The objectives of the NCMS are to establish a standard technically robust system for providing quanitiative data on the distribution and extent of defined structural components of the rural landscape during the 1940s and as near to the present day as possible so as to be able to estimate the changes that have occurred over this period of time. Variables Broadleaved woodland, broadleaved plantation, coniferous woodland, coniferous plantation, mixed woodland, young plantation, parkland, scrub (tall), scrub (low), bracken, dwarf shrub heath lowland, dwarf shrub heath moorland, blanket mire, lowland raised mire, marginal inundation, standing natural water, standing man-made water, running natural water, running water, unimproved grassland, semi-improved grassland.