Local councils in the United Kingdom

Houses of Parliament (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

UK Government and Local Councils use maps extensively across many areas of operation: planning department, highways department, refuse collection, etc, etc. For many years they have been compelled (by the "mapping services agreement") to license Ordnance Survey map products at great expense. The Ordnance Survey Opendata announcements will no doubt bring about some fundamental changes in the way this works, but even before that, some forward-looking local councils experimented with using other map providers particularly for public facing online web mapping.

OpenStreetMap offers some very interesting possibilities in this area, not just as a provider of raster maps, but as a platform for engaging with local communities for gathering detailed map data, and presenting it back to them in interesting and useful ways. Feel free to use this page to flesh out some ideas for how local councils can do this.

Government use of OpenStreetMap data

Tools / ideas / etc.

Mashups using OSM as a base map

Custom rendering to match a council website.

Maps for printed material. SVG output.

Providing local web developers with a platform - Government (perhaps even local government) could look at providing data APIs, tile services, widgets for local web developers. Much more do-able now all the data is open licensed. Also certain types of tools can be scaled easier for the limited area of a local council district (a very small area in OSM terms)

NOVAM

OpenStreetMap use of Government resources

In the second half of the 2000s (decade), the Open Data movement grew increasingly loud. This led to the appointment of Sir Tim Berners Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt to oversee the release of data sets from various UK Government departments and the new data.gov.uk website. Many of these data sets are released under the new Open Government Licence, allowing royalty-free and commercial use of the data, including with OpenStreetMap.

This section discusses government data that may be of use within OpenStreetMap. It is split by data that has been released under a licence that is compatible with OpenStreetMap's licence and other data that is currently only available by request.

Data available for use in OpenStreetMap

The following government datasets have been released under licences that allow their use within OpenStreetMap:

1. NaPTAN - Public transport access points (including every bus stop) in Great Britain.
2. Ordnance Survey OpenData - A limited set of Ordnance Survey datasets.
3. Natural England data - Includes land boundaries (e.g. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and National Trails.
4. UK Food Hygiene Rating System - Listings of all hygiene rated businesses in the UK with approximate locations

Other Government Data

This section discusses data that may of some use to mapping in the United Kingdom. It does not signify that the data can be used within OpenStreetMap and all mappers are advised to check OSM's copyright policy. If you would like to use any of this data, you would first need to write to the copyright holder (often your local council).

1. Lists of changes to highways/street naming notifications
   Local Councils notify interested parties on the council's decisions on naming and numbering new properties and streets. As the highway network has now been densely surveyed and mapped, it would be an invaluable list of places that might need re-surveying or other editing. Often this is released on each councils website in the form of a PDF file per decision, in a human readable format only. The exact format differs by council. Read more.
2. Definitive Statement & Definitive Map
   In England and Wales each "surveying authority" is required to produce a statement (list) and map of public rights of way. Any path not on these documents by 2026 will no longer be a right of way. We are hoping to get some of these released under a compatible license so that we can help identify missing paths. See #List of UK Councils.
3. Gazetteers
   Compare OSM data to a CSV (e.g. from a gazetteer) - http://github.com/chrisfleming/osm-vs-csv
4. data.gov.uk - Rights of Way search
   Current Rights of Way Q&As - http://data.gov.uk/search/apachesolr_search/rights%20of%20way

How else can the government help?

Get the community mapping! Councils could help us run mapping parties (even if just through room hire).

List of UK Councils

Contact details, lists of members (useful for lobbying) and other information on each council may be found on Openly Local.

England

The following list of 152 local authorities are (believed to be) the "surveying authorities" responsible for maintaining a definitive map and statement of public rights of way in England. Please respect the © copyright when following external web links.

