6aeb0dea-9d8c-42bd-a357-cd859f148929 European Environment Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 Copenhagen K 1050 Denmark sdi@eea.europa.eu pointOfContact 2026-03-30T14:23:16.568558Z ISO 19115/19139 1.0 EPSG:3035 Riparian Zones Land Cover/Land Use 2012 (vector), Europe, 6-yearly, Dec. 2021 2021-12-14 creation 2021-12-15 publication 01.00 copernicus_v_3035_10_m_rz-lclu-2012_p_2010-2014_v01_r00 DAT-191-en 10.2909/6aeb0dea-9d8c-42bd-a357-cd859f148929 Riparian zones represent transitional areas occurring between land and freshwater ecosystems, characterised by distinctive hydrology, soil and biotic conditions and strongly influenced by the stream water. They provide a wide range of riparian functions (e.g. chemical filtration, flood control, bank stabilization, aquatic life and riparian wildlife support, etc.) and ecosystem services. The Riparian Zones products support the objectives of several European legal acts and policy initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive. This metadata refers to the Riparian Zones 2012 Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU), which LC/LU classification is tailored to the needs of biodiversity monitoring in a variable buffer zone of selected rivers (Strahler levels 2-9 derived from EU-Hydro) for the reference year 2012. LC/LU is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data in a buffer zone of selected rivers for supporting biodiversity monitoring and mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. 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. The classification provides 55 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The nomenclature has been revised in 2020 with the aim to harmonize the products of the local components (mainly Riparian Zones and NATURA 2000 products) while maintaining user requirements for both products. A revised version of the Riparian Zones 2012 has been subsequently released in December 2021, together with the reference year 2018. The production of the Riparian Zones products was coordinated by the European Environment Agency in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. European Commission https://commission.europa.eu owner Copernicus Land Monitoring Service JRC-Copernicus-Land@ec.europa.eu https://land.copernicus.eu custodian European Environment Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 Copenhagen K 1050 Denmark sdi@eea.europa.eu http://www.eea.europa.eu publisher Copernicus Land Monitoring Service helpdesk JRC-Copernicus-Land@ec.europa.eu https://land.copernicus.eu/en/contact-service-helpdesk pointOfContact https://sdi.eea.europa.eu/public/catalogue-graphic-overview/6aeb0dea-9d8c-42bd-a357-cd859f148929.png Land cover GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme EEA38 (from 2020) United Kingdom Continents, countries, sea regions of the world. 2015-07-17T12:00:00 publication 2015-07-17 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.external.place.regions ecosystem services hedge landscape alteration land use tree land cover riparian zone GEMET 2021-11-30 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.gemet European Spatial scope 2019-05-22 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeumetadatacodelistSpatialScope-SpatialScope Land use EEA topics 2022-10-18 publication 2020-09-24 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.eea-topics 2017 3.6.2 EEA Management Plan 2023-05-31 publication 2021-08-25 publication geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.eea-mp no limitations to public access The Copernicus component is governed by Regulation (EU) No 2021/696 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme and repealing Regulations (EU) No 912/2010, (EU) No 1285/2013 and (EU) No 377/2014 and Decision No 541/2014/EU. Within the Copernicus component, a portfolio of land monitoring activities has been delegated by the European Union to the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The Copernicus land monitoring products and services are made available on a principle of full, open and free access, as established by the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1159/2013 of 12 July 2013. Free, full and open access to the products and services of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service is made on the conditions that: 1. When distributing or communicating Copernicus Land Monitoring Service products and services (data, software scripts, web services, user and methodological documentation and similar) to the public, users shall inform the public of the source of these products and services. 2. Where the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service products and services have been adapted or modified by the user, the user shall clearly state this. 3. Users shall make sure not to convey the impression to the public that the user's activities are officially endorsed by the European Union. 7afc7ba5-9b08-4983-9e6b-009b003d2cff 393359a7-7ebd-4a52-80ac-1a18d5f3db9c vector 10 utf8 environment imageryBaseMapsEarthCover 2010-01-01 2014-12-31 -31.233429 44.819104 27.735635 71.141304 Spatial Resolution information: The Minimum Mapping Width is 10 m SHP 1.1 https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/riparian-zones WWW:LINK Product Information & Technical Documentation https://doi.org/10.2909/6aeb0dea-9d8c-42bd-a357-cd859f148929 DOI https://doi.org/10.2909/6aeb0dea-9d8c-42bd-a357-cd859f148929 https://copernicus.discomap.eea.europa.eu/arcgis/rest/services/RiparianZones/RZ_2012/MapServer ESRI:REST https://copernicus.discomap.eea.europa.eu/arcgis/rest/services/RiparianZones/RZ_2012/MapServer https://copernicus.discomap.eea.europa.eu/arcgis/services/RiparianZones/RZ_2012/MapServer/WMSServer?request=GetCapabilities&service=WMS OGC:WMS Riparian Zones 2012 LCLU https://land.copernicus.eu/en/products/riparian-zones/rz-land-cover-land-use-2012#download WWW:DOWNLOAD CLMS Website Download (requires authentication) Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication See the referenced specification Computer assisted visual refinement of the status 2012 data based on the precursor LC/LU product for reference year 2012. The main dataset for visual image interpretation was the DWH_MG2b_CORE_03 dataset (Optical VHR2 coverage over EU 2011-2013 and Riparian zones), mainly consisting of 1.5m VHR2 SPOT-6 and 2.5m VHR2 SPOT-5 HRG and 2m Pleiades satellite data. Subsequently, intersection of classification results with additional data (Urban Atlas 2012) was performed. The first version of the LC/LU dataset (produced in 2015 under the GMES Initial Operations phase) related to rivers pertaining to Strahler levels 3 to 8. The pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of the MAES typology of ecosystems was composed of 79 classes. In 2017, to allow for a harmonisation of the nomenclatures applied to the different local component products (Costal Zones and N2K), a revision of the nomenclature was undertaken which resulted in a reduction of classes (down to 56). A LC/LU dataset covering rivers pertaining to Strahler level 2 was produced applying the new nomenclature and the previous dataset (covering Strahler levels 3 to 8) was re-coded to the new nomenclature. The two datasets were merged together and a harmonised dataset covering rivers pertaining to Strahler levels 2 to 9 was produced. In 2020 an additional exercise of harmonisation of the nomenclature (re-naming and re-coding) took place. The current LC/LU layer differentiates 55 thematic LC/LU classes covering Strahler levels 2 to 9 for the reference year 2012. Positional Accuracy: less than 5 m (according to geo-location accuracy of satellite imagery delivered by ESA: less than 5m RMSE). Thematic accuracy (area-corrected Overall Accuracy) ≥ 85% (at CODE_4 level). Accuracy Assessment approach: Stratified Random Point Sampling. Interpretation of sampling points has been performed on the best available reference data.