Colourful and easy to use, Bartholomew’s maps became a trademark series. The maps were popular and influential, especially for recreation, and the series sold well, particularly with cyclists and tourists. To begin with, Bartholomew printed their half-inch maps in Scotland as stand-alone sheets known as 'District Sheets' and by 1886 the whole of Scotland was covered. They then revised the maps into an ordered set of 29 sheets covering Scotland in a regular format. This was first published under the title Bartholomew’s Reduced Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The half-inch maps of Scotland formed the principal content for Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of Scotland published in 1895. Bartholomew then moved south of the Border to the more lucrative but competitive market in England and Wales, whilst continuing to revise the Scottish sheets. This Bartholomew series at half-inch to the mile, covered Great Britain in 62 sheets in the 1940s, Bartholomew’s first to cover Great Britain at this scale (their previous series covering Scotland and then England and Wales). The series provides an attractive and useful snapshot of 1940s Britain. By this time, Bartholomew had altered the range of information on their maps compared to the 1900s. There were more categories of roads, Ministry of Transport road numbers were added, and new recreational features such as Youth Hostels and Golf Courses. Bartholomew’s topographic information was gathered partly from original Ordnance Survey maps, and partly from information sent in to Bartholomew from map users. One important user community for Bartholomew were cyclists. From the 1890s, Bartholomew entered into a formal relationship with the Cyclists’ Touring Club, then numbering around 60,500 cyclists, proposing that club members supplied Bartholomew with up-to-date information. In return, Bartholomew provided the CTC with discounted half-inch maps. The relationship worked very well, turning CTC members into an unofficial surveying army, feeding back reliable and accurate topographical information which Bartholomew would then use to update their maps. You can read more about this and see selected letters from cyclists at: http://digital.nls.uk/bartholomew/duncan-street-explorer/cyclists-touring-club.html.
Usually Bartholomew made revisions the sheets right up to the time of publication, so the date of publication is the best guide to the approximate date of the features shown on the map. You can view the dates of publication for the series at: https://maps.nls.uk/series/bart_half_great_britain.html
To begin with, Bartholomew printed their half-inch maps in Scotland as stand-alone sheets known as 'District Sheets' and by 1886 the whole of Scotland was covered. They then revised the maps into an ordered set of 29 sheets covering Scotland in a regular format. This was first pubilshed under the title Bartholomew’s Reduced Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The half-inch maps formed the principal content for Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of Scotland published in 1895. Bartholomew then moved south of the Border to the more lucrative but competitive market in England and Wales, whilst continuing to revise the Scottish sheets. The first complete coverage of Great Britain at the half-inch scale was achieved by 1903 with 67 individual half-inch sheets. Generally at this time, the English sheets sold three times more quickly, at three times the volume of the Scottish sheets. As for Scotland, Bartholomew used their half-inch sheets of England and Wales in the Survey Atlas of England and Wales published in 1903. From 1901, following a copyright complaint from Ordnance Survey, Bartholomew was forced to drop 'Ordnance' from their map titles. The series was initially renamed 'Bartholomew's Reduced Survey', and by 1903 'Bartholomew's half inch to the mile map'.Bartholomew revised the most popular half-inch sheets every couple of years, ensuring that their maps were more up to date than their main rival, Ordnance Survey. Popular sheets had print runs of several tens of thousands per edition, involving nearly 20 different layer colour plates for hillier areas with more colour.More information: http://geo.nls.uk/maps/bartholomew/great_britain/further_info.html
https://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/licences/lcm-raster/plainhttps://eidc.ceh.ac.uk/licences/lcm-raster/plain
This dataset consists of the 25m raster version of the Land Cover Map 2015 (LCM2015) for Great Britain. The 25m raster product consists of two bands: Band 1 - raster representation of the majority (dominant) class per polygon for 21 target habitat classes; Band 2 - mean per polygon probability as reported by the Random Forest classifier (see supporting information). The 21 target classes are based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompass the entire range of UK habitats. This dataset is derived from the vector version of the Land Cover Map, which contains individual parcels of land cover and is the highest available spatial resolution. The 25m raster is the most detailed of the LCM2015 raster products both thematically and spatially, and it is used to derive the 1km products. LCM2015 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. LCM2015 consists of a range of raster and vector products and users should familiarise themselves with the full range (see related records, the CEH web site and the LCM2015 Dataset documentation) to select the product most suited to their needs. LCM2015 was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. It is one of a series of land cover maps, produced by UKCEH since 1990. They include versions in 1990, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
