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: ... ...

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.

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

This dataset contains summary data regarding historical (1930s-40s) land use and land-use change between 1930s and 2007 according to broad land-use categories. Data provided are summary values at the 10-km grid square 'hectad' level of the British National Grid, specifying the proportion and proportion of change in broad land-use categories.

Historical data are based on the first Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain (Stamp 1931). For England and Wales, digitisation of the historical maps contains information supplied by Natural England, based on methods developed by Baily et al. (2011). For Scotland, map images were digitised using the R package HistMapR (Auffret et al. 2017). Both methods involve processing and classifying images based on the colour of the historical land-use map categories. Classified maps were then resampled to the 25m resolution of the modern UK Land Cover Map 2007 (Morton et al. 2011), and both historical and modern land-use categories were adjusted to produce broad categories of equivalent land use: Arable, Grassland, Urban, Woodland, Agriculturally-Improved Grassland and Surface Water. In Scotland, surface water from a modern map is used for the historical time period due to issues in classifying this category. Pixels within a 75m buffer of the modern road network were removed due to the disproportionate size of roads shown in the historical maps, and pixels falling into some coastal land-use categories in the modern maps were removed due to a lack of equivalent in the historical maps. The proportions of remaining pixels within each hectad, and the change in the proportion over time was then calculated. Full details of data creation and processing can be found in Suggitt et al. (2023), and more information on the data files can be found in the readme.

The extent of the data files: GB_LandUseChange_Data.csv - table containing summary data, 2802 rows and 15 columns GB_LandUseChange_LowlandGrasslandChange.csv - table containing data on lowland grassland change, 2802 rows and 10 columns

The file GB_LandUseChange_Raster.tif is a GeoTIFF file primarily intended to be used with the R script. It can also be opened using other GIS software.

If R is installed with required packages (see sessionInfo.txt), the file Rplots.pdf can be generated running: Rscript GB_LandUseChange_Code.R

References:

Auffret, A.G., Kimberley, A., Plue, J., Skånes, H., Jakobsson, S., Waldén, E., Wennbom, M., Wood, H., Bullock, J.M., Cousins, S.A.O., Gartz, M., Hooftman, D.A.P., Tränk, L., 2017, HistMapR: Rapid digitization of historical land-use maps in R, Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8: 1453-1457. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12788

Baily, B., Riley, M., Aucott, P. & Southall, H., 2011, Extracting digital data from the First Land Utilisation Survey of Great Britain – Methods, issues and potential, Applied Geography 31: 959-968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.12.007

Morton, D., Rowland, C., Wood, C., Meek, L., Marston, C., Smith, G., Wadsworth, R., Simpson, I.C., 2011, Final Report for LCM2007 – the new UK Land Cover Map, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, UK. http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/14854

Stamp, D.L., 1931, The Land Utilisation Survey of Britain. Geographical Journal 78: 40-47. https://doi.org/10.2307/1784994

Suggitt, A.J., Wheatley, C.J., Aucott, P., Beale, C.M., Fox, R., Hill, J.K., Isaac, N.J.B., Martay, B., Southall, H., Thomas, C.D., Walker, K.J., Auffret, A.G., 2023, Linking climate warming and land conversion to species’ range changes across Great Britain, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-42475-0

Updated Boundaries of Ancient Woodland polygons covering England. This is the updated spatial dataset that describes the geographic extent and location of ancient woodland in England (excluding the Isles of Scilly). Ancient Woodland features will be approved county-by-county for publication throughout the first year of production until the data product coverage extends across England. Where available this dataset takes precedence over the Ancient Woodland – England dataset. The update revises the inventory to address problems and gaps in the previous iteration. Technological advances mean that small ancient woodlands (0.25-2ha) are being represented within the inventory for the first time as well as wood pasture and parkland being represented as its own category.

The inventory identifies ancient woodland sites in England. Ancient woodland is identified by studying the presence or absence of woods from historic maps, information about the wood's name, shape, internal boundaries, location relative to other features, ground survey, and aerial photography. The information recorded about each wood and stored on the Inventory Database includes its grid reference, its area in hectares and how much is semi-natural or replanted. Prior to the digitisation of the boundaries, only paper maps depicting each ancient wood at 1:50 000 scale were available. Attribution statement: © Natural England 2024. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2024. OS AC0000851168. It includes Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW), which retains a native tree and shrub cover; Plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS), where the original tree cover has been felled and replaced by planting, often with conifers; Ancient Wood Pasture (AWPP), where the trees are managed in tandem with a long established tradition of grazing, characteristically with at least some veteran trees or shrubs or; Infilled Ancient Wood Pasture (IAWPP) which has become infilled with trees arising from planting or natural regeneration.

