The product is made of 5 "high resolution layers" covering all the Belgian territory as part of a European-wide coverage for the reference year 2015. The 5 layers concern 4 distinct themes: Imperviousness, Forest, Grasslands, Wetness and Water. The 5 layers were produced by an automatic classification based on satellite images and collateral data and achieved by private companies (EEA service providers), and they were verified by Belgium. At the Belgian level, verification and enhancements were made by IV for the northern part and SPW for the outhern part. The NGI coordinated the project. Data was produced with funding by the European Union. Copyright Copernicus Programme DISCLAIMER: National Geographic Institute has undertaken to distribute the data on behalf of EEA under Specific Contract No 3436/R0-Copernicus/EEA.57005 implementing Framework service contract No EEA/IDM/R0/16/009/Belgium. National Geographic Institute accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the content and use of these data.” The European Environment Agency accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information on this site and the information does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the EEA or other European Communities bodies and institutions.

This dataset contains historical orthophoto mosaics based on available aerial photographs covering parts of the Belgian territory. Orthophotos are aerial photographs that have been geometrically corrected (orthorectified) to eliminate distortions caused by terrain relief, lens distortion, and camera tilt. Unlike raw aerial imagery, orthophotos have a uniform scale and accurate geometry, making them suitable for cartography, measurements, and visual analysis. This specific dataset includes historical orthophotos from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, derived from aerial surveys carried out by the National Geographic Institute (NGI) and the Regions. During this period, both analogue and digital aerial photographs are available. The analogue images were scanned at high resolution and, like the digital ones, orthorectified. The resulting orthophotos were assembled into mosaics and georeferenced in the Lambert 2008 coordinate system. All orthophotos are in colour (RGB). The ground resolution (GSD) varies between 10 cm and 50 cm, depending on the sensor used and the surveyed area. The spatial coverage of this dataset is limited to the areas for which aerial photographs were available during the mentioned period. The data can be visualized via the corresponding web services (WMS/WMTS). The orthophotos and the original aerial photographs can be ordered in high resolution via https://shop.ngi.be/nl/luchtfotos/.

AdminMap is the digital version of the administrative map. Two versions exist: the most complete one on the scale of 1:300 000 and a simplified version on the scale of 1:500 000. These maps show the different administrative units on the Belgian territory, from the federal State to the center of the districts for the 1:500 000. The map also shows the map grid of the National Geographic Institute. An index allows localizing the different units. The index also contains information on the linguistic statutes and on the postal codes.

Top50Map is a digital version of the NGI’s topographic cartography on a scale of 1:50 000. The images come from the symbolisation of the objects and the themes in the topo-geographic inventory of the Belgian territory (ITGI), which is built and kept up-to-date by the NGI. It can be used for on-screen viewing or printed on scales between 1:25 000 and 1:50 000 (recommended threshold values). Top50Map is meant for regional use.

Top25Map is a digital version of the NGI’s topographic cartography on a scale of 1:25 000. These images result from the symbolisation of the objects and themes which are present in the topo-geographic inventory of the Belgian territory (ITGI), which is built and kept up-to-date by the NGI. Top25Map contains all usual themes of the NGI’s cartographic products (land use, transport, hydrography, buildings and constructions, relief,…), as well as the map lettering and the toponyms. The Top25Map cartography is appropriate to hiking.

Annual, seasonal and monthly precipitation amounts given in respectively mm/year, mm/3 months and mm/month. The precipitation amounts are available for the present target year 1975, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 1961-1990.

Annual temperature extremes given in number of days: 1/ Total number of heatwaves occurring once in 20 years; 2/ Maximum length of the heatwaves occurring once in 20 years; 3/ Hot days: Mean annual number of days with maximum temperature > 25°C; 4/ Tropical days: Mean annual number of days with maximum temperature > 30°C; 5/ Frost days: Mean annual number of days with minimum temperature < 0°C. Heatwaves are defined according to the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium when the maximum temperature in Uccle is >= 25°C during at least 5 consecutive days, during which at least 3 days the maximum temperature is >= 30°C. The temperature extremes are available for the future target year 2085, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 2071-2100, and for mean and high impact scenarios corresponding respectively to the 50th and 95th percentiles of the change factors.

Annual and seasonal precipitation indices given in number of days: 1/ Wet days: Number of days with precipitation > 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 2/ Dry days: Number of days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day for winter, autumn, spring, summer; 3/ Average length of dry spells: Mean duration of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day; 4/ Maximum length of dry spells: Longest period of minimum three consecutive days with precipitation < 0.1 mm/day, occurring once in 20 years. The precipitation indices are available for the present target year 1975, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 1961-1990.

Summer and winter mean relative humidity given in %. The relative humidity fields are available for the future target year 2085, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 2071-2100, and for mean and high impact scenarios corresponding respectively to the 50th and 5th percentiles of the change factors.

Summer and winter mean global solar radiation given in kWh/m²/day. The global solar radiations fields are available for the future target year 2085, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 2071-2100, and for mean and high impact scenarios corresponding respectively to the 50th and 95th percentiles of the change factors.