This dataset contains gridded human population with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km for the UK based on Census 2021 (Census 2022 for Scotland) and Land Cover Map 2021 input data. Data on population distribution for the United Kingdom is available from statistical offices in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and provided to the public e.g. via the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Population data is typically provided in tabular form or, based on a range of different geographical units, in file types for geographical information systems (GIS), for instance as ESRI Shapefiles. The geographical units reflect administrative boundaries at different levels of detail, from Devolved Administration to Output Areas (OA), wards or intermediate geographies. While the presentation of data on the level of these geographical units is useful for statistical purposes, accounting for spatial variability for instance of environmental determinants of public health requires a more spatially homogeneous population distribution. For this purpose, the dataset presented here combines 2021/2022 UK Census population data on Output Area level with Land Cover Map 2021 land-use classes 'urban' and 'suburban' to create a consistent and comprehensive gridded population data product at 1 km x 1 km spatial resolution. The mapping product is based on British National Grid (OSGB36 datum).
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The 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 scale map series are the most useful scale for most purposes. They provide almost complete coverage of onshore Great Britain. The BGS collection of 1:63 360 and 1:50 000 scale maps comprises two map series: - Geological Survey of England and Wales 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 Geological Map Series [New Series]. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey One-inch New Series topographic basemaps and provide almost complete coverage of England and Wales, with the exception of sheet 180 (Knighton). The quarter-sheets of 1:63 360 Old Series sheets 91 to 110 coincide with sheets 1 to 73 of the New Series maps. These earlier maps often carry two sheet numbers which refer to the Old Series and the New Series. - Geological Survey of Scotland 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 Geological Map Series. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey First, Second, Third and Fourth editions of the One-inch map of Scotland. The maps used the most recent topographic basemap available at the time. In the Western Isles, one-inch mapping was abandoned and replaced by maps at 1:100 000 scale, which are associated with this series. Sheets were traditionally issued at 1:63 360 scale, with the first 1:50 000 maps appearing in 1972. Sheets at 1:50 000 scale may be either facsimile enlargements of an existing 1:63 360 sheets, or may contain new geology and cartography. The latter bear the additional series designation '1:50 000 series'. Within the Scottish series, new mapping at 1:50 000 scale was split into east and west sheets. For example, the original one-inch sheet 32 became 1:50 000 sheets 32E and 32W. A number of irregular sheets were also introduced with the new 1:50 000 scale mapping. There are a number of irregular special sheets within both series. Geological maps represent a geologist's compiled interpretation of the geology of an area. A geologist will consider the data available at the time, including measurements and observations collected during field campaigns, as well as their knowledge of geological processes and the geological context to create a model of the geology of an area. This model is then fitted to a topographic basemap and drawn up at the appropriate scale, with generalization if necessary, to create a geological map, which is a representation of the geological model. Explanatory notes and vertical and horizontal cross sections may be published with the map. Geological maps may be created to show various aspects of the geology, or themes. The most common map themes held by BGS are solid (later referred to as bedrock) and drift (later referred to as superficial). These maps are, for the most part, hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.
This dataset references directly NatureScot's Open Data Hub, the data is not hosted in Stirling's platform and, therefore, will be updated as soon as NatureScot releases any updates.Symbology for the layers published as per NatureScot.https://opendata.nature.scot/This dataset provides a non-overlapping polygon layer of the NVC survey coverage. This is derived from the NVCCONV_EUNIS_COVERAGE_MV dataset in geo.Store. It covers the NVC habitat surveys currently in the Habitat Map of Scotland as of October 2023. This dataset does not include the Saltmarsh survey 2013, Sand Dune Vegetation survey 2012 or Coastal Vegetated Shingle survey.
