About

Why this map

Every year the GNR flags more than 10,000 plots of land that have not been cleared, many of them belonging to owners who didn’t know they had to. The principle in the law is clear — 50 m around houses, 100 m around villages — but to find out whether your parcel lies in a strip, and how much of it, you have to combine the land-cover map, the buildings and the parcel boundaries. Municipalities publish their strips in very different systems, when they publish them at all, and we found no service that gave the answer parcel by parcel.

This map makes that combination for the whole of mainland Portugal, from public data, and explains the rules with the articles of the law alongside. It is also meant for people who live far from their land — emigrants, heirs, people who bought a house in the interior — which is why it exists in Portuguese, English and French.

What this site is — and isn’t

• It is screening information. It shows where the law, applied to public data, puts the strips. It is not a decision by the municipality or the GNR, and it is not legal advice. The limits of the data are explained under Sources.
• It is independent. It is made in Portugal, with experience in mapping and geographic data, and has no connection with the Portuguese state, ICNF, AGIF or any municipality.
• It cites its sources. Every rule points to the article it comes from. Where the law is unclear, we say so.

Corrections and contact

Public data has mistakes: houses that are ruins, missing buildings, land classed as farmland that is pine wood. If you find a mistake, or have a question about how we read the law, write to us.

info@aceiro.pt