataset containing Level 0 administrative units has been combined by EEA with some attributes data provided within GAUL in a separate file. No data from outside GAUL have been used and it is possible to reconstruct the original dataset by removing the extra attributes added.

This data set corresponds to the global offshore wind farm boundaries with the following attributes for each project: + WindfarmId (ID of the windfarm) + Name (Name of the windfarm) + Country (Country code) + Status (Status code) + WindfarmStatus (Windfarm Status or Project Status) + StatusComments (Comments on the Windfarm Status or Project Status) + CapacityMWMin (Capacity of the windfarm - Min) + CapacityMWMax (Capacity of the windfarm - Max) + NoTurbinesMin (Number of turbines - Min) + NoTurbinesMax (Number of turbines - Max) + Comments (Comments) + TurbineMWMin (Capacity of the turbine (set-up in the windfarm) - Min) + TurbineMWMax (Capacity of the turbine (set-up in the windfarm) - Max) + OtherNames (Other name of the windfarm) + CountryName (Country where the windfarm is set) + Lat (Geographic coordinate - centre latitude) + Lon (Geographic coordinate - centre longitude) + IsEstimatedLocation (This is where we know that a project exists but we don't know its exact location.) + IsOnHold + Developers (Developer(s) of the windfarm) + Owners (Owner of the windfarm) + Operators (Operator of the windfarm) + OffshoreConstructionStarts The frequency of the database release is monthly. This data set corresponds to the release of January 2020. This data set is strictly for internal EEA use as is subjected to a commercial license. Given the limited user subscriptions available, interested users should contact the SDI Team (sdi@eea.europa.eu) to be granted access to the data set.

The shape file GWB_horizon_h4 comprises all GWBs located in the groundwater body horizon 4, which are usually underlying the groundwater bodies assigned to horizon 3. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

Offshore Wind Farm locations and attribute data. List of main attributes provided in the spatial dataset: + WindfarmId (ID of the windfarm) + Name_1 (Name of the windfarm) + OtherNames (Other name of the windfarm) + CountryNam (Country where the windfarm is set) + Comments (Comments) + WindfarmSt (Windfarm Status or Project Status) + CapacityMW (Capacity of the windfarm) + NoTurbines (Number of turbines (probably those that are set in the windfarm)) + IsEstimate (IsEstimate is meant to read Is Estimated Location. This is where we know that a project exists but we don't know its exact location, for example, we know that its location off the coast from a given town. An example of this would be FR27 Cote d'Albatre II.) + Developers (Developer(s) of the windfarm) + Owners (Owner of the windfarm) + Operators (Operator of the windfarm)