https://www.openstreetmap.org/images/osm_logo.png" alt="" /> OpenStreetMap (openstreetmap.org) is a global collaborative mapping project, which offers maps and map data released with an open license, encouraging free re-use and re-distribution. The data is created by a large community of volunteers who use a variety of simple on-the-ground surveying techniques, and wiki-syle editing tools to collaborate as they create the maps, in a process which is open to everyone. The project originated in London, and an active community of mappers and developers are based here. Mapping work in London is ongoing (and you can help!) but the coverage is already good enough for many uses.

Browse the map of London on OpenStreetMap.org

Downloads:

The whole of England updated daily:

• england.osm.bz2 ~185M - .osm formatted raw XML data (compressed)
• england.shp.zip ~156M - ESRI shapefiles

For more details of downloads available from OpenStreetMap, including downloading the whole planet, see 'planet.osm' on the wiki.

Data access APIs:

Download small areas of the map by bounding-box. For example this URL requests the data around Trafalgar Square:
http://api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6/map?bbox=-0.13062,51.5065,-0.12557,51.50969

Data filtered by "tag". For example this URL returns all elements in London tagged shop=supermarket:
http://www.informationfreeway.org/api/0.6/*[shop=supermarket][bbox=-0.48,51.30,0.21,51.70]

The .osm format

The format of the data is a raw XML represention of all the elements making up the map. OpenStreetMap is composed of interconnected "nodes" and "ways" (and sometimes "relations") each with a set of name=value pairs called "tags". These classify and describe properties of the elements, and ultimately influence how they get drawn on the map. To understand more about tags, and different ways of working with this data format refer to the following pages on the OpenStreetMap wiki.

• .osm - About the raw XML data format of OpenStreetMap
• Downloading data - More details of the API and extract download options
• Xapi - The extended api for filtering by tag
• Map Features - A list of tags, and what map features they represent
• Converting map data between formats - catalogue of tools for converting from .osm to other formats

Simple embedded maps

Rather than working with raw map data, you may prefer to embed maps from OpenStreetMap on your website with a simple bit of javascript. You can also present overlays of other data, in a manner very similar to working with google maps. In fact you can even use the google maps API to do this. See OSM on your own website for details and links to various javascript map libraries.

Help build the map!

The OpenStreetMap project aims to attract large numbers of contributors who all chip in a little bit to help build the map. Although the map editing tools take a little while to learn, they are designed to be as simple as possible, so that everyone can get involved. This project offers an exciting means of allowing local London communities to take ownership of their part of the map.

Read about how to Get Involved and see the London page for details of OpenStreetMap community events.

This is a collection of simple maps in PDF format that are designed to be printed off and used in the classroom. The include maps of Great Britain that show the location of major rivers, cities and mountains as well as maps of continents and the World. There is very little information on the maps to allow teachers to download them and add their own content to fit with their lesson plans. Customise one print out then photocopy them for your lesson. data not available yet, holding data set (7th August). Other. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2012-08-07 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-22.

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

The RPA CROME GOP is a simple point dataset, that marks the location of observations made by surveyors in a sample of parcels and records the land cover according to set criteria. It has been maintained by RPA Geospatial Services since 2015. RPA currently collects ground observation data from the following source: • Agricultural parcels eligible for the Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) element of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), and that fall within zones selected for monitoring claims. The locations and size of these zones vary from year to year. The field surveys for are carried out on RPA’s behalf by Cyient Europe Ltd. They have been acquired for both Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) and for Commons Eligibility Mapping programmes that have been completed during the year. The points are attributed with: • Parcel reference ID (as with RPA Parcel Points) • Crop or land cover observed to be / have been growing at that location • Date of observation • Whether observations were made by RPA or an external surveyor • Any additional comments Two versions will be made available: one with photos of the land cover attached (RPA_CROME_GOP_2023_FULL) and the other with them removed (RPA_CROME_GOP_2023_Basic).
The data for the CwRS programme is used in the production of the Crop Map of England (CROME) which is publicly available and has historically been used as part of CwRS for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). It is intended that releasing the ground observations would benefit research in automation, machine learning, and our national food production. RPA’s GOP use the Open Government Licence v3.0 as used by other publicly accessible data on the Defra Data Services Platform and would be updated approximately every year, subject to the continuation of current policies.