MIT Licensehttps://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
License information was derived automatically
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The BGS Hydrogeological Maps of Scotland data product is comprised of three datasets: Bedrock Aquifer Productivity (Scotland); Superficial Aquifer Productivity (Scotland); and Groundwater Vulnerability (Scotland). Aquifer productivity is a measure of the potential of aquifers to sustain a borehole water supply. The Aquifer Productivity (Scotland) datasets indicate the location and productivity of bedrock and superficial aquifers across Scotland, and their groundwater flow characteristics. The Groundwater Vulnerability (Scotland) dataset shows the relative vulnerability of groundwater to contamination across Scotland. The BGS Hydrogeological Maps of Scotland data product is developed as a tool to support groundwater resource management. It may be useful to anyone interested in learning more about, assessing or managing groundwater resources across Scotland. The datasets within the product are delivered at 1: 100 000 scale.
Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
License information was derived automatically
National Library of Scotland Historic Maps APIHistorical Maps of Great Britain for use in mashups and ArcGIS Onlinehttps://nls.tileserver.com/https://maps.nls.uk/projects/api/index.htmlThis seamless historic map can be:embedded in your own websiteused for research purposesused as a backdrop for your own markers or geographic dataused to create derivative work (such as OpenStreetMap) from it.The mapping is based on out-of-copyright Ordnance Survey maps, dating from the 1920s to the 1940s.The map can be directly opened in a web browser by opening the Internet address: https://nls.tileserver.com/The map is ready for natural zooming and panning with finger pinching and dragging.How to embed the historic map in your websiteThe easiest way of embedding the historical map in your website is to copy < paste this HTML code into your website page. Simple embedding (try: hello.html):You can automatically position the historic map to open at a particular place or postal address by appending the name as a "q" parameter - for example: ?q=edinburgh Embedding with a zoom to a place (try: placename.html):You can automatically position the historic map to open at particular latitude and longitude coordinates: ?lat=51.5&lng=0&zoom=11. There are many ways of obtaining geographic coordinates. Embedding with a zoom to coordinates (try: coordinates.html):The map can also automatically detect the geographic location of the visitor to display the place where you are right now, with ?q=auto Embedding with a zoom to coordinates (try: auto.html):How to use the map in a mashupThe historic map can be used as a background map for your own data. You can place markers on top of it, or implement any functionality you want. We have prepared a simple to use JavaScript API to access to map from the popular APIs like Google Maps API, Microsoft Bing SDK or open-source OpenLayers or KHTML. To use our map in your mashups based on these tools you should include our API in your webpage: ... ...
http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess/INSPIRE_Directive_Article13_1dhttp://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess/INSPIRE_Directive_Article13_1d
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 dataset references directly NatureScot's Open Data Hub, the data is not hosted in Stirling's platform and, therefore, will be updated as soon as NatureScot releases any updates.Symbology for the layers published as per NatureScot.https://opendata.nature.scot/The project highlights what it is that gives familiar areas their distinctiveness and identity; suggests what might attract people to explore new areas; and should help instill a desire to ensure that the diversity of Scotland's landscapes is not diminished. It is about place at the broad scale.
CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedicationhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
License information was derived automatically
This layer of the GeoIndex shows the location of available 1:50000 scale digital geological maps within Great Britain. The Digital Geological Map of Great Britain project (DiGMapGB) has prepared 1:625 000, 1:250 000 and 1:50 000 scale datasets for England, Wales and Scotland. The datasets themselves are available as vector data in a variety of formats in which they are structured into themes primarily for use in geographical information systems (GIS) where they can be integrated with other types of spatial data for analysis and problem solving in many earth-science-related issues. Most of the 1:50 000 scale geological maps for England & Wales and for Scotland are now available digitally as part of the DiGMapGB-50 dataset. It integrates geological information from a variety of sources. These include recent digital maps, older 'paper only' maps, and desk compilations for sheets with no published maps.
