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. The first complete coverage of Great Britain at the half-inch scale was achieved by 1903, and this is the layer shown here.The half-inch maps were distinctive for using different layers of colour to represent landscape relief. A subtle and innovative gradation of colour bands were employed for land at different heights. Lighter greens were used for low ground closest to sea-level, darker greens and browns for higher ground, with white used for mountain tops. Whilst layer colouring had been developed in Germany from the 1860s, Bartholomew's development of it was both innovative and influential. John Bartholomew junior (1831-1893) first used the firm's trademark layer colouring in Baddeley’s Thorough Guide to the English Lake District (1880). His son, John George Bartholomew (1860-1920), later went on to refine the style. You can see Bartholomew’s continued experimentation with layer colour palettes in the Cairngorms layer colour explorer ( http://geo.nls.uk/maps/bartholomew/layers/ )

Bartholomew based their half-inch maps on more detailed Ordnance Survey mapping at one-inch to the mile (1:63,360). The firm had published 'Reduced Ordnance Maps' of Scotland, England and Wales at this scale from the 1890s. These maps were progressively revised and updated with new information. 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:

● Scotland: https://maps.nls.uk/series/bart_half_scotland.html

● England and Wales: https://maps.nls.uk/series/bart_half_england.html

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These digital boundaries were created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

These digital boundaries can be used to map economic, social and demographic statistics from the Censuses of Population, 1911 to 1971, the Registrar-General's reports from the same period, and other relevant statistical sources. They can also be used as reference maps for these administrative units.

These units were aggregations of Local Government Districts and differed significantly from both Ancient Counties and the Registration Counties covered by earlier censuses. Difference include that the three Ridings of Yorkshire and the three Parts of Lincolnshire were separate Administrative Counties, as were East and West Suffolk, and East and West Sussex. The Isle of Ely and the Soke of Peterborough were also separate Administrative Counties until 1965, when Middlesex was also abolished as the County of London was expanded to become Greater London. The Isle of Wight was a separate Administrative County from Hampshire throughout the period.

The boundary data contain the same numerical identifiers as are included in the GBHD transcriptions of census and vital registration statistics for Administrative Counties, making statistical mapping straightforward.

Roads in central southern England c.1675, constructed from John Ogilby's strip maps.The .kml file gives a crude preview; please download the shapefiles for discrimination between major routes, minor routes, and speculative spurs.

This layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows the availability of 1:50000 series paper 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.

This layer is deprecated.The generalised BGS geology data is now available in the ArcGIS Living Atlas hereGeneralised digital geological map data based on BGS's published poster maps of the UK (North and South). Bedrock related themes created by generalisation of 1:50 000 data to make the 2007 fifth edition Bedrock Geology map.

Superficial related themes digitised from 1977 first edition Quaternary map (North and South).

Many BGS geology maps are now available digitally. The Digital Geological Map of Great Britain project (DiGMapGB) has prepared 1:625 000, 1:250 000, 1:50 000 and 1:10 000 scale datasets for England, Wales and Scotland. Work continues to upgrade these.

The geological areas (or polygons) are labelled or attributed with a name (based on their lithostratographical, chronostratographical or lithodemic nomenclature) and their composition (rock type or lithology). This information is arranged in two themes: bedrock geology and superficial deposits. Faults and other linear features are available in a separate theme.

Geology maps are the foundation for many other types of earth science related maps and are of potential use to a wide range of customers.The original dataset can be found here.

The Feature Layer made available to the Living Atlas has been adapted from the 625k Geology dataset freely available from the BGS website. The attribution and labels of the geological areas (or polygons) have been simplified to make the data more available to a wider audience. The dataset is aimed at students with an interest in Earth Sciences and amateur geologists who want to find out more. The LEX_RCS & LEX_ROCK codes have been preserved to allow users to reference the layers to to the 625k Geology Dataset.

