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Jaroslav Dufek edited this page Mar 12, 2026 · 24 revisions

Boundaries

When signed in on the QC TOOL homepage as administrator, at the top right-hand corner there is a Boundaries button redirecting to a boundary management form. Here use the green Upload Boundary Package button in the top left-hand corner to add a Zip file with all required AOI boundaries. To obtain the boundary package, please contact the EEA staff. Please note, when uploading boundaries the Boundary Package needs to follow certain structure:

  • It needs to be in a zipped file
  • The zip file needs to contain two folders: raster and vector
  • Each folder has to contain all the boundaries files which are supposed to be present on the website because with every upload the current Boundaries Package is being rewritten.
  • Boundaries within each folder need to be in a shp or tif format
  • For each boundary there need to be all related files present and these are not zipped

vector.gap and raster.gap checks perform a spatial overlay of a checked delivery with a reference area-of-interest (AOI). Each product may have a distinct set of AOI's.

CLC national border masks (precisely aligned, without buffer): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v22myXQk5-If3tAsiXvwmUUT_SP9hm25/view?usp=sharing

CLC national border masks (100 m buffer): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gDkZvcU_9xmjwHVKg4Hj1PUdrBoqWIF2?usp=sharing

AOI boundaries are distributed as a separate boundary package. The boundary package is a large zip file. The latest version of the boundary package is available for download at: https://github.com/eea/copernicus_quality_tools/releases/ (click the Boundary package download link)

An archive of older versions of the boundary package is available at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1peEWvoV14YcQweif0gaVp53WmzcxEbEi?usp=sharing

When installing the QC tool locally (on-premises), the boundary package must be added to the QC tool by the service provider after installation.

General structure

The boundary package is distributed as a zip file with a predefined directory structure. The directory tree is organized by product and AOI.

+-- boundaries/
    +-- raster/
        +-- mask_default_010m_eu.tif
        +-- mask_default_020m_eu.tif
        +-- mask_default_100m_eu.tif
        +-- mask_waw_020m_eu.tif
        +-- mask_waw_100m_eu.tif
    +-- vector/
        +-- boundary_rpz.shp
        +-- boundary_n2k.gpkg
        +-- boundary_ua.gpkg
        +-- clc2024/
            +-- boundary_clc_al.shp
            +-- boundary_clc_at.shp
            +-- boundary_clc_bg.shp
            .....
            +-- boundary_clc_uk_ni.shp

Boundary for raster products

Each raster AOI boundary file must be supplied in GeoTiff format and must be named:

mask_<product>_<resolution>_<aoi_code>.tif

where:

  • product is an identifier of the product without resolution suffix, allowed values are:
    • waw for Water and Wetness,
    • default for other products;
  • resolution is a resolution of the product; must be set to 020m or 100m.
  • aoi_code is an unique identifier of the AOI and must be always set to eu;

The file must contain one only raster band, its spatial reference system must be EPSG:3035 and the band must follow the rules:

  • the band is of type Byte;
  • the NoData property is set to 255.
  • the content of the band represents a mask, where following values are allowed:
    • 1 represents cell inside the reference AOI;
    • 255 represents cell outside the reference AOI.

Boundaries for vector products - CLC

The Corine Land Cover (CLC) AOI boundaries are located in the vector/clc2024 subdirectory of the boundary package. Every AOI has associated one shapefile containing single polygon geometries covering the whole AOI. The shapefile must be named:

boundary_clc_<countrycode>.shp

where countrycode is the ISO 3166-1 code of a country or autonomous area and must have one of the values specified in the Country Codes list.

When looking for the country AOI the countrycode in the name of the geodatabase is matched against the countrycode in the boundary file name. The spatial reference system (SRS) of the shapefile must match the spatial reference system of the delivery.

Boundary for vector products - all other vector products

Every such product has associated one AOI boundary shapefile or geopackage containing single polygon geometries covering all the AOIs. The name of the AOI boundary file is specified in the boundary parameter of vector.naming check in each product definition. The file must be named:

boundary_<product>.shp or boundary_<product>.gpkg

where product is an identifier of the product:

  • rpz for Riparian zones 2012;
  • rpz_2018 for Riparian zones 2018;
  • n2k for Natura 2000.
  • ua for Urban Atlas 2012, Urban Atlas 2018, Urban Atlas 2018 STL
  • cz for Coastal Zones 2012 and Coastal Zones 2018

A collection of all the features demarcating the area of particular AOI forms one boundary unit. What AOI the feature is part of is determined by the value of the dedicated attribute:

  • Riparian zones: du_id denoting delivery unit;
  • Natura 2000: id denoting Natura 2000 site.
  • Coastal zones: du denoting delivery unit;
  • Urban atlas: fua denoting functional urban area;

As one delivery may elaborate more than one AOI, the datasource contains the same dedicated attribute which enables to identify the AOI particular feature is member of.

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