This data is experimental, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section for more details. This dataset has been generalised to 10 metre resolution where it is still but the space needed for downloads will be improved.A set of UK wide estimated travel area geometries (isochrones), from Output Area (across England, Scotland, and Wales) and Small Area (across Northern Ireland) population-weighted centroids. The modes used in the isochrone calculations are limited to public transport and walking. Generated using Open Trip Planner routing software in combination with Open Street Maps and open public transport schedule data (UK and Ireland).The geometries provide an estimate of reachable areas by public transport and on foot between 7:15am and 9:15am for a range of maximum travel durations (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes). For England, Scotland and Wales, these estimates were generated using public transport schedule data for Tuesday 15th November 2022. For Northern Ireland, the date used is Tuesday 6th December 2022.The data is made available as a set of ESRI shape files, in .zip format. This corresponds to a total of 18 files; one for Northern Ireland, one for Wales, twelve for England (one per English region, where London, South East and North West have been split into two files each) and four for Scotland (one per NUTS2 region, where the ‘North-East’ and ‘Highlands and Islands’ have been combined into one shape file, and South West Scotland has been split into two files).The shape files contain the following attributes. For further details, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section:AttributeDescriptionOA21CD or SA2011 or OA11CDEngland and Wales: The 2021 Output Area code.Northern Ireland: The 2011 Small Area code.Scotland: The 2011 Output Area code.centre_latThe population-weighted centroid latitude.centre_lonThe population-weighted centroid longitude.node_latThe latitude of the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node to the population-weighted centroid.node_lonThe longitude of the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node to the population-weighted centroid.node_distThe distance, in meters, between the population-weighted centroid and the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node.stop_latThe latitude of the nearest public transport stop to the population-weighted centroid.stop_lonThe longitude of the nearest public transport stop to the population-weighted centroid.stop_distThe distance, in metres, between the population-weighted centroid and the nearest public transport stop.centre_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the population-weighted centroid lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the population-weighted centroid lies outside the boundary.node_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the nearest Open Street Map node lies outside the boundary.stop_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the nearest public transport stop lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the nearest transport stop lies outside the boundary.iso_cutoffThe maximum travel time, in seconds, to construct the reachable area/isochrone. Values are either 900, 1800, 2700, or 3600 which correspond to 15, 30, 45, and 60 minute limits respectively.iso_dateThe date for which the isochrones were estimated, in YYYY-MM-DD format.iso_typeThe start point from which the estimated isochrone was calculated. Valid values are:from_centroid: calculated using population weighted centroid.from_node: calculated using the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node.from_stop: calculated using the nearest public transport stop.no_trip_found: no isochrone was calculated.geometryThe isochrone geometry.iso_hectarThe area of the isochrone, in hectares.Access constraints or user limitations.These data are experimental and will potentially have a wider degree of uncertainty. They remain subject to testing of quality, volatility, and ability to meet user needs. The methodologies used to generate them are still subject to modification and further evaluation.These experimental data have been published with specific caveats outlined in this section. The data are shared with the analytical community with the purpose of benefitting from the community's scrutiny and in improving the quality and demand of potential future releases. There may be potential modification following user feedback on both its quality and suitability.For England and Wales, where possible, the latest census 2021 Output Area population weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated.For Northern Ireland, 2011 Small Area population weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated. Small Areas and Output Areas contain a similar number of households within their boundaries. 2011 data was used because this was the most up-to-date data available at the time of generating this dataset. Population weighted centroids for Northern Ireland were calculated internally but may be subject to change - in the future we aim to update these data to be consistent with Census 2021 across the UK.For Scotland, 2011 Output Area population-weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated. 2011 data was used because this was the most up-to-date data available at the time of work.The data for England, Scotland and Wales are released with the projection EPSG:27700 (British National Grid).The data for Northern Ireland are released with the projection EPSG:29902 (Irish Grid).The modes used in the isochrone calculations are limited to public transport and walking. Other modes were not considered when generating this data.A maximum value of 1.5 kilometres walking distance was used when generating isochrones. This approximately represents typical walking distances during a commute (based on Department for Transport/Labour Force Survey data and Travel Survey for Northern Ireland technical reports).When generating Northern Ireland data, public transport schedule data for both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland were used.Isochrone geometries and calculated areas are subject to public transport schedule data accuracy, Open Trip Planner routing methods and Open Street Map accuracy. The location of the population-weighted centroid can also influence the validity of the isochrones, when this falls on land which is not possible or is difficult to traverse (e.g., private land and very remote locations).The Northern Ireland public transport data were collated from several files, and as such required additional pre-processing. Location data are missing for two bus stops. Some services run by local public transport providers may also be missing. However, the missing data should have limited impact on the isochrone output. Due to the availability of Northern Ireland public transport data, the isochrones for Northern Ireland were calculated on a comparable but slight later date of 6th December 2022. Any potential future releases are likely to contained aligned dates between all four regions of the UK.In cases where isochrones are not calculable from the population-weighted centroid, or when the calculated isochrones are unrealistically small, the nearest Open Street Map ‘highway’ node is used as an alternative starting point. If this then fails to yield a result, the nearest public transport stop is used as the isochrone origin. If this also fails to yield a result, the geometry will be ‘None’ and the ‘iso_hectar’ will be set to zero. The following information shows a further breakdown of the isochrone types for the UK as a whole:from_centroid: 99.8844%from_node: 0.0332%from_stop: 0.0734%no_trip_found: 0.0090%The term ‘unrealistically small’ in the point above refers to outlier isochrones with a significantly smaller area when compared with both their neighbouring Output/Small Areas and the entire regional distribution. These reflect a very small fraction of circumstances whereby the isochrone extent was impacted by the centroid location and/or how Open Trip Planner handled them (e.g. remote location, private roads and/or no means of traversing the land). Analysis showed these outliers were consistently below 100 hectares for 60-minute isochrones. Therefore, In these cases, the isochrone point of origin was adjusted to the nearest node or stop, as outlined above.During the quality assurance checks, the extent of the isochrones was observed to be in good agreement with other routing software and within the limitations stated within this section. Additionally, the use of nearest node, nearest stop, and correction of ‘unrealistically small areas’ was implemented in a small fraction of cases only. This culminates in no data being available for 8 out of 239,768 Output/Small Areas.Data is only available in ESRI shape file format (.zip) at this release.https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

This layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows the availability of 1:50000 series geological maps. For England and Wales (and Northern Ireland), map sheets normally cover an area 30 km east-west and 20 km north-south; in Scotland the coverage is 20 km east-west and 30 km north-south. The 1:50 000 geological map grids are based on an early Ordnance Survey 1:63 360 (one inch to one mile) scale map grid and are not related to the current Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 map sheets. Maps are normally available in both flat and folded formats.

Not relevant Map covers England, Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland. A vector map is available under licence. CEH LCM 2015 is available under the same conditions as outlined above.

This dataset contains gridded population with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km for the UK based on Census 2011 and Land Cover Map 2007 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 2011 UK Census population data on Output Area level with Land Cover Map 2007 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).

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.

The population of the United Kingdom in 2024 was estimated to be approximately 69.3 million, with over 9.6 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at almost 9.1 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.7 million. With the UK's population generally concentrated in England, most English regions have larger populations than the constituent countries of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which had populations of 5.5 million, 3.2 million, and 1.9 million respectively. English counties and cities The United Kingdom is a patchwork of various regional units, within England the largest of these are the regions shown here, which show how London, along with the rest of South East England had around 18 million people living there in this year. The next significant regional units in England are the 47 metropolitan and ceremonial counties. After London, the metropolitan counties of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire were the biggest of these counties, due to covering the large urban areas of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds respectively. Regional divisions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland The smaller countries that comprise the United Kingdom each have different local subdivisions. Within Scotland these are called council areas, whereas in Wales the main regional units are called unitary authorities. Scotland's largest Council Area by population is that of Glasgow City at over 650,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 384,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of approxiamtely 352,000.

Super Output Areas are a geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small-area statistics.

