Redistribution of the map of the water surfaces of the Flemish Region (status 2022)

This is a redistribution of the dataset 'Watervlakken - versie 1.2’ (Water surfaces - version 1.2), originally published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and distributed by 'Informatie Vlaanderen' under a CC-BY compatible license. More specifically, this Zenodo record redistributes the GeoPackage file from the original data source, in order to support reproducible, analytical workflows on Flemish Natura 2000 habitats and regionally important biotopes.

The digital map of standing water surfaces (version 1.2) is a georeferenced digital file of standing surface waters in Flanders (Flemish region). The file, built by combining existing topographic map layers, ortho-photos, a detailed digital terrain model of Flanders (version 2) and limited field work, comprises 93 135 polygons with sizes ranging from 1.45 square metres to 2.47 square kilometres and can be considered the most complete representation of standing surface waters currently available for the Flemish region. It can be used for a wide range of applications in research, policy preparation and implementation in which knowledge about the distribution and characteristics of standing waters is important. Also, this data source provides a unique reference base for further data management regarding these water bodies.

For this new version of the dataset, ortho-photos of 2019, 2020 and 2021 were used. 843 UTM grid cells (2 x 2 km), representing 23 % of the Flemish region, were systematically revised. Also ad-hoc notifications of land owners and managers, complemented with own field observations were used to add new and remove filled-up water surfaces, as well as to revise contours of existing ones. For some occurrences attributes regarding water depth and connectivity were added.  

The data source is produced, owned and administered by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO, Department of Environment of the Flemish government).