Redistribution of the map: open and closed landscapes in Northern Belgium on the topographic map of 2024

This map displays the location of open and closed landscapes on the digital topographic map of 2024. Closed landscapes occur in places with high concentrations of woody field margin vegetation, forest, or orchards. Concentrations of more than 7.5 km of woody field margin vegetation per km², as well as areas with forests and orchards, are considered a closed landscape. An open landscape offers panoramic views of the surrounding area. There are few or no visual obstructions. The source map is the Top10Vector map, as provided by the National Geographic Institute in early 2024. The Top10Vector was supplemented with woody field margin vegetation discerned on OpenStreetMap, downloaded on August 30, 2024. The distinction between hedgerows and rows of trees on the maps of 1778, 1873, and 1969 could not be maintained for the 2024 map, because the mapping proved unreliable in that regard, as it no longer allowed for the distinction between bocage and hedgerow landscapes. Therefore, these categories have been merged into a single category under the name 'high density areas with woody field margin vegetation'. The method also differs from the previous map layers (1778, 1873, 1969) in one respect. The density per pixel was calculated in a circle with a radius of 200m around the central pixel. The resulting landscape classification was subsequently combined with the land use data from the 2022 land use map by Poelmans et al. (2023), (see related work). Purpose of creation: Suitable for landscape research, landscape ecology, and studies on landscape perception, as well as for selecting appropriate locations for the (re)planting of hedgerows and tree rows based on cultural-historical patterns. In this context, it is advised to use the manual by Bastiaens & Verboven (2024), mentioned in the references section.