The Coastal Zones (CZ) LC/LU product for 2012 is providing a detailed Land Cover / Land Use (LC/ LU) dataset for areas along the coastline of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom, with reference year 2012 for the classification. This product monitors landscape dynamics in European coastal territory to an inland depth of 10 km with a total area of approximately 730,000 km², with all the relevant areas (estuaries, coastal lowlands, nature reserves). The production of the coastal zone layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) Local Component. The Coastal Zones product covers a buffer zone of coastline derived from EU-Hydro v1.1. Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) layer is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data. The class definitions follow the pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) typology of ecosystems (Level 1 to Level 4) and CORINE Land Cover adapted to the specific characteristics of coastal zones. The classification provides 71 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The product is available for the 2012 and 2018 reference year including change mapping. This CZ dataset is distributed in vector format, in a single OGC GeoPackage SQLite file covering the area of interest.

The Urban Atlas provides pan-European comparable land use and land cover data for Functional Urban Areas (FUA) across EEA38 countries (EU, EFTA, Western Balkan countries as well as Turkey) and United Kingdom. The Street Tree Layer (STL) is a separate layer from the Urban Atlas 2018 LU/LC layer produced within the level 1 urban mask for each FUA. It includes contiguous rows or a patches of trees covering 500 m² or more and with a minimum width of 10 meter over "Artificial surfaces" (nomenclature class 1) inside FUA (i.e. rows of trees along the road network outside urban areas or forest adjacent to urban areas should not be included). Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, with the support of the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency. NOTE: By the time of publishing this metadata not all FUAs were available for download through the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service website. The last FUAs were added in February 2021.

The European Urban Atlas provides reliable, inter-comparable, high-resolution land use and land cover data for 785 Functional Urban Area (FUA) with more than 50,000 inhabitants for the 2018 reference year in EEA38 countries (EU, EFTA, Western Balkans countries, as well as Turkey) and the United Kingdom. The spatial data can be downloaded together with a map for each FUA covered and a report with the metadata for the respective area. Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, with the support of the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency. NOTE: By the time of publishing this metadata not all the FUAs were available through the Copernicus Land Service website. The last FUAs were added in January 2021.

The Coastal Zones (CZ) LC/LU product for 2018 is providing a detailed Land Cover / Land Use (LC/ LU) dataset for areas along the coastline of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom, with reference year 2018 for the classification. This product monitors landscape dynamics in European coastal territory to an inland depth of 10 km with a total area of approximately 730,000 km², with all the relevant areas (estuaries, coastal lowlands, nature reserves). The production of the coastal zone layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) Local Component. The Coastal Zones product covers a buffer zone of coastline derived from EU-Hydro v1.1. Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) layer is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data. The class definitions follow the pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) typology of ecosystems (Level 1 to Level 4) and CORINE Land Cover adapted to the specific characteristics of coastal zones. The classification provides 71 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The product is available for the 2012 and 2018 reference year including change mapping. This CZ dataset is distributed in vector format, in a single OGC GeoPackage SQLite file covering the area of interest.

The Coastal Zones LC/LU Change (CZC) 2012-2018 is providing the Land Cover / Land Use (LC/ LU) change for areas along the coastline of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom, between the reference years 2012 and 2018. The Coastal Zones product monitors landscape dynamics in European coastal territory to an inland depth of 10 km with a total area of approximately 730,000 km², with all the relevant areas (estuaries, coastal lowlands, nature reserves). The production of the coastal zone layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) Local Component. The Coastal Zones Change product covers a buffer zone of coastline derived from EU-Hydro v1.1. The Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) Change layer is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data. The reference years for the change are 2012 and 2018. The class definitions follow the pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) typology of ecosystems (Level 1 to Level 4) and CORINE Land Cover adapted to the specific characteristics of coastal zones. The classification provides 71 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The status product is available for the 2012 and 2018 reference years. This CZC dataset is distributed in vector format, in a single OGC GeoPackage file covering the area of interest.

The European Urban Atlas provides reliable, inter-comparable, high-resolution land use and land cover change data for 785 Functional Urban Areas (FUA) with more than 50,000 inhabitants between the reference years 2012 and 2018 in EEA38 countries (EU, EFTA, Western Balkan countries as well as Turkey) and United Kingdom. The spatial data can be downloaded together with a map for each FUA covered and a report with the metadata for the respective area. The Urban Atlas Change layers have become available as of 2012. Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, with the support of the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency. NOTE: By the time of publishing this metadata not all the FUAs were available through the Copernicus Land Service website. The last FUAs were added in January 2021.