The Middle Super Output Areas and Intermediate Zones area list contains 8,660 areas of the following constituent geographies:

• 6,791 Middle Super Output Areas Set in England
• 1,279 Intermediate Zones in Scotland
• 410 Middle Super Output Areas Set in Wales

Please visit ONS Beginner's Guide to UK Geography for more info.

The boundaries are available as either extent of the realm (usually this is the Mean Low Water mark but in some cases boundaries extend beyond this to include off shore islands) or

clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).

This data is experimental, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section for more details. This dataset has been generalised to 10 metre resolution where it is still but the space needed for downloads will be improved.A set of UK wide estimated travel area geometries (isochrones), from Output Area (across England, Scotland, and Wales) and Small Area (across Northern Ireland) population-weighted centroids. The modes used in the isochrone calculations are limited to public transport and walking. Generated using Open Trip Planner routing software in combination with Open Street Maps and open public transport schedule data (UK and Ireland).The geometries provide an estimate of reachable areas by public transport and on foot between 7:15am and 9:15am for a range of maximum travel durations (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes). For England, Scotland and Wales, these estimates were generated using public transport schedule data for Tuesday 15th November 2022. For Northern Ireland, the date used is Tuesday 6th December 2022.The data is made available as a set of ESRI shape files, in .zip format. This corresponds to a total of 17 files; one for Northern Ireland, one for Wales, eleven for England (one per English region, where London, and North West have been split into two files each) and four for Scotland (one per NUTS2 region, where the ‘North-East’ and ‘Highlands and Islands’ have been combined into one shape file, and South West Scotland has been split into two files).The shape files contain the following attributes. For further details, see the ‘Access Constraints or User Limitations’ section:AttributeDescriptionOA21CD or SA2011 or OA11CDEngland and Wales: The 2021 Output Area code.Northern Ireland: The 2011 Small Area code.Scotland: The 2011 Output Area code.centre_latThe population-weighted centroid latitude.centre_lonThe population-weighted centroid longitude.node_latThe latitude of the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node to the population-weighted centroid.node_lonThe longitude of the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node to the population-weighted centroid.node_distThe distance, in meters, between the population-weighted centroid and the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node.stop_latThe latitude of the nearest public transport stop to the population-weighted centroid.stop_lonThe longitude of the nearest public transport stop to the population-weighted centroid.stop_distThe distance, in metres, between the population-weighted centroid and the nearest public transport stop.centre_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the population-weighted centroid lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the population-weighted centroid lies outside the boundary.node_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the nearest Open Street Map node lies outside the boundary.stop_inBinary value (0 or 1), where 1 signifies the nearest public transport stop lies within the Output Area/Small Area boundary. 0 indicates the nearest transport stop lies outside the boundary.iso_cutoffThe maximum travel time, in seconds, to construct the reachable area/isochrone. Values are either 900, 1800, 2700, or 3600 which correspond to 15, 30, 45, and 60 minute limits respectively.iso_dateThe date for which the isochrones were estimated, in YYYY-MM-DD format.iso_typeThe start point from which the estimated isochrone was calculated. Valid values are:from_centroid: calculated using population weighted centroid.from_node: calculated using the nearest Open Street Map “highway” node.from_stop: calculated using the nearest public transport stop.no_trip_found: no isochrone was calculated.geometryThe isochrone geometry.iso_hectarThe area of the isochrone, in hectares.Access constraints or user limitations.These data are experimental and will potentially have a wider degree of uncertainty. They remain subject to testing of quality, volatility, and ability to meet user needs. The methodologies used to generate them are still subject to modification and further evaluation.These experimental data have been published with specific caveats outlined in this section. The data are shared with the analytical community with the purpose of benefitting from the community's scrutiny and in improving the quality and demand of potential future releases. There may be potential modification following user feedback on both its quality and suitability.For England and Wales, where possible, the latest census 2021 Output Area population weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated.For Northern Ireland, 2011 Small Area population weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated. Small Areas and Output Areas contain a similar number of households within their boundaries. 