World Heritage and biosphere reserve check, with clearly labelled footprints
A World Heritage buffer zone check asks whether a plot lies inside a World Heritage property, in the core, buffer or transition zone of a Biosphere Reserve, in a Global Geopark — or near enough to one that an authority, a lender or a buyer will ask. ERWAY Legality Assessment answers for each plot with the relation to the site, the footprint used and a confidence, and labels every approximate footprint as approximate.
A heritage site is published as a centre point and a size, not as a boundary. The product computes an equal-area circle from the size — for Biosphere Reserves, rings for core, buffer and transition; for serial World Heritage sites, the area split over components — and rates its confidence high, medium or low by radius. Inside a natural World Heritage property is tier 1, prohibited; inside a mixed property tier 2; a cultural property tier 4, 'Verification needed'. Near is 5 km and vicinity 25 km by default, and both are named as defaults. The protected wetland check works the same way for wetlands.
Core, buffer, transition, near, vicinity
A Biosphere Reserve's core zone is tier 1, prohibited; its buffer zone tier 3, restricted; its transition zone tier 5, 'Verification needed'. Near a site is tier 5 for a Biosphere Reserve and tier 4 for a natural or mixed World Heritage property; the vicinity band is tier 6, informational. A site on the List of World Heritage in Danger is flagged and moves one step stricter, except in the vicinity band.
Why confidence matters
A circle computed from a published size is right about area and wrong about shape. The product states this on every finding and keeps the rule strict: a low-confidence footprint can never make a plot 'Prohibited' — inside is capped at 'Verification needed', and the near and vicinity bands are forced to informational. The map draws computed circles dashed and the bands as rings, so a reader sees at a glance which lines are official and which are estimates.
Who asks this question
Mining and quarrying, where ICMM members have committed not to explore or mine in World Heritage properties; project finance, where IFC PS6 names natural World Heritage sites and Biosphere Reserves among internationally recognised areas; sustainability reporting, where CSRD and the CSDDD name natural heritage. Each finding links to the official site record, so the designation criteria are read from the source, not from the product.