Council	Region	Right of Way iMap	Other maps	Public Right of Way Definitive Statement & Definitive Map	Notes
Barking and Dagenham	Greater London (outer)	download raw data
Barnet	Greater London (outer)
Barnsley	Yorkshire and the Humber	download raw data
Bath and North East Somerset	South West England	download raw data
Bedford	East of England	view or download raw data
Bexley	Greater London (outer)	download raw data
Birmingham	West Midlands	download raw data			Thanks to rjw62 for getting the data
Blackburn with Darwen	North West England	download raw data
Blackpool	North West England	view or download raw data
Bolton	North West England	view or download raw data
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	South West England	view or download raw data
Bracknell Forest	South East England	view or download raw data
Bradford	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Brent	Greater London (outer)
Brighton and Hove	South East England	view or download raw data
Bristol, City of	South West England	view or download raw data
Bromley	Greater London (outer)	view or download raw data
Buckinghamshire	South East England	view or download raw data
Bury	North West England	view or download raw data			[1]
Calderdale	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Cambridgeshire	East of England	view	[2] Google map	Statements currently only in paper form. But an electronic copy is (slowly) being worked on.	rjw62 requested statements and OGL use 2012-05-30. Only in paper form, so not practicable to provide us a copy. Using the ICO, on 2015-11-10 rjw62 managed to get a snapshot of Cambridgeshire PRoW data; after considerable extra faff, as of 2017-05-05 a then-fresh copy is available under OGL v3 (required attribution is handled on Contributors page).
Camden	Greater London (inner)
Central Bedfordshire	East of England	view or download raw data	[3]
Cheshire East	North West England	view or download raw data	[4]
Cheshire West and Chester	North West England	view or download raw data	[5]
City of London	Greater London (inner)
Cornwall	South West England	view or download raw data	[6]
County Durham	North East England	view or download raw data
Coventry	West Midlands	download raw data
Croydon	Greater London (outer)
Cumbria	North West England	view or download raw data			Definitive map currently being digitised. --TimSC (talk) 10:56, 31 October 2013 (UTC)
Darlington	North East England
Derby	East Midlands	view or download raw data
Derbyshire	East Midlands	view or download raw data	[7]
Devon	South West England	view	[8]
Doncaster	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Dorset	South West England	view or download raw data	[9]
Dudley	West Midlands	view or download raw data
Ealing	Greater London (outer)
East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire and the Humber	download raw data
East Sussex	South East England	view or download raw data			more details about downloading
Enfield	Greater London (outer)
Essex	East of England	view or download raw data		Definitive Statement is released with the OGL v3.0.
Gateshead	North East England	view or download raw data
Gloucestershire	South West England	view or download raw data		Statements only in paper form.	rjw62 requested statements and OGL use 2012-05-30. Only in paper form, so not practicable to provide us a copy.
Greenwich	Greater London (inner)
Hackney	Greater London (inner)
Halton	North West England
Hammersmith and Fulham	Greater London (inner)
Hampshire	South East England	view and download raw data		Definitive statements	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/hampshire-rightsofway looks like the RoW data. The data is also available from http://www3.hants.gov.uk/row/row-maps.htm; OS OpenData licence; we have confirmation from HCC and OS that we can use it.
Haringey	Greater London (outer)
Harrow	Greater London (outer)
Hartlepool	North East England
Havering	Greater London (outer)
Herefordshire, County of	West Midlands	view or download raw data
Hertfordshire	East of England	view or download raw data (OGL)	[10]	Definitive Statements are provided online. We have permission to use them under the OGL.	rjw62 requested OGL use 2012-05-03. Now granted.
Hillingdon	Greater London (outer)
Hounslow	Greater London (outer)
Isle of Wight	South East England	view or download raw data		Provides Definitive Map scans from Feb 2000 online which may be outdated. (© Non-Free)	Shape Files for ROW relaesed under OGL here
Isles of Scilly	South West England
Islington	Greater London (inner)
Kensington and Chelsea	Greater London (inner)
Kent	South East England	view or download raw data	[11]		TimSC requested via Open Kent, June 2012. Request declined.
Kingston upon Hull, City of	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data		Definitive Maps are provided online (© Non-Free)
Kingston upon Thames	Greater London (outer)	view or download raw data
