NEW maps show Edinburgh has the most green space amongst the UK’s 10 most populated cities, followed by Glasgow in second place.

The images were revealed by mapping software firm Esri UK using satellite images and its own analytical software to determine where the green space or vegetation was in each city.

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Edinburgh has the highest percentage of green space with 49 per cent, followed by Glasgow with 32 per cent then Bristol with 29 per cent. Greater London was ranked fifth with 23 per cent while Liverpool was shown to have the least, with only an eighth of its land cover classified as green space.

Sparked by the recent debates over London’s proposed Garden Bridge and the controversial tree felling in Sheffield, the maps provide a quick comparison of green space across the UK’s largest 10 cities, by population. The bright green areas on each map represent green space.

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The analysis was carried out by Esri UK using freely available Landsat 8 satellite imagery from Spring 2016 and analysed with the organisation’s image analysis tools, to calculate the percentage of green space in each city, shown by bright green areas.

The method involves using the visible and near-infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, to assess whether land mass contains live green vegetation or not.

Often used to monitor drought, predict farming output or to help predict hazardous fire zones, the method called the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index is preferred for global vegetation monitoring because it helps compensate for changing illumination conditions, surface slope, aspect and other unrelated factors.

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Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh transport and environment convener, said: "We’re delighted to be the greenest city in the UK. We think very much of our green spaces here in Edinburgh, and are proud to maintain more than 130 publicly-accessible parks and Natural Heritage Sites encompassing 45 per cent of all Green Flag parks in Scotland.

“Our green city status will also take into account the city’s many other important areas of greenery too – from allotments to privately-owned gardens – which are so valuable to the quality of life here in Edinburgh.”