Health geography hierarchy boundaries, December 2020, England and Wales.Boundaries used (BGC) for geographies in England and Wales are generalised (20m) and are clipped to the coastline for England and Wales.

A PDF map that shows the health areas in England and Wales as at April 2021. The map shows the health geographies: clinical commissioning groups that became operative in England as at April 2021 and the local health boards that became operative in Wales as at April 2019. (File Size - 1,004 KB)

A PDF map that shows the Regions in England, as at December 2017. (File Size - 226 KB)

This research project aimed to fill a major lacuna militating against the effective exploitation of many post-medieval to mid-Victorian historical sources collected by local administrative areas: the lack of information on the boundaries of those administrative areas, the so-called 'historic' or 'ancient' parishes of England and Wales. It is known that these districts came into being during the Middle Ages, that the map of these ecclesiastical parishes was essentially complete by the fifteenth century, that these ecclesiastical boundaries were adopted during the early modern period for secular and judicial purposes, and that boundaries remained essentially unchanged until a number of reforms from the mid-nineteenth century onwards reorganised the local administrative geography of the country. The project aimed to reconstruct those boundaries as they were before the post-nineteenth century changes.

Dataset info

The dataset contains Local Authority Boundaries for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) as of December 2021. A total of 363 Local Authority objects are included. Created for future use in folium choropleth maps when combined with other datasets that contain the matching Local Authority Codes. Additionally, subsets were created for convenience holding the boundaries of local authorities in England and Wales together, and in each individual country, i.e., England, Scotland and Wales on their own.

Methodology

The original dataset was downloaded from ONS. Since the dataset was too large for most use cases (129.4MB) due to the level of detail, it was simplified with https://mapshaper.org/ using the default method (Visvalingam / weighted area) with 'prevent shape removal' enabled. The simplification was set to 1.4%, followed by intersection repair and export back to geojson. The shape coordinates were originally in British National Grid (BNG) format, which had to be converted to WGS84 (latitude and longitude) format. Finally, the coordinates were rounded to 6 decimal places, resulting in a file containing 2.2MB of uncompressed data with a sensible level of detail. The individual country data were extracted, based on the LAD21CD property, to create the additional files.

Licence

https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography/licences

Digital boundary products and reference maps are supplied under the Open Government Licence. You must use the following copyright statements when you reproduce or use this material:

• Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0
• Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2023

A web map showing administrative geography hierarchy boundaries in the UK as at 31 December 2020.Boundaries used (BGC) for geographies in Great Britain are generalised (20m) and are clipped to the coastline for Great BritainBoundaries used (BGE) for geographies in Northern Ireland are generalised (20m) and are extent of the realm and are not clipped to the coastline for Northern Ireland.

Map of the CCG area boundaries. CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups) are the regional NHS bodies of England. Released 27 March 2013 Boundaries are generalised to 200 metres. The licence is OGL. Any maps using these files must be accompanied by the appropriate copyright notices: Contains National Statistics data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2012 Contains Ordnance Survey data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2012 Data is based on ONS boundary file for 2011 LSOAs "Super generalised (200m), clipped to the coastline". The original source file can be downloaded from here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/geography/products/census/spatial/2011/index.html

This dataset comprises 2 collections of maps. The facsmile collection contains all the marginalia information from the original map as well as the map itself, while the georectified collection contains just the map with an associated index for locating them. Each collection comprises approximately 101 000 monochrome images at 6-inch (1:10560) scale. Each image is supplied in .tiff format with appropriate ArcView and MapInfo world files, and shows the topography for all areas of England, Wales and Scotland as either quarter or, in some cases, full sheets. The images will cover the approximate epochs 1880's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, but note that coverage is not countrywide for each epoch. The data was purchased by BGS from Sitescope, who obtained it from three sources - Royal Geographical Society, Trinity College Dublin and the Ordnance Survey. The data is for internal use by BGS staff on projects, and is available via a customised application created for the network GDI enabling users to search for and load the maps of their choice. The dataset will have many uses across all the geoscientific disciplines across which BGS operates, and should be viewed as a valuable addition to the BGS archive. There has been a considerable amount of work done during 2005, 2006 and 2007 to improve the accuracy of the OS Historic Map Collection. All maps should now be located to +- 50m or better. This is the best that can be achieved cost effectively. There are a number of reasons why the maps are inaccurate. Firstly, the original maps are paper and many are over 100 years old. They have not been stored in perfect condition. The paper has become distorted to varying degrees over time. The maps were therefore not accurate before scanning. Secondly, different generations of maps will have used different surveying methods and different spatial referencing systems. The same geographical object will not necessarily be in the same spatial location on subsequent editions. Thirdly, we are discussing maps, not plans. There will be cartographic generalisations which will affect the spatial representation and location of geographic objects. Finally, the georectification was not done in BGS but by the company from whom we purchased the maps. The company no longer exists. We do not know the methodology used for georectification.

A story map on how and why the boundaries were made, and a guide to their use for statistics

In the middle of 2001 Roger Kain and Richard Oliver, from the University of Exeter, published a substantial work entitled Historic Parishes of England and Wales: Electronic Map - Gazetteer- Metadata. This was the final product of a project aimed at locating and mapping the boundaries of parish and sub-parish units of the mid-nineteenth century. The authors published the results in a series of electronic maps supplied on CD-ROM. Each one of these 115 maps contain a scanned 1”:1 mile OS New Popular Series map, overlain by the boundaries. A reference number can be found in each of the polygons that can then be used to look up information about that parish in gazetteer in an accompanying book.