The data shows the location of seabed and sub-seabed samples collected from the UK continental shelf, held by BGS. A BGS Sample Station is a general location at which sampling with one or more equipment types, such as borehole, grab, dredge, has been used. Historically, all deployment of equipment was recorded with the same coordinates so the data shown here will often show several sets of data at the same location. Newer data will begin to show distinct locations based on an equipment type. This layer shows all the BGS Sample Station Locations, including those where the Sampling was unsuccessful. The layers below are divided into distinct equipment types, plus a separate layer for unsuccessful sampling. BGS Sample Station Locations can have a wide range of potential information available. This can vary from a basic description derived from a simple piece of paper up to a complex set of information with a number of datasets. These datasets can include particle size analysis, geotechnical parameters, detailed marine geology, geochemical analysis and others. Prices are available on further enquiry.

Soilscapes is a 1:250,000 scale, simplified soils dataset covering England and Wales. It was created from the far more detailed National Soil Map (NATMAP Vector) held by Cranfield University, with the purpose of communicating effectively a general understanding of the variations which occur between soil types, and how soils affect the environment and landscape of the two countries. Soil exerts a strong influence on our whole ecosystem, being the foundation for many of the ecosystem services and functions recognised, and is a fragile resource that needs to be understood and protected.Soilscapes is one of our most popular datasets - and to encourage a wider understanding of soils, web access to this data is now made freely accessible. Soilscapes does away with confusing terminology, enabling informed decision-making by non-soil scientists who need to understand soil and how it affects broad landscapes. Using the Soilscapes web mapping service, it is simple to build up a good understand of many fundamental soil-landscape processes for any region across England and Wales.For more information about soils and soils data please visit the LandIS - Land Information System www.landis.org.uk

LIDAR is an airborne terrain mapping system, which uses a laser to measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground. This technique results in the production of cost effective terrain maps with a height accuracy of 10 to 15cm. Typically with spot heights between 1 to 4 metres spatially on the land surface. CASI is used to provide information on the colour of the environment. It is designed to provide a flexible system which is easy to transport and straightforward to install and operate in small aircraft. It can be used for detailed studies of the spectral characteristics of ground or water targets, which are imaged instantaneously in a large number of spectral wavebands (up to 288), covering the visible and near infra-red regions of the spectrum, between 430 nm and 870 nm. Spatial resolution can be varied from one to ten metres, depending on the flying altitude and lens configuration. New LIDAR and CASI data sets are being gathered from parts of England and Wales all the time. For details on coverage and extent contact the National Centre.

This SRTM Slope Map was created from level 1 SRTM NASA data which was cleaned and had holes patched. The slope map was created in ArcMap (presumably using the simple 3x3 nearest neighbour method). The data does not include the Shetland Islands as SRTM data becomes unreliable at 60N. The cell size is close to 90m. Data was acquired between the 11th - 20th Feb 2000. SRTM Slope Map was created from level 1 SRTM NASA data, slope map generated in ArcGIS using a basic nearest neighbour approach. Digital Terrain Model. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2010-06-30 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-20.

Data from the British Geological Survey's GeoIndex Map products theme are made available for viewing here. GeoIndex is a website that allows users to search for information about BGS data collections covering the UK and other areas world wide. Access is free, the interface is easy to use, and it has been developed to enable users to check coverage of different types of data and find out some background information about the data. More detailed information can be obtained by further enquiry via the web site: www.bgs.ac.uk/geoindex.

This map of the soils of England is a simplified version of the National Soil Map and has been produced by the National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI) of Cranfield University with support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It shows, in simple terms, what the likely soil conditions are at any point in the landscape by reference to one of 27 different broad types of soil

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There are approximately 2.6 million agricultural land parcels in England, and the Parcel Points (England) point dataset represents the approximate centres, or centroids of these parcels. The number of agricultural parcels varies over time as fields are split or joined consequently creating new fields with new centroids. Some parcels may be sold for development and are no longer available for agricultural use, occasionally land that was previously developed may return to agriculture, e.g. disused airfields.

