Bringing Forgotten Waterbodies Back into the Landscape
Ponds have long been a defining feature of the UK’s rural landscapes, supporting rich biodiversity, providing water for livestock, and playing a crucial role in local hydrology. However, over the past century, thousands of ponds have been drained, filled, or lost due to agricultural intensification, land development, and changing land use.
Lost Ponds is a pioneering data-as-a-service product from ArchAI, designed for farmers, ecologists, land agents, and conservationists. By digitising historical Ordnance Survey maps, we can pinpoint where ponds once existed, assess their historical surroundings, and provide the critical data needed to guide pond restoration and habitat recovery efforts.
Restoring Connections in the Landscape
Historical
Boundaries Mapped
Digitally reconstructed from Ordnance Survey 1st & 2nd Edition maps (c.1840–1940) to show precise locations of lost boundaries.
Boundary Type Classification
Identifies whether a boundary was a hedgerow, stone wall, bank, ditch, or fence, providing insight into past land management.
Adjacent Habitat Analysis
Determines the historic landscape alongside boundaries (woodland, pasture or wetland) to assess biodiversity potential.
Bespoke trained AI for Deep Analysis
Tracks boundary loss over time, showing its impact on landscape fragmentation and highlighting opportunities for reconnection.
Finding Ghost Ponds
Ponds are biodiversity hotspots, supporting amphibians, invertebrates, and aquatic plants. They also play a crucial role in water retention, flood mitigation, and carbon sequestration. Understanding where ponds have been lost provides a foundation for landscape-scale restoration and nature-based solutions.
Identify where hedgerows, walls, and other boundaries have been removed due to modern farming, urban expansion, or infrastructure projects. Understanding past boundary networks helps restore lost connectivity and historic landscape character.
Reconstruct Historic Field Boundaries
Determine whether a lost boundary was a hedgerow, dry stone wall, bank, or fence, providing insight into how fields were historically enclosed and managed. This information supports targeted restoration efforts that align with traditional land use practices.
Classify Boundary Types
Assess the historical land cover on either side of a boundary to understand how field edges have changed over time. This enables better planning for habitat restoration, species movement, and landscape resilience.
Analyse Adjacent Habitats
Use historic boundary data to inform hedgerow re-establishment, agroforestry projects, and habitat connectivity improvements. This supports landowners, conservationists, and policymakers in designing nature-based solutions for resilient landscapes.
Plan for Ecological Restoration
Compare Habitat Changes in Studland
Use the slider to switch between modern habitats (right) and digitised historic maps (left). Thick black outlines highlight lost habitats—areas where natural features were replaced by bare earth, grass, or development.
This example focuses on Studland, Dorset. It reveals how the landscape has shifted from rough pasture with gorse scrub to coniferous plantations. Additionally, there’s a noticeable increase in deciduous woodland and wetland features.
Effortless Integration
& Tailored Delivery
Lost Boundaries is delivered as a high-resolution spatial dataset, enabling you to interrogate, analyse, and extract insights within your GIS systems. Whether you're assessing historical boundary loss, planning habitat restoration, or integrating with land management strategies, our data provides the foundation for informed decision-making.
Available formats:
✔ Data file transfer for full integration and analysis within your GIS
✔ Web Feature Service (WFS) available on request for seamless GIS access
Pricing Tiers:
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Small Landowners & Farms – 0 to 2,500 acres
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Estate Managers, Land Portfolios & Organisations – 10km² to 5,000km²
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National Datasets – Available on request
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Identify where historic ponds existed on your land and explore options for restoration or reintroduction.
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Improve natural water retention to support soil health, biodiversity, and farm resilience.
Farmers &
Landowners
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Map historic wetland loss to inform pond creation, habitat recovery, and species conservation.
Use historical data to enhance landscape connectivity for amphibians, birds, and aquatic life.
Ecologists & Conservationists
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Support agri-environment scheme applications (e.g. Countryside Stewardship, ELMs).
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Guide estate planning and habitat restoration strategies using historical data.
Land Agents
& Estate Managers