About BGS Geology 625k:

BGS Geology 625k is a generalised digital geological map dataset based on BGS’s published poster maps of the UK (north and south). Bedrock-related themes were created by generalisation of 1:50 000 data to make the 2007 fifth edition bedrock geology map. Superficial geology-related themes were digitised from the 1977 first edition Quaternary map (north and south). Many BGS geology maps are now available digitally. The Digital Geological Map of Great Britain project (formerly known as DiGMapGB) has prepared 1:625 000, 1:250 000, 1:50 000 and 1:10 000-scale datasets for England, Wales, and Scotland. Work continues to upgrade these. Geological maps are often the foundation for many other earth science-related maps and are of potential use to a wide range of end users. This dataset uses the themes:

Bedrock Geology Superficial Geology Linear features (faults)

More information on the BGS 625k Geology Dataset can be found on the BGS website.  The 625k Geology data can also be viewed alongside other BGS datasets in the GeoIndex viewer. The currency of this data is August 2022, while there are no planned regular updates, BGS continuously reviews its data products and will release new versions of the BGS Geology 625k when available.

A PDF map showing the output areas in the South West Region of England as at December 2011. (File Size - 15 MB)

This is a digital version of the paper based 1:1M scale Offshore Quaternary map, North and South sheets. Customers should be aware that, given the age of the paper based maps, the digital version is not quality assured and BGS can accept no liability for the information held on the digital map. In addition, published 1:250,000 Quaternary maps are available. These contain more detailed subdivision of the Quaternary succession. The original paper based map covers the UK Continental shelf. The paper map is symbolised using lithology and chronology. The lithological boundaries were compiled from the data published in the BGS 1:250,000 Quaternary Geology map series and from revised interpretation of core and borehole data. Core and borehole sites are commonly 5 to 20 km apart, thus the lithological divisions are generalised. The formations and sequences identified by BGS have been grouped into Quaternary age ranges. The geological codes assigned to the digital version of the map have been compiled using the key information held on the paper map. The LEX-ROCK style codes combine the lithology and chronology and have been subject to the standard BGS approval process.

The South Sandwich Trench was surveyed with a Kongsberg EM 124 gondola-mounted to the hull of the 225-foot DSSV Pressure Drop. The survey was conducted over the course of seven days – February 2-9, 2019. The data meet the requirements for IHO Special Order standards.

This map was produced as part of the site selection process for the Greater Thames Estuary AoS.

It aimed to characterise the habitat features of the AoS, and to identify the areas of Annex I habitat present.

Original classification system: Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland

Survey Techniques: Sidescan sonars, Towed video, grabs and acoustic ground discrimination systems (AGDS) were used to determine the biotope

This dataset consists of an interactive map (and supporting guidance) containing background information that informs how we understand flood risk across the South West River Basin District. The map shows the River Basin District, component river basins and the coastline together with layers showing land use and topography.

This dataset together with equivalent datasets for each River Basin District, supports the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment for England report which has been written to meet the requirements of the Flood Risk Regulations (2009) - to complete an assessment of flood risk and produce supporting maps of river catchments.

A PDF map showing the Rural Urban Classification (2011) of the MSOAs in the South East Region. (File Size - 1 MB)

The Feature Layer made available to the Living Atlas has been adapted from the 625k Geology dataset freely available from the BGS website. The attribution and labels of the geological areas (or polygons) have been simplified to make the data more available to a wider audience. The dataset is aimed at students with an interest in Earth Sciences and amateur geologists who want to find out more. The LEX_RCS & LEX_ROCK codes have been preserved to allow users to reference the layers to to the 625k Geology Dataset.