Parcel Points is a simple point dataset that uses the centres of agricultural parcels attributed only with the parcel reference ID. Parcel points are categorised according to county and are available as England-wide coverage too.

Users can use the data as supplied or attach their own attributes. When viewed overlying other publicly available data, e.g. satellite imagery (Google earth), OS open data, OpenStreetMap, etc. that may feature agricultural land the points provide a useful reference point to identify the approximate centre of agricultural parcels.

Parcel Points uses the Open Government Licence v3.0 as used by other publicly accessible data on the Defra Data Services Platform and will be updated every 6 months.

Coverage will be for agricultural land parcels in England only.

The population of the United Kingdom in 2023 was estimated to be approximately 68.3 million in 2023, with almost 9.48 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at over 8.9 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.6 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, 3.16 million, and 1.92 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 622,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 372,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of around 348,000.

Overview The Green Infrastructure Areas for the Black Country (GIBC) data identifies green infrastructure, green infrastructure function (or ecosystem service) and pinch point mapping for the Black Country area which includes Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and Dudley. The analysis was carried out in two stages and as a result of this, four datasets were produced: ‘GIBC 01 - Typology & Functionality OS’ ‘GIBC 02 – Pinch Points OS’ ‘GIBC 03 – Pinch Points Consortium Housing’ ‘GIBC 04 – Pinch Points Housing Land Availability’ First Stage Processing Ordnance Survey data was used as the base layer for all the processing. The first process produced the ‘GIBC 01 - Typology & Functionality OS’ dataset. This dataset is then subsequently used as a basis for the production of the second, third and fourth datasets during the second stage. In the first stage each OS polygon was assigned a green infrastructure category based on the SPADES project from the list below.
Green Infrastructure Categories are: Garden Green corridor Pocket park Park or garden Outdoor sports facility Children’s play space Youth area Broadleaved woodland Mixed woodland Coniferous woodland Natural and semi-natural open spaces Pasture or meadow Wetland Watercourse Fresh water body Allotments Orchard Cemetery or churchyard Open space around premises Agricultural land Road island/verge Railway corridor Abandoned, ruderal and derelict area The OS polygon was then assigned “A function beneficial to people” dependent on the Green Infrastructure Category already assigned. The 26 categories that perform a “function beneficial to people” are: Accessible water storage Carbon storage Community cohesion Connection with local environment Corridor for wildlife Culture Encouraging green travel Evaporative cooling Flow reduction through surface roughness Habitat for wildlife Heritage Inaccessible water storage Learning Local food production Pollination Pollutant removal from soil/water Providing jobs Recreation - private Recreation - public Recreation - public with restrictions Shading from the sun Trapping air pollutants Visual contribution to landscape character Water conveyance Water infiltration Water interception In its simplest form the process flow looks like this: OS base layer → assigned green infrastructure → assigned function (Eg - OS polygon → coniferous woodland → shading from the sun) The first dataset, ‘GIBC 01 - Typology & Functionality OS’, therefore shows the following: The green infrastructure category The function beneficial to people Shows areas of greatest need for this function. Shows areas whereby the function has been met. Shows areas whereby the function has not been met. Second Stage Processing The second stage expands on the first by establishing which areas suffer from stress associated with investment in growth and redevelopment of land. These areas are known as ‘pinch points’. Wherever there is a high level of need for a particular function (identified in the first process), a potential ‘pinch point’ exists. The pinch point categories that have been identified are: Air Quality Pinch Culture Pinch Flooding Pinch Heat Stress Pinch Heritage Pinch Local Community Pinch Mental Health Pinch Nature Pinch Physical Activity Pinch Recreation Pinch Sustainable Travel Pinch The second dataset, ‘GIBC 02 – Pinch Points OS’, takes the analysis from the first stage process and using the Ordnance Survey data as a base layer, displays the ‘pinch points’ analysis results. The third dataset, ‘GIBC 03 – Pinch Points Consortium Housing’, takes the analysis from the first stage process and rather than using the OS as a base uses the Consortium Housing Site data instead to display ‘pinch points’. The fourth dataset, ‘GIBC 04 – Pinch Points Housing Land Availability’, takes the analysis from the first stage process and rather than using the OS as a base used the Strategic Housing Land Availability data instead to display ‘pinch points’. Conclusion The ‘pinch point’ mapping can help identify particular areas of stress, which when used in conjunction with the green infrastructure and function mapping from the first stage process can be used to help alleviate those stresses.

