Mapping FAQs

Date published: 27 July, 2021

The LPIS is the Scottish Governments bespoke web based geographical information system for registering and maintaining agricultural land in a multi layered geospatial environment. The system is not a land register, it only captures land boundaries which are either eligible to be claimed against for grants or subsidies and for providing land parcels for managing the movement of livestock and animal disease.

The LPIS provides spatial information for the Rural Payments System (RPS) to enable it to calculate accurate entitlements and payments for claimants. The new functionality allows external customers to view information on their farms graphically and submit changes online.

Guidance and tutorial videos on how to use the Map Viewer

We perform maintenance on the data held within LPIS throughout the year reviewing our aerial photography and ordnance survey master map data to ensure that it is current and accurate.

Where mapping changes are identified please review your Single Application Form (SAF) and where appropriate update the submission prior to 15th May.

If you have received notification of a parcel boundary update and wish to update your SAF please use the following guidance: For maps where the field number (LPID) is the same but the gross area has changed - please use the most current land parcel data contained in the latest map issued to you and review the land eligibility of the parcel when completing your SAF. For maps where the field number (LPID) has changed - please exclude any superseded fields (LPIDs) and add in any new LPIDs on your SAF application using the ‘Add Land’ functionality.

When conducting maintenance on the LPIS, the flown date of the aerial photography is used as the date of change. This could affect what you have entered on your SAF and you may have to update your application form prior to submission.

You will receive notifications of any changes in your communications log on RP&S. We aim to keep the maintenance to the LPIS at a minimum during the SAF Window and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Rural Priorities (RP), Agri Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) and Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) contract data will not populate on a SAF application when you start it, if the old land parcels have been changed resulting in a new land parcel identification number (LPID) and a variation to the scheme contract has not been completed to use the new land parcel information. The SAF application will warn you if you have not claimed your contract area and you will have to manually add the correct options and claim area to the new land parcel on the SAF.

If you have any queries you should contact your local area office.

There will only be implications if the area claimed in the field is greater than the eligible area against the revised data in each relevant year. If the applicant has only claimed for eligible land there will be no implications.

When a change to a map is identified the start date of the change is recorded (generally the date of the aerial photography). Any relevant SAF is then reassessed, possibly for multiple years e.g. if the aerial photography was flown in 2020 then 2020 and 2021 SAFs will be reassessed.

A number of Land Change in Progress Flags have been created. This may be for a number of reasons including:

  • you have submitted an LMF and this has not yet been fully processed
  • you have been subject to inspection and this is not fully processed
  • we have changed the boundary of the parcel and notified you with a new map or will do so shortly but the SAF/RP&S has not yet been updated online
  • we are capturing known ineligible features spatially

If a Land Change in Progress Flag has been created then you should:

  • take consideration of any new maps you have been sent
  • review the eligibility of the land within any field and submit any claim accordingly
  • ensure that you only claims for eligible land in their SAF application

Where a flag exists on a parcel, as it has in previous years, the customer needs to assure themselves that they are claiming on the correct eligible area within the active parcel.

As the data is being integrated from multiple sources the latest boundary changes and capture of ineligible features will not all appear on RP&S ‘map viewer’ immediately.

As a consequence of a number of LPIS updates that some fields have been allocated Payment Region 4.

A Payment Region 4 is allocated to a non-agricultural parcel where it is considered not to be eligible to support a BPS claim. This does not prevent you from submitting a claim for this area if the circumstances have changed since it was reviewed.

Please provide suitable supporting documentary evidence and review of the BPS region will be undertaken as part of the SAF processing.

If applicants apply on paper and claim on land that is not deemed to be eligible then penalties will apply. Applying online ensures claims are validated against the most up-to-date information available at the time of submission.

Responsibility lies with the applicant to claim accurately based on all available information including an assessment of the position on the ground.