National Scenic Areas (NSAs) are a national landscape designation of areas that have been identified as having outstanding scenic value in a national context. The designation’s purpose is both to identify our finest scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development through the planning system. They are broadly equivalent to the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty found in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are 40 NSAs in Scotland, mainly in remote and mountainous areas, including spectacular mountain ranges (e.g. Skye Cuillins, Ben Nevis, Glencoe), dramatic island landscapes (e.g. the Hebrides, Northern Isles) and picturesque, richly diverse scenery (e.g. Perthshire, Dumfries and Galloway). They were identified in 1978 by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (a predecessor of NatureScot) in its publication Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, and their boundaries remain unchanged today. All NSAs have been surveyed to record their special qualities that, individually or combined, make each area's scenery outstanding and justify their designation as NSAs.NSAs were first identified by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (a predecessor to NatureScot) in 1978 and described in the Commission’s report "Scotland's Scenic Heritage". While originally established in 1980 under planning legislation, NSAs were formally designated under The Town and Country Planning (National Scenic Areas) (Scotland) Designation Directions 2010 in December 2010.
This digital dataset was originally digitised against Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 raster data circa 1998, and follows the textual description in the Countryside Commission report. The textual description contains ambiguities and the maps associated with the text (also in the publication) don't always agree. The dataset covers all NSAs including offshore extensions - no new areas have since been identified. Most areas are in private ownership although the Forestry Commission has some sizeable land holdings.