Georeferenced map of 'Plan of Edinburgh and Leith, from the Survey Atlas of Scotland' By J.G. Bartholomew (1912) as part of the Visualising Urban Geographies project- view other versions of the map at http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/resources_maps.html. Scanned map. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2011-05-31 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

Georeferenced map of 'Old and New Town of Edinburgh and Leith with the proposed docks' By John Ainslie (1804) as part of the Visualising Urban Geographies project- view other versions of the map at http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/resources_maps.html. Scanned map. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2011-05-31 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey 'Old Series' One-Inch maps of England and Wales. They were the first 1:63 360 geological map series produced by the Geological Survey in England and Wales. Sheets were initially published as full sheets, and later as quarter sheets (NW, NE, SW, SE). Earlier maps are hand-coloured, later maps are colour-printed. The maps show both solid and drift geology. The OS 'Old Series' maps extended as far north as a line drawn between Preston and the Humber. To the north of this, the maps use the same sheetlines as the 1:63 360 New Series, and carry two sheet numbers, which refer to the Old Series (91-110) and New Series (1-73) numbering. These maps are common to both series. A sheet that covers the Isle of Man is also included in the 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. 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.

The Historic Flood Map is a GIS layer showing the maximum extent of individual Recorded Flood Outlines from river, the sea and groundwater springs that meet a set criteria. It shows areas of land that have previously been subject to flooding in England. This excludes flooding from surface water, except in areas where it is impossible to determine whether the source is fluvial or surface water but the dominant source is fluvial.

The majority of records began in 1946 when predecessor bodies to the Environment Agency started collecting detailed information about flooding incidents, although we hold limited details about flooding incidents prior to this date.

If an area is not covered by the Historic Flood Map it does not mean that the area has never flooded, only that we do not currently have records of flooding in this area that meet the criteria for inclusion. It is also possible that the pattern of flooding in this area has changed and that this area would now flood or not flood under different circumstances. Outlines that don’t meet this criteria are stored in the Recorded Flood Outlines dataset.

The Historic Flood Map takes into account the presence of defences, structures, and other infrastructure where they existed at the time of flooding. It will include flood extents that may have been affected by overtopping, breaches or blockages.

Flooding is shown to the land and does not necessarily indicate that properties were flooded internally.

Georeferenced map of 'he City of Edinburgh and its environs' By Robert Kirkwood (1804) as part of the Visualising Urban Geographies project- view other versions of the map at http://geo.nls.uk/urbhist/resources_maps.html. Scanned map. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2011-05-31 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

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 layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows the availability of 1:63360 scale geological maps. The maps are available for most of England and Wales and show early geological mapping covering the OS Old Series one inch map sheet areas.

About this layerThe Land Use Database held by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) provides a record of approximately 14,000 sites that have had previous industrial land use(s).What can you do with the layer?Visualisation: This layer can be used for visualisation online in web maps and in ArcGIS Pro.Analysis: This layer can be used in dashboards.Download: The data is downloadable.This layer is part of the Living Atlas of the World that provides access to thousands of beautiful and authoritative layers, web maps and apps.

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

With the historic maps in the Geography Visualiser we can make comparisons of the coastline between 1900, the 1940's and present day.This video will show you how.

The Ancient Woodland Inventory identifies over 52,000 ancient woodland sites in England. Ancient woodland is identified using presence or absence of woods from old maps, information about the wood's name, shape, internal boundaries, location relative to other features, ground survey, and aerial photography. The information recorded about each wood and stored on the Inventory Database includes its grid reference, its area in hectares and how much is semi-natural or replanted. Guidance document can be found on our Amazon Cloud Service Prior to the digitisation of the boundaries, only paper maps depicting each ancient wood at 1:50 000 scale were available.Full metadata can be viewed on data.gov.uk.

The Historic Flood Map is a GIS layer showing the maximum extent of individual Recorded Flood Outlines from river, the sea and groundwater springs that meet a set criteria. It shows areas of land that have previously been subject to flooding in England. This excludes flooding from surface water, except in areas where it is impossible to determine whether the source is fluvial or surface water but the dominant source is fluvial.

The majority of records began in 1946 when predecessor bodies to the Environment Agency started collecting detailed information about flooding incidents, although we hold limited details about flooding incidents prior to this date.

If an area is not covered by the Historic Flood Map it does not mean that the area has never flooded, only that we do not currently have records of flooding in this area that meet the criteria for inclusion. It is also possible that the pattern of flooding in this area has changed and that this area would now flood or not flood under different circumstances. Outlines that don’t meet this criteria are stored in the Recorded Flood Outlines dataset.

