The Inventory of Historic Battlefields is a list of nationally important battlefields in Scotland that meet the criteria published in SHEP 2009. It provides information on the sites to raise awareness of their significance and assist in their protection and management for the future. It is a major resource for enhancing the understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of battlefields, for promoting education and stimulating further research, and for developing their potential as attractions for visitors.

The Listed Building Dataset comprises the statutory addresses and supplementary information for listed buildings in Scotland.
Listing is the recognition through the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 that a building or structure is of "special" interest. Historic Scotland lists buildings on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

Gardens and designed landscapes are grounds which have been laid out for artistic effect and, in appropriate cases, include references to any buildings, land, or water on, adjacent, or contiguous to such grounds.
Sites included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes are nationally important. The criteria for determining national importance is published in Annex 5 of the Scottish Historic Environment Policy 2011.
The duty to compile and maintain the Inventory is statutory. Historic Scotland manages this work on behalf of the Scottish Ministers.
The designation itself is non-statutory. There is no primary legislation that affords protection to Inventory gardens and designed landscapes. However, Inventory status is a material consideration in the planning system.

Historic Marine Protected Areas "Historic MPAs" are designated under Section 67 of the Marine Scotland Act 2010 to protect marine historic assets (e.g historic shipwrecks) of national importance within Scottish territorial waters.
The Scottish Government is committed to clean, healthy, safe, productive, biologically diverse marine and coastal environments, managed to meet the long-term needs of people and nature. This includes protecting and, where appropriate, enhancing our most important historic wrecks and other marine heritage sites in such a way that they can be valued and understood. One way Scottish Ministers can achieve this is by designating nationally important marine historic assets in Scottish territorial waters as Historic Marine Protected Areas under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.
The data shows the boundaries of all Historic Marine Protected Areas in Scotland. You should refer to the Historic Marine Protected Area site documentation for exact locations of individual boundary points and supplementary information.

Scheduled monuments are nationally important monuments and sites. The aim of scheduling is to preserve sites and monuments as far as possible in the form in which they have come down to us today. They are legally protected through the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
National importance takes account of a wide range of factors, including artistic, archaeological, architectural, historic, traditional, aesthetic, scientific and social. Guidance and criteria to assess national importance of monuments is set out by Scottish Ministers in The Scottish Historic Environment Policy.

World Heritage Sites are described by UNESCO as exceptional places of "outstanding universal value" and "belonging to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located".
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to protect and preserve such sites through an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, drawn up in 1972
Scottish Ministers identify and put forward sites to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for nomination.
Scotland currently has five cultural World Heritage Sites. Once a World Heritage Site is inscribed, under the Convention, member states have a duty to protect, conserve and present such sites for future generations.
Sites in Scotland inscribed on the World Heritage List: The Antonine Wall, Edinburgh Old and New Towns, New Lanark, The Heart of Neolithic Orkney and St Kilda World Heritage Site.