Open Government Licence 3.0http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
License information was derived automatically
The Wader Zonal Map - a.k.a. Wader Sensitivity Map (WSM) and Breeding Wader Sensitivity Map - was produced by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in partnership with the Forestry Commission and the Cairngorm National Park Authority. This layer shows the predicted relative abundance of ten species of breeding wader for each 1km square of England, Scotland and Wales.
http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess/INSPIRE_Directive_Article13_1dhttp://inspire.ec.europa.eu/metadata-codelist/LimitationsOnPublicAccess/INSPIRE_Directive_Article13_1d
Coal resource maps for the whole of the UK have been produced by the British Geological Survey as a result of joint work with Department of Trade and Industry and the Coal Authority. The Coal Resources Map is a Map of Britain depicting the spatial extent of the principal coal resources. The map shows the areas where coal and lignite are present at the surface and also where coal is buried at depth beneath younger rocks. The maps are intended to be used for resource development, energy policy, strategic planning, land-use planning, the indication of hazard in mined areas, environment assessment and as a teaching aid. In addition to a general map of coal resources for Britain data also exists for the six inset maps: Scotland; North-East; North-West; East Pennines; Lancashire, North Wales and the West Midlands; South Wales, Forest of Dean and Bristol. Available as a paper map, flat or folded, from BGS Sales or as a pdf on a CD if requested.
This is the digital dataset which was created by digitising the Soils of Scotland 1:25,000 Soil maps and the Soils of Scotland 1:25,000 Dyeline Masters. The Soils of Scotland 1:25,000 Soil maps were the source documents for the production of the Soils of Scotland 1:63,360 and 1:50,000 published map series. Where no 1:25,000 published maps exist 1:63,360 maps have been digitised for this data set, the field SOURCE_MAP describes the source of the data. The mapping is based on Soil Associations, Soil Series and Phases which reflect parent material, major soil group, and soil sub-groups, drainage and (for soil phases), texture, stoniness, land use, rockiness, topography and organic matter. Phases are not always mapped. In general terms this dataset primarily covers the cultivated land of Scotland but also includes some upland areas. This data set is undergoing a phased revision, the latest (phase 8) was released in August 2021. The digitising of the recently added data was funded by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. The data can also be downloaded from or viewed at https://www.hutton.ac.uk/learning/natural-resource-datasets/soilshutton/soils-maps-scotland/download or viewed at Scotland's Soils - soil maps (environment.gov.scot). This map should be cited as: 'Soil Survey of Scotland Staff (1970-1987). Soil maps of Scotland (partial coverage). Digital phase 10 release. James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.6908156 .
This dataset is published as Open DataBattlefieldsThis dataset comprises Battlefield Inventory sites for Scotland.The Inventory of Historic Battlefields is a list of nationally important battlefields in Scotland. 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.https://inspire.hes.scot/arcgis/services/HES/Battlefields_Inventory_Boundary/MapServer/WMSServer?service=WMS
Data sources: England & Wales - Office for National Statistics (ONS)Scotland - National Records of Scotland (NRS)Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)Coverage: United Kingdom The boundaries used have been generalised using a point remove algorithm for web display using the following thresholds:Euro Regions - 250 metres Local Authorities - 150 metres Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) - 100 metres Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) - 75 metres Output Area (OA) - 50 metres The boundaries have been set to display at the following scale thresholds: Euro Regions - > 1:4,000,000 Local Authorities - 1:300,000 – 1:4,000,000 Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) - 1:100,000 – 1:300,000 Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) - 1:40,000 – 1:100,000 Output Area (OA) - < 1:40,000The currency of this data is 2011.
