| UK |
| 10 OS OpenData / OS Data Hub |
GB terrain (OS Terrain 50), Open Zoomstack basemap, boundaries and names. OS has no open land-parcel product. |
Downloads: noneAPIs: free key Downloads need no key. The Maps, Vector Tile and NGD APIs need a free account and project API key. |
OpenData plan: free and unlimited. Premium plan: up to £1,000/month of free transactions, then paid (OS Places not included). OGL v3. Credit: "Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right [year]". |
Create an account at osdatahub.os.uk on the OpenData plan, create a project and copy the key. Get bulk files from api.os.uk/downloads/v1. |
| 11 Defra DSP: Predictive ALC (England) |
Farmland grades 1–5, with 3a/3b split (new in 2026, replaces Provisional ALC). 1:250k, for strategic use, not field scale. |
None WMS, WFS, WCS and OGC API Features all work without a key (tested). |
Free. Open Government Licence (not restricted). Credit Defra under OGL. |
Switch the demo layer to OGC API Features: environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/a817d96f… |
| 12 LandIS Portal (Cranfield): NATMAP / Soilscapes |
National Soil Map of England and Wales (Vector 1:250k, Soilscapes, 1 km and 5 km grids) and soil-series properties. |
Free account You need a free portal login and must accept the EULA. |
Free since April 2026 (confirmed). "Public Data" is under the LandIS Open Licence: commercial use OK with the required attribution. "Restricted" sets allow no commercial use. Extra thematic data is paid (soilsitereports.co.uk). |
Register at landis-cranfield-portal.hub.arcgis.com. Check that each dataset you need is marked Public and copy the EULA attribution text. |
| 13 MAGIC map layers |
Viewer for 400+ Defra-family environmental layers (designations, habitats). |
None to view MAGIC isn't a production API. |
Licence differs by layer. The OS basemap and many downloads are OS-derived (PSGA End User Licence), so commercial reuse needs an OS licence. |
Use it to find layers only. Get each one from the publisher (Defra DSP / Natural England Open Data, OGL). magic.defra.gov.uk |
| 14 RPA Land Parcels |
Registered field parcels, land covers and hedges in England. |
Not available to you Only PSGA members and farmers/agents (DSP login) can access them. |
OS PSGA / Public Sector End User Licence. Defra DSP says: "not currently available to other users". |
Remove from the plan. Use CROME 2024 and RPA Parcel Points (both OGL, on DSP) instead. DSP licence FAQ |
| Germany |
| 7 Destatis GENESIS-Online |
Official farm-structure, land-use and livestock statistics. Kreis-level data is in the Regionaldatenbank. |
Free registration Data calls need a login or API token. POST only since 15 Jul 2025 (GET and SOAP switched off). |
Free. dl-de/by-2-0. Credit: "Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), GENESIS-Online, [date]; dl-de/by-2-0". |
Register at www-genesis.destatis.de, copy your API token and make sure all calls are POST. Examples: github.com/StatistischesBundesamt |
| 8 Thünen crop-type maps (Zenodo) |
Annual national crop-type maps for Germany, 2017–2025 (2025 is preliminary, v301). COG raster; vector for some years. |
None Direct Zenodo download. The streaming COG URL is only "provided on request". |
Free. CC BY 4.0. Credit the authors and Thünen-Institut. Provided "as is". |
Download the latest COG and host it yourself: zenodo.org/records/17181503 |
| 9 BGR soil map (BÜK1000 etc.) |
Soil map of Germany at 1:1M (71 units: depth, texture, water regime). Coarse, but fine for territory scoring. |
None SHP/TIFF downloads and a WMS. |
Free. Federal geodata terms (GeoNutzV, not dl-de), so commercial use is fine with credit: "BÜK1000 V2.1, (C) BGR, Hannover, 2013". |
Download SHP: download.bgr.de/…/buek1000de_v21.zip. WMS: services.bgr.de/wms/boden/buek1000de |
| USA |
| 1 USDA NASS Quick Stats API |
US crop, livestock and Census of Agriculture figures by state and county. |
Free key You get it by email straight away after accepting the ToS. Max 50,000 records per call. |
Free, public domain. You must show: "This product uses the NASS API but is not endorsed or certified by NASS." |
Request a key at quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api and keep it server-side as an env var. |
| 2 Cropland Data Layer (CroplandCROS / CropScape) |
Annual crop-type raster for the lower 48 states: 10 m from 2024 (30 m version also available). 2025 CDL released 27 Feb 2026. |
None CropScape GetCDLFile/GetCDLStat, WMS and WCS all work without a key (tested). |
Free, public domain. Credit USDA NASS. CropScape is hosted by GMU with no SLA. |
Cache county stats and rasters; don't make live calls. Docs: nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/devhelp. Portal: croplandcros.scinet.usda.gov |
| 3 USGS TNM Access API & 3DEP |
US elevation (DEM tiles, point queries, lidar) used for slope and terrain scoring. |
None Confirmed keyless: TNM Access and the Elevation Point Query Service both answer without a key. |
Free, public domain. Credit: "3DEP data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey". |
Work out slope in advance from 1/3″ DEM tiles listed by tnmaccess.nationalmap.gov/api/v1. Don't make one point query per request at scale. |
| 4 MRLC Annual NLCD (WMS/WCS) |
Annual 30 m land cover for the lower 48 states, 1985–2025 (Collection 1.2), plus change and impervious layers. |
None WMS and WCS on the USGS GeoServer. |
Free, public domain. Credit MRLC/USGS. |
Use WCS to get raw class codes (WMS only gives colours): mrlc.gov/data-services-page |
| Global / Europe-wide |
| 5 Copernicus CLMS / EEA Discomap: CORINE |
44-class European land cover (CLC2018, 100 m raster / 25 ha vector), covering the UK and DE. |
Services: noneDownloads: free login Discomap map services have no key. CLMS portal downloads need registration. |
Free, including commercial use. You must state: "Generated using European Union's Copernicus Land Monitoring Service information". |
Register at land.copernicus.eu and download CLC2018 once. Service: image.discomap.eea.europa.eu/…/Corine/CLC2018_WM |
| 6 ESA WorldCover (AWS / GEE / Terrascope) |
10 m global land cover for 2020 (v100) and 2021 (v200), 11 classes. |
AWS: none GEE: Cloud project Terrascope public WMS/WMTS: no key (old WMS retired; new titiler.terrascope.be/wms). Viewer downloads need a free account. |
Data free, CC BY 4.0. Credit: "© ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium". GEE commercial use is paid: Limited (usage fees), Basic $500/mo, Professional $2,000/mo. |
Read COGs from s3://esa-worldcover (--no-sign-request). Only open a paid GEE plan if you need GEE compute. |
| 15 FAO FAOSTAT |
Country-level crop and livestock production. Useful context and benchmarks, not territory scoring. |
Bulk: noneAPI: free login The API returns 401 without a token. Tokens come from the developer portal and last 60 minutes. |
Free. CC BY 4.0 plus FAO Statistical Database Terms of Use (attribute FAO). |
Use the bulk CSVs and refresh them yearly: fao.org/faostat/en/#data. API login: #developer-portal |