About BGS Geology 625k:

BGS Geology 625k is a generalised digital geological map dataset based on BGS’s published poster maps of the UK (north and south). Bedrock-related themes were created by generalisation of 1:50 000 data to make the 2007 fifth edition bedrock geology map. Superficial geology-related themes were digitised from the 1977 first edition Quaternary map (north and south). Many BGS geology maps are now available digitally. The Digital Geological Map of Great Britain project (formerly known as DiGMapGB) has prepared 1:625 000, 1:250 000, 1:50 000 and 1:10 000-scale datasets for England, Wales, and Scotland. Work continues to upgrade these. Geological maps are often the foundation for many other earth science-related maps and are of potential use to a wide range of end users. This dataset uses the themes:

Bedrock Geology Superficial Geology Linear features (faults)

More information on the BGS 625k Geology Dataset can be found on the BGS website.  The 625k Geology data can also be viewed alongside other BGS datasets in the GeoIndex viewer. The currency of this data is August 2022, while there are no planned regular updates, BGS continuously reviews its data products and will release new versions of the BGS Geology 625k when available.

This layer of the map-based index (GeoIndex) shows the boundaries of the G-BASE (Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment) project mapping areas, which are reported as geochemical atlases. The majority of atlases are for stream sediment, with data on stream water and soil included where available. Separate stream sediment, soil and stream water atlases have been published for Wales. Hard copy atlases are available for Shetland, Orkney, South Orkney and Caithness, Sutherland, Hebrides, Great Glen, East Grampians, Argyll, Southern Scotland, Lake District, NE England, NW England and N Wales and Wales. Digital atlases/map products are available for the Clyde Basin, Central England, London Region and SW England. National digital atlas products are available also.

The Crop Map of England (CROME) is a polygon vector dataset mainly containing the crop types of England. The dataset contains approximately 32 million hexagonal cells classifying England into over 50 main crop types, grassland, and non-agricultural land covers, such as Trees, Water Bodies, Fallow Land and other non-agricultural land covers. The classification was created automatically using supervised classification (Random Forest Classification) from the combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 images during the period late January 2017 – August 2017. The dataset was created to aid the classification of crop types from optical imagery, which can be affected by cloud cover. The results were checked against survey data collected by field inspectors and visually validated. Refer to the CROME specification document.

This raster dataset represents the thickness in metres of the early Carboniferous limestone (ECL) over the Northern and Southern Provinces in Great Britain. The layer may be used to identify prospective geothermal heat resources, such as areas with deep burial depths beneath thick Permian-Mesozoic sequences, as in the Cheshire Basin, and the flanks of the East Irish Sea and Southern North Sea basins; or beneath thick later Carboniferous strata, as in the Stoke-on-Trent area.

This layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows the locations where stream sediment samples are collected under the G-BASE (Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment) programme at an average density of approximately one site per 1.5 km square. Analytical data for the minus 150 micron fraction of stream sediment samples are available for some or all of the following elements by a variety of analytical methods (now predominantly XRFS): Mg, P, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, V, Cr, Co, Ba, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Pb, Bi, Th, U, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Cs, La, Ce, Ge, Sc, Se, Br, Hf, Ta, W, Tl, Te and I. Stream sediment samples were also collected by the now defunct MRP programme and analytical data for the minus 150 micron fraction of samples is available for a variety of elements including Ag, As, Au, Ba, Bi, Ca, Ce, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Sr, Ti, U, V, W, Zn and Zr. Some of the MRP samples may have undergone several stages of analysis, some for inclusion in the G-BASE project. The samples may have been assigned a different sample number but will plot at the same site. Data is available for most Great Britain, apart from some parts of Southern England which have yet to be surveyed.

This dataset contains polylines depicting non-woodland linear tree and shrub features in Cornwall and much of Devon, derived from lidar data collected by the Tellus South West project. Data from a lidar (light detection and ranging) survey of South West England was used with existing open source GIS datasets to map non-woodland linear features consisting of woody vegetation. The output dataset is the product of several steps of filtering and masking the lidar data using GIS landscape feature datasets available from the Tellus South West project (digital terrain model (DTM) and digital surface model (DSM)), the Ordnance Survey (OS VectorMap District and OpenMap Local, to remove buildings) and the Forestry Commission (Forestry Commission National Forest Inventory Great Britain 2015, to remove woodland parcels). The dataset was tiled as 20 x 20 km shapefiles, coded by the bottom-left 10 km hectad name. Ground-truthing suggests an accuracy of 73.2% for hedgerow height classes.

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.