The UKHab & BNG Platform has been designed and built with ecologists to meet the needs of organisations looking to streamline their BNG work and maximise both efficiency and accuracy. We’re constantly looking to add new features that make your life easier and let you focus on the parts of the process that simply cannot be automated, such as the habitat surveys themselves. Here are the latest enhancements:
Distinctiveness map
Have you ever wanted a super quick visual way to help your clients visualise the areas that have the highest distinctiveness? Well, now you can switch your map from UKHab Standard Symbology into a simple representation of distinctiveness values, to highlight those areas of a site that might best be ring fenced.
Trees get a facelift
Rather than generic points, trees now appear on the maps as icons. We thought that would make life just a bit easier (and brighter). More significantly, when you export your data you’ll see that each tree occupies its own row in the Metric Calculation Tool. This will make it easier for you to account for trees that are retained or lost.
A new API for the platform
Probably the most significant change in this release is behind the scenes – the platform now has its own dedicated API. If that doesn’t mean much to you, the bottom line is that the platform is now more capable and extensible. For example, it can handle very large projects without hitting limits that browsers introduce. In addition, the new API will act as the foundation to enable us to add even more bespoke features for the platform going forwards (more on some of those changes soon).