A PDF map that shows the counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom as at 1 April 2023. (File Size - 583 KB)

The current counties of England are defined by the ceremonial counties, a collective name for the county areas to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant. The office of Lord Lieutenant was created in the reign of Henry VIII. The Lord Lieutenant is the chief officer of the county and representative of the Crown. Whenever the Queen visits an area she will be accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of that area. Legally the ceremonial counties are defined by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 as ‘Counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies in Great Britain’ with reference to the areas used for local government.

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https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

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Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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This file contains the digital vector boundaries for Counties and Unitary Authorities in the United Kingdom, as at December 2019. The boundaries available are: (BUC) Ultra Generalised (500m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark). Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights. Download File SizesUltra Generalised (500m) - clipped to the coastline (200 KB)Units for the following fields:St_length = metresSt_area = metres2REST URL of ArcGIS for INSPIRE View Service https://ons-inspire.esriuk.com/arcgis/rest/services/Administrative_Boundaries/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2019_Boundaries_UK_BUC2/MapServer/exts/InspireView REST URL of ArcGIS for INSPIRE Feature Download Service https://ons-inspire.esriuk.com/arcgis/rest/services/Administrative_Boundaries/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2019_Boundaries_UK_BUC2/MapServer/exts/InspireFeatureDownload REST URL of Feature Access Service https://ons-inspire.esriuk.com/arcgis/rest/services/Administrative_Boundaries/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2019_Boundaries_UK_BUC2/FeatureServer

Counties were formerly administrative units across the whole of the UK. Due to various administrative restructurings, however, the only administrative areas still referred to as 'counties' are the Non-Metropolitan Districts of England. The English Metropolitan Districts, although no longer administrative units, are also used for statistical purposes.

The Counties area list contains 35 areas of the following constituent English geographies:

• 27 Shire counties
• 6 Metropolitan counties
• Inner London and Outer London

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).

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.

1) County, Unitary Authority Area, Metropolitan and District ploygons from OS Opendata 2) merged into Counties and Districts polygons 3) in order to merge UK data keyed by County. OS_Counties_meta.pdf contains Ordnance Survey Data (c) Crown copyright and database right 2010. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2013-04-01 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-22.

Dataset

This dataset was created by Ilias Aslanov

Contents

This dataset consists of the vector version of the Land Cover Map 2015 (LCM2015) for Great Britain. The vector data set is the core LCM data set from which the full range of other LCM2015 products is derived. It provides a number of attributes including land cover at the target class level (given as an integer value and also as text), the number of pixels within the polygon classified as each land cover type and a probability value provided by the classification algorithm (for full details see the LCM2015 Dataset Documentation). The 21 target classes are based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompass the entire range of UK habitats. LCM2015 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. LCM2015 consists of a range of raster and vector products and users should familiarise themselves with the full range (see related records, the CEH web site and the LCM2015 Dataset documentation) to select the product most suited to their needs. LCM2015 was produced at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images from 2014 and 2015 into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. It is one of a series of land cover maps, produced by UKCEH since 1990. They include versions in 1990, 2000, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

This file contains the digital vector boundaries for Counties and Unitary Authorities, in the United Kingdom, as at December 2024.The boundaries available are: (BGC) Generalised (20m) - clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).Contains both Ordnance Survey and ONS Intellectual Property Rights.REST URL of Feature Access Service – https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2024_Boundaries_UK_BGC/FeatureServerREST URL of WFS Server –https://dservices1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/services/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2024_Boundaries_UK_BGC/WFSServer?service=wfs&request=getcapabilitiesREST URL of Map Server –https://services1.arcgis.com/ESMARspQHYMw9BZ9/arcgis/rest/services/Counties_and_Unitary_Authorities_December_2024_Boundaries_UK_BGC/MapServer

This dataset consists of the 25m raster version of the Land Cover Map 1990 (LCM1990) for Great Britain. The 25m raster product consists of three bands: Band 1 - raster representation of the majority (dominant) class per polygon for 21 target classes; Band 2 - mean per polygon probability as reported by the Random Forest classifier (see supporting information); Band 3 - percentage of the polygon covered by the majority class. The 21 target classes are based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompass the entire range of UK habitats. This dataset is derived from the vector version of the Land Cover Map, which contains individual parcels of land cover and is the highest available spatial resolution. The 25m raster is the most detailed of the LCM1990 raster products both thematically and spatially, and it is used to derive the 1km products. LCM1990 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images (mainly from 1989 and 1990) into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. It is the first in a series of land cover maps for the UK, which also includes maps for 2000, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. LCM1990 consists of a range of raster and vector products and users should familiarise themselves with the full range (see related records, the UKCEH web site and the LCM1990 Dataset documentation) to select the product most suited to their needs. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability.

