The 1885 UK parliamentary constituencies for Ireland were re-created in 2017 as part of a conference paper delivered at the Southern Irish Loyalism in Context conference at Maynooth University. The intial map only included the territory of the Irish Free State and was created by Martin Charlton and Jack Kavanagh. The remaining six counties of Ulster were completed by Eoin McLaughlin in 2018-19, the combined result is a GIS map of all the parliamentary constituecies across the island of Ireland for the period 1885-1918. The map is available in both ESRI Shapefile format and as a GeoPackage (GPKG). The methodology for creating the constituencies is outlined in detail below.

Methodology

A map showing the outlines of the 1855 – 1918 Constituency boundaries can be found on page 401 of Parliamentary Elections in Ireland, 1801-1922 (Dublin, 1978) by Brian Walker. This forms the basis for the creation of a set of digital boundaries which can then be used in a GIS. The general workflow involves allocating an 1885 Constituency identifier to each of the 309 Electoral Divisions present in the boundaries made available for the 2011 Census of Population data release by CSO. The ED boundaries are available in ‘shapefile’ format (a de facto standard for spatial data transfer). Once a Constituency identifier has been given to each ED, the GIS operation known as ‘dissolve’ is used to remove the boundaries between EDs in the same Constituency. To begin with Walker’s map was scanned at 1200 dots per inch in JPEG form. A scanned map cannot be linked to other spatial data without undergoing a process known as georeferencing. The CSO boundaries are available with spatial coordinates in the Irish National Grid system. The goal of georeferencing is to produce a rectified version of the map together with a world file. Rectification refers to the process of recomputing the pixel positions in the scanned map so that they are oriented with the ING coordinate system; the world file contains the extent in both the east-west and north-south directions of each pixel (in metres) and the coordinates of the most north-westerly pixel in the rectified image.

Georeferencing involves the identification of Ground Control Points – these are locations on the scanned map for which the spatial coordinates in ING are known. The Georeferencing option in ArcGIS 10.4 makes this a reasonably pain free task. For this map 36 GCPs were required for a local spline transformation. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 provides the legal basis for the constituencies to be used for future elections in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Part III of the Seventh Schedule of the Act defines the Constituencies in terms of Baronies, Parishes (and part Parishes) and Townlands for Ireland. Part III of the Sixth Schedule provides definitions for the Boroughs of Belfast and Dublin.

The CSO boundary collection also includes a shapefile of Barony boundaries. This makes it possible code a barony in two ways: (i) allocated completely to a Division or (ii) split between two Divisions. For the first type, the code is just the division name, and for the second the code includes both (or more) division names. Allocation of these names to the data in the ED shapefile is accomplished by a spatial join operation. Recoding the areas in the split Baronies is done interactively using the GIS software’s editing option. EDs or groups of EDs can be selected on the screen, and the correct Division code updated in the attribute table. There are a handful of cases where an ED is split between divisions, so a simple ‘majority’ rule was used for the allocation. As the maps are to be used at mainly for displaying data at the national level, a misallocation is unlikely to be noticed. The final set of boundaries was created using the dissolve operation mentioned earlier. There were a dozen ED that had initially escaped being allocated a code, but these were quickly updated. Similarly, a few of the EDs in the split divisions had been overlooked; again updating was painless. This meant that the dissolve had to be run a few more times before all the errors have been corrected.

For the Northern Ireland districts, a slightly different methodology was deployed which involved linking parishes and townlands along side baronies, using open data sources from the OSM Townlands.ie project and OpenData NI.