A major limitation of this work is that although the boundaries are in digital form, they are divided into 115 tiles, none of which have any spatial co-ordinate information inherent in them. This means that although the maps are invaluable as a reference tool, they can not be used together within a GIS to select, analyse and present historic information.

We have therefore created a single digital map of the boundaries to provide a single, continuous coverage of polygons, each of which contain the information provided by Kain and Oliver in their accompanying book. This information includes the parish name, Ancient County, and a reference number that coincides with entries for that parish in the 1851 census report.

It is recommended that users also order disc 1 of study 4348; Historic Parishes of England and Wales : an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

Census statistical geography hierarchy boundaries, December 2021, England and Wales.

The aims of the project were :
to ascertain how many enclosure, parochial assessment, drainage and sanitary maps survive in England and Wales;
to analyse their cartographic characteristics, including scale, date and mapmaker;
to analyse the way in which central and local government and their agencies used maps as instruments with which to implement policy relating to the ownership, use and taxation of land;
to analyse regional and temporal variations in the coverage of England and Wales by various types of map;
to obtain data on historic parish and township boundaries in England and Wales.

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I wrote a simple Python script that uses the wikipedia API (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php) to collect al the articles on English Wikipedia (for another project). One of the parameters for ‘query’ is called coordinates. It contains lat, lon and globe on articles about places, events, people, etc. Most of the articles are about locations on earth but I’ve als een few thousand locations on the moon, mars, IO, etc, etc.

You can use datashader (https://datashader.org) to plot a map. It’s a great library if you want to plot large(r) sets.

The way I see it there are multiple factors why some countries are disproportionate on the map: - Scholarly interest - Scholarly level - Language - Density of population - Angloshpere of (former) British colonies - Travel interest - History itself but also the level of documentation on it

I also find it interesting to consider the fact that Wikipedia is often used as a resource in many levels of education. It may be an exaggeration, but you could see this picture as a visualisation of language barrier and in some cases as a loss of knowledge.

Next step is to collect al coordinates on the “other” Wikipedias and see if that “fills in the blanks”. And if so, if there’s a way to combine those languages/versions.

The Rural-Urban Classification is a Government Statistical Service product developed by the Office for National Statistics; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and the Welsh Assembly Government.Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.Contains OS data © Crown copyright 2025Links below to FAQ, Methodology and User Guide FAQ https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/ebfac455db0642afaa5052738ce5c32e/about Methodology https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/833a35f2a1ec49d98466b679ae0a0646/about User Guide https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/c8e8e6db38e04cb8937569d74bce277a/about

This dataset comprises 2 collections of maps. The facsmile collection contains all the marginalia information from the original map as well as the map itself, while the georectified collection contains just the map with an associated index for locating them. Each collection comprises approximately 101 000 monochrome images at 6-inch (1:10560) scale. Each image is supplied in .tiff format with appropriate ArcView and MapInfo world files, and shows the topography for all areas of England, Wales and Scotland as either quarter or, in some cases, full sheets. The images will cover the approximate epochs 1880's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, but note that coverage is not countrywide for each epoch. The data was purchased by BGS from Sitescope, who obtained it from three sources - Royal Geographical Society, Trinity College Dublin and the Ordnance Survey. The data is for internal use by BGS staff on projects, and is available via a customised application created for the network GDI enabling users to search for and load the maps of their choice. The dataset will have many uses across all the geoscientific disciplines across which BGS operates, and should be viewed as a valuable addition to the BGS archive. There has been a considerable amount of work done during 2005, 2006 and 2007 to improve the accuracy of the OS Historic Map Collection. All maps should now be located to +- 50m or better. This is the best that can be achieved cost effectively. There are a number of reasons why the maps are inaccurate. Firstly, the original maps are paper and many are over 100 years old. They have not been stored in perfect condition. The paper has become distorted to varying degrees over time. The maps were therefore not accurate before scanning. Secondly, different generations of maps will have used different surveying methods and different spatial referencing systems. The same geographical object will not necessarily be in the same spatial location on subsequent editions. Thirdly, we are discussing maps, not plans. There will be cartographic generalisations which will affect the spatial representation and location of geographic objects. Finally, the georectification was not done in BGS but by the company from whom we purchased the maps. The company no longer exists. We do not know the methodology used for georectification.

This file contains the digital vector boundaries for Counties, in England, as at December 2023.The boundaries available are: (BGC) Generalised (20m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights.

REST URL of Feature Access Service – https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/Counties_December_2023_Boundaries_EN_BGC/FeatureServerREST URL of WFS Server –https://dservices1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/services/Counties_December_2023_Boundaries_EN_BGC/WFSServer?service=wfs&request=getcapabilitiesREST URL of Map Server –https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/Counties_December_2023_Boundaries_EN_BGC/MapServer

A PDF map that shows the counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom as at 1 April 2023. (File Size - 583 KB)

A PDF map that shows NUTS Levels 2 and 3 in United Kingdom as at January 2018. (File Size - 1.8 MB).

census-geography dec_2021 england-and-wales lower-layer-super-output-area lsoa map middle-layer-super-output-area msoa oa online-web-app output-area