The Land Cover Map 2024 (UK Land Cover Statistics) dataset summarises the coverage of different land cover types across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, classified into 21 UKCEH land cover classes, based upon Biodiversity Action Plan broad habitats. This data is provided in both .csv and geopackage (vector) formats. Statistics are calculated at country, county, and regional (England only) levels from the Land Cover Map 2024 (10 m classified pixels) datasets for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A full description of this and all UKCEH LCM2024 products are available from the LCM2024 product documentation. In addition to UKCEH as copyright holders, the Land Cover Map 2024 (UK Land Cover Statistics) products use digital boundary products and reference maps. The source of the data is the Office for National Statistics and they are licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. They contain OS data © Crown copyright and database right [2024]. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/0171ccb2-1c0c-404f-b782-e7204a86a92f

The England species map was funded by DEFRA’s Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme. The map was created using satellite remote sensing data (Sentinel-2) and machine learning to classify common tree species in England. The model was trained to distinguish 35 common tree species, with minority species grouped into “Other broadleaf” or “Other conifer” classes for better classification performance. The final product comprises a species classification and confidence raster output.

The species map represents a predicted distribution of common tree species in England, produced using a time series of multispectral satellite remote sensing data (Sentinel-2) and machine learning. A classifier based on the XGBoost algorithm was trained to distinguish tree species, utilising a time-series of surface reflectance data and labelled training samples from the sub-compartment database (SCDB). To enhance classification performance, minority species with fewer than 1,000 training samples were grouped into broader categories, resulting in a total of 35 classes. Given the significant class imbalances, a sample weighting strategy was employed to guard against significant underfitting of the minority classes. Model evaluation demonstrated strong classification performance, with an overall accuracy of 89% and balanced class accuracy of 90%. Predictions were made at the pixel level and used to generate a species classification and confidence raster output. Field validation for Norway spruce within the Ips typographus demarcated area, confirmed a precision of 69%, aligning with test data results for this class. Additional validation using National Forest Inventory (NFI) data further reinforced model reliability, though accuracy was observed to be worse for underrepresented species.

The Access Network Map of England is a national composite dataset of Access layers, showing analysis of extent of Access provision for each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA), as a percentage or area coverage of access in England. The ‘Access Network Map’ was developed by Natural England to inform its work to improve opportunities for people to enjoy the natural environment. This map shows, across England, the relative abundance of accessible land in relation to where people live. Due to issues explained below, the map does not, and cannot, provide a definitive statement of where intervention is necessary. Rather, it should be used to identify areas of interest which require further exploration. Natural England believes that places where people can enjoy the natural environment should be improved and created where they are most wanted. Access Network Maps help support this work by providing means to assess the amount of accessible land available in relation to where people live. They combine all the available good quality data on access provision into a single dataset and relate this to population. This provides a common foundation for regional and national teams to use when targeting resources to improve public access to greenspace, or projects that rely on this resource. The Access Network Maps are compiled from the datasets available to Natural England which contain robust, nationally consistent data on land and routes that are normally available to the public and are free of charge. Datasets contained in the aggregated data:•
Agri-environment scheme permissive access (routes and open access)•
CROW access land (including registered common land and Section 16)•
Country Parks•
Cycleways (Sustrans Routes) including Local/Regional/National and Link Routes•
Doorstep Greens•
Local Nature Reserves•
Millennium Greens•
National Nature Reserves (accessible sites only)•
National Trails•
Public Rights of Way•
Forestry Commission ‘Woods for People’ data•
Village Greens – point data only Due to the quantity and complexity of data used, it is not possible to display clearly on a single map the precise boundary of accessible land for all areas. We therefore selected a unit which would be clearly visible at a variety of scales and calculated the total area (in hectares) of accessible land in each. The units we selected are ‘Lower Super Output Areas’ (LSOAs), which represent where approximately 1,500 people live based on postcode. To calculate the total area of accessible land for each we gave the linear routes a notional width of 3 metres so they could be measured in hectares. We then combined together all the datasets and calculated the total hectares of accessible land in each LSOA. For further information about this data see the following links:Access Network Mapping GuidanceAccess Network Mapping Metadata Full metadata can be viewed on data.gov.uk.

