More than a Map: GIS Needs to Lead BNG
Despite its teething issues and flaws, it is safe to say that England is leading the way globally in quantified biodiversity for planning and nature recovery. The statutory requirement for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), backed by a national metric and register, is a bold and progressive move. It’s one of the first countries to mandate measurable ecological uplift as a condition of development consent. But while the policy is pioneering, the technology supporting its implementation is lagging behind.
If you have followed the FRIDAS Fieldnotes for a while you will already have an understanding of the importance of GIS for a robust and reliable BNG policy. This is because BNG is inherently spatial. It relies on measuring habitat areas, assessing conditions, and tracking changes over time. These are tasks GIS excels at. But instead of leveraging GIS as the backbone of BNG, it’s often treated as an optional extra. Applicants submit PDFs with hand-drawn boundaries, LPAs receive shapefiles with missing metadata, and habitat units are calculated without accounting for slope or topography. The result is a fragmented system where errors are common and enforcement is difficult.
Imagine BNG has been designed and developed as a fully GIS-based system from its conception. Every planning application would include a standardised geospatial dataset, validated against robust data standards (e.g. FRIDAS). Habitat parcels would be digitised using templates aligned with the Biodiversity Metric. Metadata would follow GEMINI 2.3 standards, ensuring transparency and traceability. Slope would be factored into area calculations, improving ecological realism. And most importantly, the data would be interoperable, ready to be analysed, visualised, and monitored over the 30-year lifespan of a BNG agreement. There are so many opportunities for efficient analyses that would support meaningful nature recovery.
For example, over the 30-year monitoring period, spatial data can be used to track habitat change, detect encroachment, and verify compliance. Time-enabled GIS layers allow for visualising habitat maturity, while remote sensing can support condition assessments without needing constant field visits. GIS also enables integration with estates management systems, helping landowners track interventions, maintenance schedules, and ecological performance across holdings.
Connectivity is another area where GIS shines, and where the current BNG metric falls short. The removal of the connectivity multiplier from Metric 4.0 was understandable, but it left a gap. Fragmentation is a real ecological risk. GIS can model this using patch-level and class-level metrics like Core Area, Nearest Neighbour Distance, and Patch Density. These are standard tools in landscape ecology and can be applied using existing habitat data. They reveal whether habitats are usable by wildlife, not just how big they are. A site can score well numerically and still be ecologically isolated.
GIS offers a bridge to natural capital accounting. Spatial data can be linked to ecosystem service models, carbon sequestration estimates, and water quality metrics. This allows BNG to be contextualised within broader environmental strategies, making it easier to align with Local Nature Recovery Strategies and green finance initiatives.
Let's also not forget efficient data collection, effective visualisations and analyses that support decision making at the local, regional, and national levels. The opportunities are almost endless!
This isn’t just a technical upgrade. It’s a governance solution. LPAs are under-resourced and overwhelmed. A GIS-first system would reduce manual processing, flag inconsistencies automatically, and provide a clear audit trail. It would also empower landowners and ecologists to contribute high-quality data, creating a more collaborative and accountable planning process.
Some organisations and practitioners are already doing fantastic work harnessing GIS for BNG operations:
Linckia offers a geospatially driven workflow for managing BNG across its full lifecycle, from pre-mapping and baseline surveys to post-development monitoring. Built on the Esri platform, Linckia integrates Ordnance Survey’s Enhanced Land Cover dataset for rapid and defensible habitat mapping. Their app includes real-time BNG calculations, UKHab-to-BNG conversion, topology editing, and scenario modelling. It’s designed to be scalable, auditable, and user-friendly, with bespoke deployments available for different organisational needs.
Mycelia by Verna is another standout example. A platform used by over 100 Local Planning Authorities, Mycelia supports every aspect of BNG delivery: pre-application, validation, determination, monitoring, and reporting. It simplifies the complexity of BNG through automated data wrangling, intuitive planning tools, and a shared source of truth for all stakeholders.
And of course, here at EcoSpatial we are helping bridge the gap between policy and practice. Through our FRIDAS® auditing service, EcoSpatial offers technical reviews of BNG datasets against the FRIDAS checklist, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and compliance with best practice. We are also working on a licensing program to allow accredited practitioners to audit their clients’ BNG datasets using the FRIDAS® checklist and display our FRIDAS® logo as a seal of quality assurance. In addition, our DO-BNG service supports organisations in transforming raw UKHab field data into BNG-ready datasets, complete with visualisation dashboards and interactive maps.
In short, England has the policy, the data, and the experts. Now it needs to lead the technology. With its already strong geospatial sector, including Ordnance Survey, the Government Digital Delivery, and a thriving ecosystem of GIS professionals, it’s well placed to become a global pioneer in spatially intelligent nature recovery.