The Historic Flood Map takes into account the presence of defences, structures, and other infrastructure where they existed at the time of flooding. It will include flood extents that may have been affected by overtopping, breaches or blockages.

Flooding is shown to the land and does not necessarily indicate that properties were flooded internally. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2023. All rights reserved

These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey quarter-inch to the mile series of maps, for England / Wales and Scotland. Most maps in this series show solid geology only, but there are a few drift maps within the New Series maps of England / Wales. There are three distinct series of quarter-inch maps: - Geological map of England and Wales. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440: Old Series (1889 - 1906). This is a set of hand-coloured maps which were published between 1889 and 1895 with later revisions. They were engraved onto copper. The series was issued as 15 sheets, where sheet 3 was an index to colours. - Geological map of England and Wales. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440: New Series (1906-1977). Following the popularity of the Old Series 'Quarter-inch' map, a New Series of colour-printed maps was issued. This was a long-lived series, with sheets still being published in the late 1970s. Maps were published between 1906–1977. The series was issued as 15 sheets, where sheet 3 was an index to colours. - Geological Survey of Scotland. Quarter-inch series 1:253 440 (1904-1977). These Scottish maps were published in parallel with the English / Welsh New Series, and was issued as 17 sheets. The quarter-inch mapping was superseded in the 1970s - 1980s by the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Series geological maps of the UK and Continental Shelf. 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 hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

The BGS database of geological maps is an index into BGS holdings of modern and historical published geological maps, geological standards and field slips, and also contains a range of other map series, including geophysical maps, geochemical maps, hydrogeological maps, thematic maps and other small-scale miscellaneous non-series maps. Historical vertical and horizontal sections, as well as indices to colours, are also included. The database comprises map metadata, including the title, theme, survey and revision years, publication years, mapped geological theme, base material, map function, colouration, approval status and the spatial extent of each map sheet. An accompanying file store contains high-resolution JPEG2000 scans for delivery, as well as various digital master and delivery formats. For a small number of maps, no scan exists. In total, the database contains over 240,000 scans of over 130,000 maps and field slips. The majority of the maps in the database cover Great Britain, but other regions are also represented, including a historical series of 1-inch maps of Ireland, 6-inch maps of the Isle of Man, 1:25 000 scale maps of the Channel Islands, and various overseas maps. The database contains a record of all geological maps produced by the British Geological Survey and its predecessors since the commencement of systematic geological mapping in the 1830s. The BGS Maps Database is mostly an archive of previous BGS maps, and is not the same as the latest BGS digital mapping. The maps within the database may differ significantly from BGS digital vector mapping. Further information about BGS digital vector mapping is available on the BGS website, under 'BGS Datasets'. The database has evolved over time, originally being a series of discrete databases. These databases have now been aggregated into a single dataset. BGS published maps, as well as 1:10 560 and 1:10 000 large-scale geological maps of England and Wales, and Scotland, are available through the BGS Maps Portal. Field slips and some thematic maps are not included on the BGS Maps Portal. The information about a map is normally a transcription from the map itself. Sometimes key information such as the title may not be actually printed on the map. Where this is the case the information is supplied in square brackets, e.g. [Kirk Maiden]. Information in square brackets means the information is supplied by the cataloguer and is not transcribed from the item.

In the middle of 2001 Roger Kain and Richard Oliver, from the University of Exeter, published a substantial work entitled Historic Parishes of England and Wales: Electronic Map - Gazetteer- Metadata. This was the final product of a project aimed at locating and mapping the boundaries of parish and sub-parish units of the mid-nineteenth century. The authors published the results in a series of electronic maps supplied on CD-ROM. Each one of these 115 maps contain a scanned 1”:1 mile OS New Popular Series map, overlain by the boundaries. A reference number can be found in each of the polygons that can then be used to look up information about that parish in gazetteer in an accompanying book. A major limitation of this work is that although the boundaries are in digital form, they are divided into 115 tiles, none of which have any spatial co-ordinate information inherent in them. This means that although the maps are invaluable as a reference tool, they can not be used together within a GIS to select, analyse and present historic information. We have therefore created a single digital map of the boundaries to provide a single, continuous coverage of polygons, each of which contain the information provided by Kain and Oliver in their accompanying book. This information includes the parish name, Ancient County, and a reference number that coincides with entries for that parish in the 1851 census report. It is recommended that users also order disc 1 of study 4348; Historic Parishes of England and Wales : an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.