This dataset consists of a 1km resolution raster version of the Land Cover Map 2007 for Great Britain. Each 1km pixel represents the dominant aggregate class across the 1km area. The aggregate classes are aggregations of the target classes, broadly representing Broad Habitats (see below). The dataset is part of a series of data products produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology known as LCM2007. LCM2007 is a parcel-based thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. The map updates and upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) 1990 and LCM2000. Like the earlier 1990 and 2000 products, LCM2007 is derived from a computer classification of satellite scenes obtained mainly from Landsat, IRS and SPOT sensors and also incorporates information derived from other ancillary datasets. LCM2007 was classified using a nomenclature corresponding to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompasses the entire range of UK habitats. In addition, it recorded further detail where possible. The series of LCM2007 products includes vector and raster formats, with a number of different versions containing varying levels of detail and at different spatial resolutions. LCM2007 uses a spatial framework based on OS MasterMap (R). MasterMap was generalised to remove unnecessary detail, then the framework was segmented according to the underlying satellite data to split areas of non-uniform landscape. The data was classified according to a parcel-based supervised maximum likelihood classification procedure. The raster products are derived from the vector products. Version 1.2 includes OS tiles NW and HZ, and also a water class. Refer to supporting documentation for further information.
Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License information was derived automatically
This dataset contains a sample of 10,000 (3.5%) out of a total of 285,846 text sequences extracted from the 1891–1896 Map of London by the Ordnance Survey (OS).
The methodology used for the automated recognition, linking, and sequencing of the text is detailed in the article Recognizing and Sequencing Multi-word Texts in Maps Using an Attentive Pointer by M. Zou et al., 2025.
The map is drawn at a scale of five-feet to the mile (c.a. 1:1,056). The text on the map is an invaluable source of information about the Greater London in the late Victorian period. It includes the names of streets, squares, parks, watercourses and even some estates ('Poplars', 'The Grange', 'Arbutus Lodge'). In addition, the map contains many details of the function of buildings and economic activity, such as factories ('Sweet Factory', 'Crown Linoleum Works', 'Imperial Flour Mills', 'Lion Brewery'), warehouses or commercial infrastructure ('Warehouse', 'Jamaica Wharf', 'Rag Store'), offices ('Offices'), etc. The map also mentions public buildings such as schools ('School Boys, Girls & Infants', 'Sunday School'), hospitals or clinics ('St. Saviour's Union Infirmary', 'Beulah Spa Hydropathic Establishment', 'South Western Fever Hospital'), railway stations ('Clapham Station'), post offices, banks, police stations, etc. Other social venues are also mentioned, such as public houses, i.e. pubs ('P.H.'), clubs, casinos, and recreational areas (e.g. 'Cricket Ground'). Special attention is given to churches, with a regular count of the number of seats (e.g. 'Baptist Chapel Seats for 600').
In addition, the map provides details that can be of great interest in the study of everyday life in London at the end of the 19th century. For example, there are numerous mentions of 'Stables', 'Drinking Fountain'[s] (or simply 'Fn.') or 'Urinal'[s]. Fire protection infrastructure is highlighted, e.g. fire plugs ('F.P.') and fire alarms ('F.A.'). The map also includes information on elevation (e.g. '11·6') and flood levels (e.g. 'High Water Mark of Ordinary Tides').
A list of abbreviations used in the Ordnance Survey maps, created by Richard Oliver [1], is made available by the National Library of Scotland (link).
The data in 10k_text_london_OS_1890s.geojson
is organized as a regular geojson file.
{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"features": [
{
"type": "Feature",
"geometry": {
"type": "MultiPolygon",
"coordinates": [[[ [x1, y1], [x2, y2], ...]]]
},
"properties": {
"label": "Oxford Circus",
}
},
... # Further text sequences
]
}
The original map document consists of 729 separate sheets, digitized, georeferenced, and served as geographic tiles by the National Library of Scotland [2].
Total Number of text sequences: 285,846
Sample size: 10,000
Total Area covered: 450 square km
For any mention of this dataset, please cite :
@misc{text_london_OS_1890s,
author = {Zou, Mengjie and Petitpierre, R{\'{e}}mi and di Lenardo, Isabella},
title = {{London 1890s Ordnance Survey Text Layer}},
year = {2025},
publisher = {Zenodo},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14982946}}@article{recognizing_sequencing_2025,
author = {Zou, Mengjie and Dai, Tianhao and Petitpierre, R{\'{e}}mi and Vaienti, Beatrice and di Lenardo, Isabella},
title = {{Recognizing and Sequencing Multi-word Texts in Maps Using an Attentive Pointer}},
year = {2025}}
Rémi PETITPIERRE - remi.petitpierre@epfl.ch - ORCID - Github - Scholar - ResearchGate
This project is licensed under the CC BY 4.0 License.