Comprehensive dataset containing 118 verified Map store businesses in United Kingdom with complete contact information, ratings, reviews, and location data.

A PDF map that shows the counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom as at 31 December 2017. (File Size - 7 MB)

A PDF map that shows the regions and their constituent counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom as at 1 April 2020. (File Size - 557 KB)

A PDF map that shows International Territorial Levels 2 and 3 in United Kingdom as at January 2021. (File Size - 2.17 MB).

The Living England project, led by Natural England, is a multi-year programme delivering a satellite-derived national habitat layer in support of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) System and the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) Pilot. The project uses a machine learning approach to image classification, developed under the Defra Living Maps project (SD1705 – Kilcoyne et al., 2017). The method first clusters homogeneous areas of habitat into segments, then assigns each segment to a defined list of habitat classes using Random Forest (a machine learning algorithm). The habitat probability map displays modelled likely broad habitat classifications, trained on field surveys and earth observation data from 2021 as well as historic data layers. This map is an output from Phase IV of the Living England project, with future work in Phase V (2022-23) intending to standardise the methodology and Phase VI (2023-24) to implement the agreed standardised methods.

The Living England habitat probability map will provide high-accuracy, spatially consistent data for a range of Defra policy delivery needs (e.g. 25YEP indicators and Environment Bill target reporting Natural capital accounting, Nature Strategy, ELM) as well as external users. As a probability map, it allows the extrapolation of data to areas that we do not have data. These data will also support better local and national decision making, policy development and evaluation, especially in areas where other forms of evidence are unavailable.

Process Description: A number of data layers are used to inform the model to provide a habitat probability map of England. The main sources layers are Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellite data from the ESA Copericus programme. Additional datasets were incorporated into the model (as detailed below) to aid the segmentation and classification of specific habitat classes.

Datasets used: Agri-Environment Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Monitoring, British Geological Survey Bedrock Mapping 1:50k, Coastal Dune Geomatics Mapping Ground Truthing, Crop Map of England (RPA), Dark Peak Bog State Survey, Desktop Validation and Manual Points, EA Integrated Height Model 10m, EA Saltmarsh Zonation and Extent, Field Unit NEFU, Living England Collector App NEFU/EES, Long Term Monitoring Network (LTMN), Lowland Heathland Survey, National Forest Inventory (NFI), National Grassland Survey, National Plant Monitoring Scheme, NEFU Surveys, Northumberland Border Mires, OS Vector Map District , Priority Habitats Inventory (PHI) B Button, European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 , Space2 Eye Lens: Ainsdale NNR, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Bowland Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog Dark Peak Condition Survey, Space2 Eye Lens: State of the Bog (MMU) Mountain Hare Habitat Survey Dark Peak, Uplands Inventory, West Pennines Designation NVC Survey, Wetland Inventories, WorldClim - Global Climate Data

A PDF map that shows the combined authorities in England as at June 2016. (File Size - 466 KB)

This dataset consists of a 25m resolution raster version of the Land Cover Map 2007 for Great Britain. Each 25m pixel represents a 25m area of land cover target class, broadly representing Broad Habitats (see below). The dataset is part of a series of data products produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology known as LCM2007. LCM2007 is a parcel-based thematic classification of satellite image data covering the entire United Kingdom. The map updates and upgrades the Land Cover Map of Great Britain (LCMGB) 1990 and LCM2000. Like the earlier 1990 and 2000 products, LCM2007 is derived from a computer classification of satellite scenes obtained mainly from Landsat, IRS and SPOT sensors and also incorporates information derived from other ancillary datasets. LCM2007 was classified using a nomenclature corresponding to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompasses the entire range of UK habitats. In addition, it recorded further detail where possible. The series of LCM2007 products includes vector and raster formats, with a number of different versions containing varying levels of detail and at different spatial resolutions.