The Map based index (GeoIndex) provides a map based index to datasets that BGS have collected or have obtained from a wide variety of sources. The site allows users to search for information about BGS data collections covering the UK and other areas worldwide. Access is free, the interface is easy to use, and it has been developed to enable users to check coverage of different types of data and find out some background information about the data. The index shows the extents of available dataset coverage in Great Britain and the surrounding seas, drawn against a topographical map background. The spatial data are grouped into themes holding related data together in manageable-sized units for sensible querying by any end-users. The current onshore themes are Boreholes, Geophysics, Civil Engineering, Geochemistry, Collections, Earthquakes, Landsat, Local Government, Map products and Minerals. Data is also available for the UK offshore. The map themes were created after discussion with customers and specialists in these particular sectors to ensure they encompass data (data layers) required for meaningful querying of the BGS data holdings by that sector. Data is also available for Northern Ireland using the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland GeoIndex.

The RPA Commons GOP is a simple point dataset, that marks the location of observations made by surveyors in a sample of parcels and records the land cover according to set criteria. It has been maintained by RPA Geospatial Services since 2015. RPA currently collects ground observation data from the following source: • Common land parcels eligible for the Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) element of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), and that fall within zones selected for monitoring claims. The locations and size of these zones vary from year to year. The field surveys for are carried out on RPA’s behalf by Cyient Europe Ltd. They have been acquired for both Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) and for Commons Eligibility Mapping programmes that have been completed during the year. The points are attributed with: • Parcel reference ID (as with RPA Parcel Points) • Crop or land cover observed to be / have been growing at that location • Date of observation • Whether observations were made by RPA or an external surveyor • Any additional comments Two versions will be made available: one with photos of the land cover attached (RPA_Commons_GOP_2023_FULL) and the other with them removed (RPA_Commons_GOP_2023_Basic).
The data for the Commons Eligibility Mapping programmes is part of CwRS programme. It is intended that releasing the ground observations would benefit research in automation, machine learning, and our national food production. RPA’s GOP use the Open Government Licence v3.0 as used by other publicly accessible data on the Defra Data Services Platform and will be updated approximately every year, subject to the continuation of current policies.

These profiles help paint a general picture of an area by presenting a range of headline indicator data in both spreadsheet and map form to help show statistics covering demographic, economic, social and environmental datasets for each borough, alongside relevant comparator areas.

The full datasets and more information for each of the indicators are usually available on the London Datastore. A link to each of the datasets is contained in the spreadsheet and map.

Borough Profiles - Excel

On opening the spreadsheet a simple drop down box allows you to choose which borough profile you are interested in. Selecting this will display data for that borough, plus either Inner or Outer London, London and a national comparator (usually England where data is available).

To see the full set of data for all 33 local authorities in London plus the comparator areas in Excel, click the 'Data' worksheet.

A chart and a map are also available to help visualise the data for all boroughs (macros must be enabled for the Excel map to function).

The data is set out across 11 themes covering most of the key indicators relating to demographic, economic, social and environmental data. Sources are provided in the spreadsheet. Notes about the indicator are provided in comment boxes attached to the indicator names.

Profiles using interactive mapping

For a geographical and bar chart representation of the profile data, open this interactive report. Choose indicators from the left hand side. Click on the comparators to make them appear on the chart and map.

Sources, links to data, and notes are all contained in the box in the bottom right hand corner.

These profiles include data relating to: Population, Households (census), Demographics, Migrant population, Ethnicity, Language, Employment, NEET, Benefits, Qualifications, Earnings, Volunteering, Jobs density, Business Survival, Crime, Fires, House prices, New homes, Tenure, Greenspace, Recycling, Carbon Emissions, Cars, Public Transport Accessibility (PTAL), Indices of Multiple Deprivation, GCSE results, Children looked after, Children in out-of-work families, Life Expectancy, Teenage conceptions, Happiness levels, Political control, and Election turnout.