We do not assume any liability for the use of this dataset.
mixed sampling type - incorporates all previous detailed soil mapping augmented by a reconnaissance survey at 2-3/kme This dataset does not contain any soil parameter information.
Data identifying landscape areas (shown as polygons) attributed with geological names and rock type descriptions. The scale of the data is 1:625 000 scale providing a simplified interpretation of the geology. Onshore coverage is provided for all of England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. Bedrock geology describes the main mass of solid rocks forming the earth's crust. Bedrock is present everywhere, whether exposed at surface in outcrops or concealed beneath superficial deposits or water bodies. The bedrock geology of the UK is very diverse and includes three broad classes based on their mode of origin: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. The data includes attribution to identify each rock type (in varying levels of detail) as described in the BGS Rock Classification Scheme (volumes 1-3 ). The bedrock has formed over long periods of geological time, from the Archean eon some 7500 million years ago, to the relatively young Pliocene, 58 million years ago. The age of the rocks is identified in the data through their BGS lexicon name (published for each deposit at the time of the original survey or subsequent digital data creation). For stratified rocks i.e. arranged in sequence, this will usually be of a lithostratigraphic type. Other rock types for example intrusive igneous bodies will be of a lithodemic type. More information on the formal naming of UK rocks is available in the BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units. Geological names are based on the lithostratigraphic or lithodemic hierarchy. The lithostratigraphic scheme arranges rock bodies into units based on rock-type and geological time of formation. Where rock-types do not fit into the lithostratigraphic scheme, for example intrusive, deformed rocks subjected to heat and pressure resulting in new or changed rock types; then their classification is based on their rock-type or lithological composition using visible features such as texture, structure, mineralogy. The data are available in vector format (containing the geometry of each feature linked to a database record describing their attributes) as ESRI shapefiles and are delivered free of charge under the terms of the Open Government Licence.
Colourful and easy to use, Bartholomew’s maps became a trademark series. The maps were popular and influential, especially for recreation, and the series sold well, particularly with cyclists and tourists. To begin with, Bartholomew printed their half-inch maps in Scotland as stand-alone sheets known as 'District Sheets' and by 1886 the whole of Scotland was covered. They then revised the maps into an ordered set of 29 sheets covering Scotland in a regular format. This was first published under the title Bartholomew’s Reduced Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The half-inch maps of Scotland formed the principal content for Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of Scotland published in 1895. Bartholomew then moved south of the Border to the more lucrative but competitive market in England and Wales, whilst continuing to revise the Scottish sheets. This Bartholomew series at half-inch to the mile, covered Great Britain in 62 sheets in the 1940s, Bartholomew’s first to cover Great Britain at this scale (their previous series covering Scotland and then England and Wales). The series provides an attractive and useful snapshot of 1940s Britain. By this time, Bartholomew had altered the range of information on their maps compared to the 1900s. There were more categories of roads, Ministry of Transport road numbers were added, and new recreational features such as Youth Hostels and Golf Courses. Bartholomew’s topographic information was gathered partly from original Ordnance Survey maps, and partly from information sent in to Bartholomew from map users. One important user community for Bartholomew were cyclists. From the 1890s, Bartholomew entered into a formal relationship with the Cyclists’ Touring Club, then numbering around 60,500 cyclists, proposing that club members supplied Bartholomew with up-to-date information. In return, Bartholomew provided the CTC with discounted half-inch maps. The relationship worked very well, turning CTC members into an unofficial surveying army, feeding back reliable and accurate topographical information which Bartholomew would then use to update their maps. You can read more about this and see selected letters from cyclists at: http://digital.nls.uk/bartholomew/duncan-street-explorer/cyclists-touring-club.html.
Usually Bartholomew made revisions the sheets right up to the time of publication, so the date of publication is the best guide to the approximate date of the features shown on the map. You can view the dates of publication for the series at: https://maps.nls.uk/series/bart_half_great_britain.html