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A new website to improve open access to research data on Scotland’s natural assets

Screenshot of NAR-DP
"The aim of NAR-DP is to create an accessible and easy to use online resource for a wide range of people, from organisations to members of the public"

Scientists based at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen have developed a brand-new, web-based portal to improve access to spatial data on Scotland’s natural assets, including soils, land, biodiversity and cultural heritage.

The new Natural Asset Register Data Portal, or NAR-DP for short, facilitates access to open-access datasets created through the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme that otherwise wouldn’t be readily available to stakeholders, other researchers or the wider public.

Kit Macleod, from the Institute’s Information and Computational Sciences group and co-developer of NAR-DP together with colleague David Donnelly, explains: “A key aim of the Strategic Research Programme funded by the Scottish Government is to improve our understanding and management of natural resources.

“The aim of NAR-DP is to create an accessible and easy to use online resource for a wide range of people, from organisations to members of the public. The web pages contain datasets on specific aspects of Scotland’s natural assets including socio-economic features, soils and biodiversity.”

Access to these datasets is entirely free and uses the CKAN free, open-source software. NAR-DP can be visited at http://nar.hutton.ac.uk/.

Press and media enquiries: 

Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Media Manager, Tel: +44 (0)1224 395089 (direct line), +44 (0)344 928 5428 (switchboard) or +44 (0)7791 193918 (mobile).


Printed from /news/new-website-improve-open-access-research-data-scotland%E2%80%99s-natural-assets on 29/03/24 02:04:18 PM

The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.