Open Access LandIS Portal

The existing LandIS agreement between Cranfield University (CU) and Defra sets out that Cranfield charges for access to its datasets and limits how they can be used, which broadly encompasses:

• The platform which is owned and hosted by Cranfield for the provision of National Soil Map (NATMAP)
• National Soil Inventory (NSI) and soil attribute data (SOILSERIES & HORIZON), and its supplementary data bases (broadly: the LandIS platform data).

All Crown bodies currently enjoy full royalty-free access to LandIS, and this available to charities and research institutions. However, non-crown bodies such as the Environment Agency or Natural England, and other public sector bodies, private individuals, consultants, and businesses do not have royalty-free access to this data, which significantly hampers the use of soil data more widely. Most significantly, the current licencing limits how Defra can use these data sets to further its policy objectives.

The decision has been taken between Defra and Cranfield University for Cranfield to make the majority of the aforementioned data openly available. This will open up access to key datasets for land managers, farmers, planners, partner organisations to support major 25 YEP initiatives such as ELMS, Nature Recovery Network, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, Agricultural Land Classification (ALC), NCEA, and also contribute to Net Zero work.