Natura 2000 is the key instrument to protect biodiversity in the European Union. It is an ecological network of protected areas, set up to ensure the survival of Europe's most valuable species and habitats. Natura 2000 is based on the 1979 Birds Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive. This version covers the reporting in 2019. Natura 2000 is an ecological network composed of sites designated under the Birds Directive (Special Protection Areas or SPAs) and the Habitats Directive (Sites of Community Importance or SCIs, and Special Areas of Conservation or SACs). The European database of Natura 2000 sites consists of a compilation of the data submitted by the Member States of the European Union. This European database is generally updated once a year to take into account any updating of national databases by Member States. However, the release of a new EU-wide database does not necessarily mean that a particular national dataset has recently been updated. The descriptive data in the European database are based on the information that national authorities have submitted, for each of the Natura 2000 sites, through a site-specific standard data form (SDF). In addition to other site-specific information, the standard data form provides the list of all species and habitat types for which a site is officially designated. The spatial data (outlining the boundaries of sites) submitted by each Member State are validated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Any problems identified through the above validation procedures in the national datasets are brought to the attention of the Member States concerned. However, it remains up to the Member States to decide whether to submit a revised dataset before the European database is updated. The EEA therefore cannot guarantee that all inconsistences detected in national datasets are removed in the European dataset. Please note that some Member States have submitted sensitive information that has been filtered out of this database. The following Member States have submitted sensitive information: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. This concerns mainly species associated to specific sites. All reference to these species has been removed from the related sites. If this sensitive information is necessary to your field of research, please contact the Member State administrations individually. You can find a compiled list of national or regional Natura 2000 websites at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/db_gis/index_en.htm#sites There are specific terms and conditions relating to the use of downloaded boundary data within the United Kingdom. If you intend to use the UK data, you must first agree to the end-user licence http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-5232. Besides the web service link provided in the metadata, the following services provide information on species and habitat types inside the Natura 2000 sites: https://bio.discomap.eea.europa.eu/arcgis/rest/services/ProtectedSites/Natura2000Habitats/MapServer https://bio.discomap.eea.europa.eu/arcgis/rest/services/ProtectedSites/Natura2000Species/MapServer NOTE: The dataset has been corrected in June 2020 and the files uploaded on the SDI on 30 July 2020. Files downloaded before that date has one invalid site type code (G) that was corrected (to B) in June.

The present dataset includes three buffer zones used to calculate statistics on Marine Protected Areas coverage in EU's marine waters. The three buffer zones layers correspond to "Near shore MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (0-1 nautical miles)", "Territorial MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (1-12 nautical miles)" and "Offshore MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (beyond 12 nautical miles to the edge of EU waters)". The dataset is based on the "Marine protected assessment areas" created in the context of the work published in the EEA Briefing No 13/2018 "Designed to conserve Europe's marine life, marine protected areas are a globally recognised tool for managing and enhancing our marine ecosystems", available on https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/marine-protected-areas.

The dataset contains information on European groundwater bodies, monitoring sites, river basin districts, river basin districts sub-units and surface bodies reported to the European Environment Agency between 2001-11-29 and 2020-01-17. The information was reported to the European Environment Agency under the State of Environment reporting obligations. For the EU27 countries, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom, the EIONET spatial data was consolidated with the spatial data reported under the Water Framework Directive reporting obligations. For these countries, the reference spatial data set is the "WISE WFD Reference Spatial Datasets reported under Water Framework Directive". Relevant concepts: Groundwater body: 'Body of groundwater' means a distinct volume of groundwater within an aquifer or aquifers. Groundwater: All water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil. Aquifer: Subsurface layer or layers of rock or other geological strata of sufficient porosity and permeability to allow either a significant flow of groundwater or the abstraction of significant quantities of groundwater. Surface water body: Body of surface water means a discrete and significant element of surface water such as a lake, a reservoir, a stream, river or canal, part of a stream, river or canal, a transitional water or a stretch of coastal water. Surface water: Inland waters, except groundwater; transitional waters and coastal waters, except in respect of chemical status for which it shall also include territorial waters. Inland water: All standing or flowing water on the surface of the land, and all groundwater on the landward side of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial waters is measured. River: Body of inland water flowing for the most part on the surface of the land but which may flow underground for part of its course. Lake: Body of standing inland surface water. River basin district: The area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is the main unit for management of river basins. River basin: The area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a sequence of streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes into the sea at a single river mouth, estuary or delta. Sub-basin: The area of land from which all surface run-off flows through a series of streams, rivers and, possibly, lakes to a particular point in a water course (normally a lake or a river confluence). Sub-unit [Operational definition. Not in the WFD]: Reporting unit. River basin districts larger than 50000 square kilometre should be divided into comparable sub-units with an area between 5000 and 50000 square kilometre. The sub-units should be created using river basins (if more than one river basin exists in the RBD), set of contiguous river basins, or sub-basins, for example. If the RBD area is less than 50000 square kilometre, the RBD itself should be used as a sub-unit.

Within the European Union, the Environmental Noise Directive (END; 2002/49/EC) defines quiet areas outside cities as those areas delimited by national authorities that are undisturbed by noise from traffic, industry or recreational activities. In this dataset, two datasets has been brought together to visualize how human made noise have an impact on nature protected areas: the Natura2000 dataset and the quietness suitable index dataset. The data set is provided by countries both in Geodatabase and Geopackage formats.