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

In the century between Napoleon's defeat and the outbreak of the First World War (known as the "Pax Britannica"), the British Empire grew to become the largest and most powerful empire in the world. At its peak in the 1910s and 1920s, it encompassed almost one quarter of both the world's population and its land surface, and was known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". The empire's influence could be felt across the globe, as Britain could use its position to affect trade and economies in all areas of the world, including many regions that were not part of the formal empire (for example, Britain was able to affect trading policy in China for over a century, due to its control of Hong Kong and the neighboring colonies of India and Burma). Some historians argue that because of its economic, military, political and cultural influence, nineteenth century Britain was the closest thing to a hegemonic superpower that the world ever had, and possibly ever will have. "Rule Britannia" Due to the technological and logistical restrictions of the past, we will never know the exact borders of the British Empire each year, nor the full extent of its power. However, by using historical sources in conjunction with modern political borders, we can gain new perspectives and insights on just how large and influential the British Empire actually was. If we transpose a map of all former British colonies, dominions, mandates, protectorates and territories, as well as secure territories of the East India Trading Company (EIC) (who acted as the precursor to the British Empire) onto a current map of the world, we can see that Britain had a significant presence in at least 94 present-day countries (approximately 48 percent). This included large territories such as Australia, the Indian subcontinent, most of North America and roughly one third of the African continent, as well as a strategic network of small enclaves (such as Gibraltar and Hong Kong) and islands around the globe that helped Britain to maintain and protect its trade routes. The sun sets... Although the data in this graph does not show the annual population or size of the British Empire, it does give some context to how Britain has impacted and controlled the development of the world over the past four centuries. From 1600 until 1920, Britain's Empire expanded from a small colony in Newfoundland, a failing conquest in Ireland, and early ventures by the EIC in India, to Britain having some level of formal control in almost half of all present-day countries. The English language is an official language in all inhabited continents, its political and bureaucratic systems are used all over the globe, and empirical expansion helped Christianity to become the most practiced major religion worldwide. In the second half of the twentieth century, imperial and colonial empires were eventually replaced by global enterprises. The United States and Soviet Union emerged from the Second World War as the new global superpowers, and the independence movements in longstanding colonies, particularly Britain, France and Portugal, gradually succeeded. The British Empire finally ended in 1997 when it seceded control of Hong Kong to China, after more than 150 years in charge. Today, the United Kingdom consists of four constituent countries, and it is responsible for three crown dependencies and fourteen overseas territories, although the legacy of the British Empire can still be seen, and it's impact will be felt for centuries to come.

A list of central and local government land in England, which may not be registered with HM Land Registry (HMLR).

HMLR has created this dataset for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) by combining HMLR freehold polygon data with the public sector ownership data currently openly available from the Office of Government Property.

The dataset is not definitive or complete as not all central and local government data is captured, and/or available, and the two datasets are not held in the same format. The list is therefore indicative rather than definitive.

Intellectual Property Rights

The dataset includes address data processed against Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase Premium product and incorporates Royal Mail’s PAF® database (Address Data). Royal Mail and Ordnance Survey permit your use of Address Data:

• for personal and/or non-commercial use
• in relation to the analysis of public sector land and property.

If you want to use the Address Data in any other way, you must contact Royal Mail. Email

Address data

The following fields comprise the address data included in the dataset

• Property Name
• Street No
• Road
• Town
• Postcode

As of October 2025, the political party that 18 to 24 year-old's in Great Britain would be most likely to vote for was the Labour Party, at 30 percent, with Labour also the joint-most popular party among those aged 25 to 49 along with Reform UK. Reform was the most popular party for the 50 to 64 age group, with 32 percent of voters saying they would vote for them. For the oldest age group, Reform was also the most popular, with 31 percent of over 65s intending to vote for them. Reform surge in the polls Since winning the last UK general election in July 2024, the ruling Labour Party have steadily become more unpopular among voters. After winning 33.7 percent of the vote in that election, the party was polling at 24 percent in April 2025, only slightly ahead of Reform UK on 23 percent. A right-wing populist party, Reform benefited from the collapse in support for the center-right Conservative Party in the last election, winning several seats at their expense. While the next UK general election is not due to be held until 2029, the government will be keen to address their collapsing approval ratings, in the face of Reform's rising support. Economic headaches for Labour in 2025 Although Labour inherited a growing economy, with falling inflation, and low unemployment from the Conservatives, the overall economic outlook for the UK is still quite gloomy. The country's government debt is around 100 percent of GDP, and without large tax rises and spending cuts, the government hopes to create a stronger, more resilient economy to reduce the deficit. While this is still a possibility, the UK's economic prospects for 2025 were recently slashed, with growth of one percent forecast, down from an earlier prediction of two percent. Although mainly due to external factors such as the threat of increasing tariffs, and general geopolitical instability, the UK's faltering economy will add further problems to the embattled government.

Historical Map of South / Central America from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

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

The current counties of England are defined by the ceremonial counties, a collective name for the county areas to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant. The office of Lord Lieutenant was created in the reign of Henry VIII. The Lord Lieutenant is the chief officer of the county and representative of the Crown. Whenever the Queen visits an area she will be accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of that area. Legally the ceremonial counties are defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 as ‘Counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies in Great Britain’ with reference to the areas used for local government.