2011 data was used because this was the most up-to-date data available at the time of generating this dataset. Population weighted centroids for Northern Ireland were calculated internally but may be subject to change - in the future we aim to update these data to be consistent with Census 2021 across the UK.For Scotland, 2011 Output Area population-weighted centroids were used as the starting point from which isochrones were calculated. 2011 data was used because this was the most up-to-date data available at the time of work.The data for England, Scotland and Wales are released with the projection EPSG:27700 (British National Grid).The data for Northern Ireland are released with the projection EPSG:29902 (Irish Grid).The modes used in the isochrone calculations are limited to public transport and walking. Other modes were not considered when generating this data.A maximum value of 1.5 kilometres walking distance was used when generating isochrones. This approximately represents typical walking distances during a commute (based on Department for Transport/Labour Force Survey data and Travel Survey for Northern Ireland technical reports).When generating Northern Ireland data, public transport schedule data for both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland were used.Isochrone geometries and calculated areas are subject to public transport schedule data accuracy, Open Trip Planner routing methods and Open Street Map accuracy. The location of the population-weighted centroid can also influence the validity of the isochrones, when this falls on land which is not possible or is difficult to traverse (e.g., private land and very remote locations).The Northern Ireland public transport data were collated from several files, and as such required additional pre-processing. Location data are missing for two bus stops. Some services run by local public transport providers may also be missing. However, the missing data should have limited impact on the isochrone output. Due to the availability of Northern Ireland public transport data, the isochrones for Northern Ireland were calculated on a comparable but slight later date of 6th December 2022. Any potential future releases are likely to contained aligned dates between all four regions of the UK.In cases where isochrones are not calculable from the population-weighted centroid, or when the calculated isochrones are unrealistically small, the nearest Open Street Map ‘highway’ node is used as an alternative starting point. If this then fails to yield a result, the nearest public transport stop is used as the isochrone origin. If this also fails to yield a result, the geometry will be ‘None’ and the ‘iso_hectar’ will be set to zero. The following information shows a further breakdown of the isochrone types for the UK as a whole:from_centroid: 99.8844%from_node: 0.0332%from_stop: 0.0734%no_trip_found: 0.0090%The term ‘unrealistically small’ in the point above refers to outlier isochrones with a significantly smaller area when compared with both their neighbouring Output/Small Areas and the entire regional distribution. These reflect a very small fraction of circumstances whereby the isochrone extent was impacted by the centroid location and/or how Open Trip Planner handled them (e.g. remote location, private roads and/or no means of traversing the land). Analysis showed these outliers were consistently below 100 hectares for 60-minute isochrones. Therefore, In these cases, the isochrone point of origin was adjusted to the nearest node or stop, as outlined above.During the quality assurance checks, the extent of the isochrones was observed to be in good agreement with other routing software and within the limitations stated within this section. Additionally, the use of nearest node, nearest stop, and correction of ‘unrealistically small areas’ was implemented in a small fraction of cases only. This culminates in no data being available for 8 out of 239,768 Output/Small Areas.Data is only available in ESRI shape file format (.zip) at this release.https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Monthly reports. Contains maps and data for England, Wale, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Projected indicators included are derived from the published 2018-based subnational population projections for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland up to the year 2043. The indicators are the projected percentage of the population aged 65 years and over, 85 years and over, 0 to 15 years, 16 to 64 years, 16 years to State Pension age, State Pension age and over, median age and the Old Age Dependency Ratio (the number of people of State Pension age per 1000 of those aged 16 years to below State Pension age).

