The Greater Sydney Region Tree Canopy to Modified Mesh Block 2022 provides both an area and percentage of canopy for city blocks and infrastructure corridors in the Greater Sydney Region as of 2022. With this dataset users can estimate tree canopy for many geographic areas (map scales), from larger local government area and precincts down to mesh block (ABS) and modified mesh block (smallest scale). The geographic extent of the 2022 canopy cover dataset includes the metropolitan urban area and metropolitan rural area of Greater Sydney.  Having current and accurate estimates of tree canopy supports citizens and governments to reliably identify areas of tree canopy and confidently develop urban greening and heat island mitigation strategies and actions.

This dataset provides the user with information at a known spatial accuracy. The dataset uses vegetation information derived from 0.48m resolution ArborCarbon Pty Ltd height stratified vegetation cover data combined with boundary and land use information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Mesh Block polygon dataset.

The Greater Sydney Region Tree Canopy to Modified Mesh Block 2022 dataset uses the Modified Mesh Block boundaries from the ‘Greater Sydney Region Tree Canopy to Modified Mesh Block 2019’ dataset. Care should be taken when comparing canopy cover between datasets, especially in LGAs with a lower proportion of Metropolitan Urban Area, as some observed differences may be a result of variations in methodologies rather than actual change in canopy cover.

In the dataset, “tree canopy” is classified as all vegetation greater than 3m. “All vegetation” includes all vegetation, including tree canopy, greater than 0m. Note: due to data limitations, not all grass areas have been identified in their entirety.