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https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

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Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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PLEASE NOTE: This data product is not available in Shapefile format or KML at https://naturalengland-defra.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/Defra::living-england-habitat-map-phase-4/about, as the data exceeds the limits of these formats. Please select an alternative download format.This data product is also available for download in multiple formats via the Defra Data Services Platform at https://environment.data.gov.uk/explore/4aa716ce-f6af-454c-8ba2-833ebc1bde96?download=true.The Living England project, led by Natural England, is a multi-year programme delivering a satellite-derived national habitat layer in support of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) System and the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Pilot. The project uses a machine learning approach to image classification, developed under the Defra Living Maps project (SD1705 – Kilcoyne et al., 2017). The method first clusters homogeneous areas of habitat into segments, then assigns each segment to a defined list of habitat classes using Random Forest (a machine learning algorithm). The habitat probability map displays modelled likely broad habitat classifications, trained on field surveys and earth observation data from 2021 as well as historic data layers. This map is an output from Phase IV of the Living England project, with future work in Phase V (2022-23) intending to standardise the methodology and Phase VI (2023-24) to implement the agreed standardised methods.The Living England habitat probability map will provide high-accuracy, spatially consistent data for a range of Defra policy delivery needs (e.g. 25YEP indicators and Environment Bill target reporting Natural capital accounting, Nature Strategy, ELM) as well as external users. As a probability map, it allows the extrapolation of data to areas that we do not have data. These data will also support better local and national decision making, policy development and evaluation, especially in areas where other forms of evidence are unavailable. Process Description: A number of data layers are used to inform the model to provide a habitat probability map of England. The main sources layers are Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellite data from the ESA Copericus programme. Additional datasets were incorporated into the model (as detailed below) to aid the segmentation and classification of specific habitat classes. Datasets used:Agri-Environment Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Monitoring, British Geological Survey Bedrock Mapping 1:50k, Coastal Dune Geomatics Mapping Ground Truthing, Crop Map of England (RPA), Dark Peak Bog State Survey, Desktop Validation and Manual Points, EA Integrated Height Model 10m, EA Saltmarsh Zonation and Extent, Field Unit NEFU, Living England Collector App NEFU/EES, Long Term Monitoring Network (LTMN), Lowland Heathland Survey, National Forest Inventory (NFI), National Grassland Survey, National Plant Monitoring Scheme, NEFU Surveys, Northumberland Border Mires, OS Vector Map District , Priority Habitats Inventory (PHI) B Button, European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 , Space2 Eye Lens: Ainsdale NNR, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Bowland Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Dark Peak Condition Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog (MMU) Mountain Hare Habitat Survey Dark Peak, Uplands Inventory, West Pennines Designation NVC Survey, Wetland Inventories, WorldClim - Global Climate DataFull metadata can be viewed on data.gov.uk.

The Living England project, led by Natural England, is a multi-year programme delivering a satellite-derived national habitat layer in support of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) System and the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Pilot. The project uses a machine learning approach to image classification, developed under the Defra Living Maps project (SD1705 – Kilcoyne et al., 2017). The method first clusters homogeneous areas of habitat into segments, then assigns each segment to a defined list of habitat classes using Random Forest (a machine learning algorithm). The habitat probability map displays modelled likely broad habitat classifications, trained on field surveys and earth observation data from 2021 as well as historic data layers. This map is an output from Phase IV of the Living England project, with future work in Phase V (2022-23) intending to standardise the methodology and Phase VI (2023-24) to implement the agreed standardised methods.

The Living England habitat probability map will provide high-accuracy, spatially consistent data for a range of Defra policy delivery needs (e.g. 25YEP indicators and Environment Bill target reporting Natural capital accounting, Nature Strategy, ELM) as well as external users. As a probability map, it allows the extrapolation of data to areas that we do not have data. These data will also support better local and national decision making, policy development and evaluation, especially in areas where other forms of evidence are unavailable.

Process Description: A number of data layers are used to inform the model to provide a habitat probability map of England. The main sources layers are Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellite data from the ESA Copericus programme. Additional datasets were incorporated into the model (as detailed below) to aid the segmentation and classification of specific habitat classes.

Datasets used: Agri-Environment Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Monitoring, British Geological Survey Bedrock Mapping 1:50k, Coastal Dune Geomatics Mapping Ground Truthing, Crop Map of England (RPA), Dark Peak Bog State Survey, Desktop Validation and Manual Points, EA Integrated Height Model 10m, EA Saltmarsh Zonation and Extent, Field Unit NEFU, Living England Collector App NEFU/EES, Long Term Monitoring Network (LTMN), Lowland Heathland Survey, National Forest Inventory (NFI), National Grassland Survey, National Plant Monitoring Scheme, NEFU Surveys, Northumberland Border Mires, OS Vector Map District , Priority Habitats Inventory (PHI) B Button, European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 , Space2 Eye Lens: Ainsdale NNR, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Bowland Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Dark Peak Condition Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog (MMU) Mountain Hare Habitat Survey Dark Peak, Uplands Inventory, West Pennines Designation NVC Survey, Wetland Inventories, WorldClim - Global Climate Data

The purpose of this project was to explore the institutions and organisations that are shaping the development of local energy systems in Great Britain, comparing England, Scotland and Wales. The project was part of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).