This dataset has been produced by the Ageing Analysis Team for inclusion in the subnational ageing tool, which was published on July 20, 2020 (see link in Related datasets). The tool is interactive, and users can compare latest and projected measures of ageing for up to four different areas through selection on a map or from a drop-down menu.

Note on data sources: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland independently publish subnational population projections and the data available here are a compilation of these datasets. The ONS publish national level data for the UK, England, Wales and England & Wales, which has been included. National level data for Scotland and Northern Ireland have been taken from their subnational population projections datasets.

In 2024, over nine million people lived in Greater London, making it the most populated ceremonial county in England. The West Midlands Metropolitan County, which contains the large city of Birmingham, was the second-largest county at just over 3.03 million, closely followed by Greater Manchester at three million, and then West Yorkshire with a population of 2.4 million. Kent, Essex, and Hampshire were the three next-largest counties in terms of population, each with just over 1.9 million people. A patchwork of regions England is just one of the four countries that compose the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with England, Scotland and Wales making up Great Britain. England is therefore not to be confused with Great Britain or the United Kingdom as a whole. Within England, the next subdivisions are the nine regions of England, containing various smaller units such as unitary authorities, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. The counties in this statistic, however, are based on the ceremonial counties of England as defined by the Lieutenancies Act of 1997. Regions of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland Like England, the other countries of the United Kingdom have their own regional subdivisions, although with some different terminology. Scotland’s subdivisions are council areas, while Wales has unitary authorities, and Northern Ireland has local government districts. As of 2024, the most-populated Scottish council area was Glasgow City, with over 650,000 inhabitants. In Wales, Cardiff had the largest population among its unitary authorities, and in Northern Ireland, Belfast was the local government area with the most people living there.

The UTM series of maps are based on 1:250 000 base maps published by the Ordnance Survey. Mapping is divided into squares which cover 1 degree by 1 degree of latitude / longitude in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, and coverage extends offshore and onto the continental shelf. The UTM series are available in three different themes: - Solid geology (complete coverage within the mapped area, including most of the UK continental shelf) - Sea bed sediments (coverage for most offshore areas) - Quaternary geology (coverage for the UK sector of the North Sea, Irish Sea and the Atlantic margin) Also included within this series are two small-scale (1:500 000) bedrock geology maps of the Central Rockall Basin and North Rockall Basin. These maps supersede the older quarter-inch series of maps which were published for England / Wales and Scotland. 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. 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.

The Gender Equality Index UK (GEIUK) offers a pioneering data tool to measure and map women’s and men’s socioeconomic outcomes across local authorities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Drawing on existing data from 2021 to 2023, it captures 19 outcomes in six key domains: Paid Work, Unpaid Work, Money, Power & Participation, Education and Health.This file contains the calculated GEIUK scores and deciles for the 372 local authorities in the UK. The GEIUK is made up of three measures to investigate gender and geographical differences in women’s and men’s socioeconomic outcomes:- The Gender Equality Measure: Gaps between women and men locally, irrespective of the direction of (dis)advantage.- The Women’s Outcomes Measure: Gaps between women locally compared to women nationally.- The Men’s Outcomes Measure: Gaps between men locally compared to men nationally.

Data identifying landscape areas (shown as polygons) attributed with geological names. 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. The Dykes data defines small, narrow areas (shown as polygons) of a specific type of bedrock geology, igneous rocks which have been intruded into the landscape. The dykes are presented as an optional, separate theme in order to provide additional clarity of the Bedrock theme. The bedrock and dykes datasets are designed to be used together. 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.

Projected indicators included are derived from the published 2018-based subnational population projections for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland up to the year 2043. The indicators are the projected sex ratio for those aged 65 years and over and the projected sex ratio for those aged 85 years and over. A sex ratio shows the number of males in the population for every 100 females.

This dataset has been produced by the Ageing Analysis Team for inclusion in the subnational ageing tool, which was published on July 20, 2020 (see link in Related datasets). The tool is interactive, and users can compare latest and projected measures of ageing for up to four different areas through selection on a map or from a drop-down menu.

Note on data sources: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland independently publish subnational population projections and the data available here are a compilation of these datasets. The ONS publish national level data for the UK, England, Wales and England & Wales, which has been included. National level data for Scotland and Northern Ireland have been taken from their subnational population projections datasets.

This layer is intended for researchers, students, and policy makers for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data.

The database gives soil organic carbon, sand, silt and clay contents and bulk density weighted to reference layers from 0 to 30 cm and from 30 to 100 cm depths. The data are interpolated from information on soil types and land use on a 1 km grid across the UK and are used to estimate soil carbon stocks. The objective of this research was to derive high-resolution spatial data on soil and land-use data for use by dynamic simulation model of carbon fluxes from soils resulting from land-use change.