Data is correct as of September 2014.

London Borough Atlas

To access even more data at local authority level, use the London Borough Atlas. It contains data about the same topics as the profiles but provides further detailed breakdowns and time-series data for each borough.

The London boroughs are: City of London, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster.

You may also find our small area profiles useful - Ward, LSOA, and MSOA.

The Quantifying Flood Risk of Extreme Events using Density Forecasts Based on a New Digital Archive and Weather Ensemble Predictions Project is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Flood Risk for Extreme Events (FREE) Research Programme project (Round 1 - NE/E002013/1 - Duration January 2007 - December 2008) led by Dr Patrick McSharry, University of Oxford. The dataset contains a collection of rainfall depth maxima data, dating back to 1860, plus associated description documents and rainfall maps of extreme events across the UK, have been used. All of these products have been digitised from the paper version of the British Rainfall publication, and are now archived at the BADC to enable easy access for future use and the wider community.

About the NBN AtlasThe NBN Atlas is an online tool that provides a platform to engage, educate and inform people about the natural world. It will help improve biodiversity knowledge, open up research possibilities and change the way environmental management is carried out in the UK.The NBN Atlas is innovative because the combination of the multiple sources of information about UK species and habitats, and the ability to interrogate, combine, and analyse these data – in a single location – has not been done before, on this scale. It aims to facilitate learning about and understanding the UK’s wildlife.National Biodiversity Network TrustThe National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust), a registered charity, has been championing the sharing of biological data in the UK since 2000, with the aim of improving the availability of high resolution and high quality data to provide the evidence base for all environmental decision-making in the UK. We have only been able to do this with the support of our membership and donations. Find out more about how to support us and ensure the long term success of the largest biodiversity database for any country in the world. Join the UK’s largest partnership for nature.NBN Atlas InfrastructureThe NBN Atlas is based on the Atlas of Living Australia infrastructure. The National Biodiversity Network Trust has taken this open source platform and redesigned and remastered it in some places – in response to stakeholder needs – to create a bespoke system that is exceptionally useful for UK users.By adapting an existing platform, costs have been minimised and has resulted in a more powerful and functionally integrated end product.As the Atlas of Living Australia platform is open source, many other countries around the world have used the same system. This makes our UK biodiversity data compatible with other countries’ biodiversity data and allows users to compare and share data globally.The NBN Atlas Scotland, NBN Atlas Wales, NBN Atlas Isle of Man and NBN Atlas Northern Ireland are all based on the same system, with much of the development being a result of user feedback.Moving technology forwardThe NBN Atlas is the successor to the NBN Gateway. It has much more advanced functionality than the NBN Gateway and is more intuitive to use. The NBN Atlas, uniquely, allows users to interrogate species records, habitat, climate and soil information, geographical boundaries and to use extremely powerful mapping tools through a single portal. It is also simple to interrogate your own biological records and habitat information, either in isolation or combined with additional information from the online database, as well as downloading and exporting maps and reports or summaries for your own use.The data partner pages of the NBN Atlas can help to link up groups who are working on similar projects, or help enthusiastic amateur biological recorders find local groups or recording schemes in their area. The NBN Atlas launched on 1st April 2017.

The wettest months in the United Kingdom tend to be at the start and end of the year. In the period of consideration, the greatest measurement of rainfall was nearly 217 millimeters, recorded in December 2015. The lowest level of rainfall was recorded in April 2021, at 20.6 millimeters. Rainy days The British Isles are known for their wet weather, and in 2024 there were approximately 164 rain days in the United Kingdom. A rainday is when more than one millimeter of rain falls within a day. Over the past 30 years, the greatest number of rain days was recorded in the year 2000. In that year, the average annual rainfall in the UK amounted to 1,242.1 millimeters. Climate change According to the Met Office, climate change in the United Kingdom has resulted in the weather getting warmer and wetter. In 2022, the annual average temperature in the country reached a new record high, surpassing 10 degrees Celsius for the first time. This represented an increase of nearly two degrees Celsius when compared to the annual average temperature recorded in 1910. In a recent survey conducted amongst UK residents, almost 80 percent of respondents had concerns about climate change.