Institutional mapping explores functional relationships and powers relevant to decision-making. It focuses on the key actors, their interactions, where power is located, who has the ability to influence and make decisions, and sources of funding. The objective is to create a (simplified) visual representation of the different groups and organizations within a community and their relationships and importance for decision-making. In order to explore the governance frameworks and actor networks for LES in England, Wales and Scotland governance mapping was carried out for the three jurisdictions. Draft institutional maps of local energy systems in England, Scotland and Wales were developed through a desk-based review of key organisations, (formal) institutions, rules, relationships and decision-making power based on a database of LES relevant strategy documents and policy instruments (data also deposited). These maps were validated based on interviews with energy system stakeholders to valuate accuracy, and explore informal agenda setting power, future policy needs and governance gaps. Interviews were carried out with a total of 21 people, across 18 organisations, including government, local authorities, distribution network operators, regulators, consultants and NGOs. Maps were revised and finalised based on interview outputs and published in September 2022. The institutional maps developed are deposited here together with the interview schedule.

This project explored the development of locally integrated energy systems in Great Britain. It compared development across England, Scotland and Wales in order to investigate the interactions between the different policy frameworks across GB and the local/regional energy business models, partnerships and funding mechanisms in use.

The administrative boundaries of local authorities in England as provided by the ONS for the purposes of producing statistics.

Data, maps and figures for climate suitability of UK species in current and future climate scenarios (2 and 4 degree) at a 10km resolution. Species covered: Araneae; Birds; Bryophytes; Centipedes; Coleoptera; Dermaptera; Dictyoptera; Diptera; Hymenoptera; Lepidoptera; Millipedes; Odonata; Orthoptera; Plants. These data used the latest modelling techniques and analytical frameworks to explore how changes in climate suitability, as a result of projected climate change, might affect the distributions of species in Great Britain. The analysis was undertaken for 3000+ species of a wide range of terrestrial taxa (from vascular plants and bryophytes to spiders and beetles and birds). The spatial outputs from this project are maps and data showing the current and projected changes in the climate suitability for species in both their historical ranges and outside their historical ranges for both "current" (1961-90 - representing a baseline covering the period when the species data were collected, and before the more recent rapid rises in global temperatures) and future climate scenarios (2 and 4 degree Celsius global temperature increases). The data are presented at a 10km resolution. These data used the latest modelling techniques and analytical frameworks to explore how changes in climate suitability, as a result of projected climate change, might affect the distributions of species in Great Britain. The analysis was undertaken for 3000+ species of a wide range of terrestrial taxa (from vascular plants and bryophytes to spiders and beetles and birds). The spatial outputs from this project are maps and data showing the current and projected changes in the climate suitability for species in both their historical ranges and outside their historical ranges for both "current" (1961-90 - representing a baseline covering the period when the species data were collected, and before the more recent rapid rises in global temperatures) and future climate scenarios (2 and 4 degree Celsius global temperature increases). The data are presented at a 10km resolution.

These data and maps represents the best information on the potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of thousands of species to help guide conservation managers in how to prepare for some of the impacts of climate change in England. The dataset will be of value to resverve managers, conservation planners, and those implenting Government polcies such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies, the national Nature Recovery Network, the designation of SSSIs and NNRs, Biodiversity Net Gain, Protected Sites and Species Conservation Strategies.

The users just need to be aware that, like most such information, they need to be used carefully and in conjunction with other sources of information, place-based knowledge and knowledge of the ecological requirements of particular species.

A collection of 1:250 000 scale geophysical maps in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, covering the United Kingdom and continental shelf areas between 1975 – 1990. Mapping is divided into squares which cover 1 degree by 1 degree of latitude / longitude. A geophysical map is a graphical representation of data collected through various geophysical methods to investigate the subsurface characteristics of the Earth. Geophysics is the study of the physical properties and processes of the Earth using measurements of physical quantities such as gravity, magnetic fields, seismic waves, electrical resistivity, and others. The collection includes aeromagnetic anomaly maps (1975 – 1990), Bouguer gravity anomaly maps (1975 – 1989) and a small number of free air anomaly maps (1981 – 1989). These maps are hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.