The Soil Spatial Distribution was based on the revised 1:250,000 national soil map for England and Wales, the 1:250,000 national soil map for Scotland and the 1:50,000 soil series map for Northern Ireland. Soil profile information were derived from the Soil Reference database and the National Soil Inventory for England and Wales, the Scottish soil database and the attribute database of all soil horizons at a 5km inspection pits sampled as part of the Department for Agriculture and Rural Development soil survey. References:Bradley, R.I., Milne, R., Bell, J., Lilly, A., Jordan, C. and Higgins, A. (2005) A soil carbon and land use database for the United Kingdom. Soil Use and Management 21:363-369.For more information on the Topsoil Carbon Stocks Map, refer to http://www.landis.org.uk/services/ukso.cfm.

This layer is intended for researchers, students, and policy makers for reference and mapping purposes, and may be used for basic applications such as viewing, querying, and map output production, or to provide a basemap to support graphical overlays and analysis with other spatial data.

The UK Compiled Topsoil Dataset (UKTS) is the most extensive topsoil geochemistry dataset for the UK available at the time of release (August 2024). The dataset consists of 82 georeferenced TIFF raster images (GeoTIFF format) with a cell size of 500 x 500 m, displaying the predicted concentrations for 41 chemical elements in UK topsoil and their respective standard error. The dataset is based on the geochemical analyses of 57,966 topsoil samples collected between 1978 and 2014 and analysed by X-Ray Fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). The UKTS was brought together by combining data from the following sources: i. the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) rural and urban topsoil dataset (which accounts for 76.4% of the topsoil samples included in the UKTS) ii. the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) TellusNI rural and urban topsoil geochemical survey dataset (13.8% of the UKTS samples) iii. the BGS-Rothamsted Research X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) rural soil dataset (RR-BGS XRF), based on sub-samples held at Rothamsted Research from the National Soil Inventory (NSI) of England and Wales sample archive, National Soil Resources Institute, Cranfield University (9.8% of the UKTS samples). An atlas of the compiled topsoil concentrations for the UK is available to download (https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/535963) and all maps are available to view within the UK Soil Observatory website (https://www.ukso.org). The dataset covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Clyde Basin in Scotland. The GeoTIFF raster image maps were produced from the interpolation by ordinary kriging of the concentration values in the source data points, using the geostatistical wizard in the geostatistical analyst toolbox of ESRI ArcGIS 10.8.

This dataset maps where potential 'wetlands for carbon storage' (specifically saltmarshes) could be created within the current tidal floodplain. It shows where these areas overlap with sites/areas of special scientific interest (SSSIs for England, Scotland, Wales and ASSIs for Northern Ireland).This wetland potential map is not prescriptive at the site level and does not replace the need for detailed site selection processes, feasibility studies, and regulatory processes. The intention is to illustrate the overall potential and to direct users’ thoughts in a strategic way, rather than precisely telling them where to put wetlands, or specifying where action should or will necessarily take place.WWT are calling for the creation of 100,000 hectares of new and restored wetlands in the UK by 2050. This map is a part of WWT’s Roadmap to 100,000 hectares project, which aims to assess both the spatial and economic potential for large-scale wetland restoration targeted at tackling some of the key issues faced by UK society. The work has a particular focus on four themes where wetlands can provide solutions, namely (1) wetlands for carbon storage (specifically saltmarsh for blue carbon), (2) wetlands for urban wellbeing, (3) wetlands for flood resilience, and (4) wetlands for water quality. Wetland potential for water quality, carbon storage, flood resilience and urban wellbeing has been mapped.

Full methodology can be found here. Attributes:

Heading

Description

Country

UK country in which the wetland (saltmarsh) potential parcel is located

SSSI

1 = wetland (saltmarsh) potential parcels located within a SSSI/ASSI; 0 = wetland parcels located outside of a SSSI/ASSI

Area_ha

Area of the wetland (saltmarsh) potential parcel, in hectares