Rural land use in England and Wales between 1930 and 1998: Mapping trajectories of change with a high resolution spatio-temporal dataset

In this paper I present a method to analyse the spatial and temporal characteristics of land use change at representative sites in England and Wales between 1930 and 1998. Multiple data sources have been integrated to provide an estimate of land use change at 23 randomly located sites for 6 time-steps ranging from 1930 through to 1998. The method is called ‘stability mapping’ and exploits the spatial data handling capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to pinpoint those specific areas of individual sites most prone to land use change. It involves the calculation of three indices: similarity, turnover and diversity as well as the detailed analysis of trajectories of change. An assessment is made of the impact of changing spatial and temporal resolution on the behaviour of these metrics and recommendations on their use are offered. The approach as outlined would be equally applicable in other locations where good quality historical map data are available.