Kirklees	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Knowsley	North West England	view or download raw data
Lake District National Park	North West England	view or download raw data
Lambeth	Greater London (inner)
Lancashire	North West England	view or download raw data	[12]
Leeds	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Leicester	East Midlands	view or download raw data		Policy page
Leicestershire	East Midlands	Start page, from there select a town/village to view map or download raw data
Lewisham	Greater London (inner)
Lincolnshire	East of England	view or download raw data
Liverpool	North West England	view or download raw data
Luton	East of England
Manchester	North West England	view or download raw data
Medway	South East England	view or download raw data
Merton	Greater London (outer)
Middlesbrough	North East England
Milton Keynes	South East England	view or download raw data
Newcastle upon Tyne	North East England	view or download raw data
Newham	Greater London (outer)
Norfolk	East of England	view or download raw data		Definitive statements obtained by rjw62 in July 2016.
North East Lincolnshire	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
North Lincolnshire	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data		Definitive Maps are provided online (© unknown)
North Somerset	South West England	view or download raw data
North Tyneside	North East England
North Yorkshire	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for getting the data
North Northamptonshire	East Midlands	view or download raw data		Definitive Statement obtained by rjw62	In 2021, Northamptonshire County Council was abolished and two new unitary authorities created in its place: they are North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council. These two authorities are responsible for the public rights of way that are in their area.
Northumberland	North East England	view or download raw data
Nottingham	East Midlands	view or download raw data		Statements in paper form only	rjw62 requested statements and OGL use 2012-05-15. Statements in paper form only, so not practicable for them to provide a copy. They may be amenable to one of us going in person and making their our copy though.
Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	view or download raw data			rjw62 requested statements and OGL use 2012-05-15.
Oldham	North West England	view or download raw data			more details about downloading
Oxfordshire	South East England	view or download raw data	[13]	Definitive Map & Statements are provided online We have permission to use the Statements under the OGL.	rjw62 requested OGL use 2012-05-03. Now granted.
Peterborough	East of England	view or download raw data
Plymouth	South West Englad	view or download raw data
Portsmouth	South East England	view or download raw data
Reading	South East England	download raw data
Redbridge	Greater London (outer)
Redcar and Cleveland	North East England	view or download raw data			more details about downloading
Richmond upon Thames	Greater London (outer)
Rochdale	North West England	view or download raw data
Rotherham	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Rutland	East Midlands	view or download raw data
Salford	North West England	view or download raw data			more details about downloading
Sandwell	West Midlands	view or download raw data
Sefton	North West England	view or download raw data
Sheffield	Yorkshire and the Humber	download raw data	Definitive Statements are provided online. They have been released with the OGL.		The data and DS were obtained and they were obtained with the OGL by Martin Spiers
Shropshire	West Midlands	view or download raw data	[14]
Slough	South East England	view or download raw data
Solihull	West Midlands	download raw data			Thanks to Nathan Case for getting the data
Somerset	South West England	view or download raw data
South Gloucestershire	South West England	download raw data
South Tyneside	North East England	download raw data
Southampton	South East England	view or download raw data
Southend-on-Sea	East of England
Southwark	Greater London (inner)
St. Helens	North West England	view or download raw data
Staffordshire	West Midlands	view or download raw data			more details about downloading
Stockport	North West England	view or download raw data
Stockton-on-Tees	North East England	view or download raw data
Stoke-on-Trent	West Midlands
Suffolk	East of England	download raw data		some statements obtained under EIR Definitive Statement dated 2020-01-14 released with OGL v3.0 is available.	rjw62 has obtained permission to use the Definitive Statements under OGL with a specific attribution / disclaimer statement.
Sunderland	North East England	download raw data
Surrey	South East England	Currently available: [15]		view	Data will soon be available here: [16].
Sutton	Greater London (outer)	download raw data
Swindon	South West England	view or download raw data
Tameside	North West England	view or download raw data
Telford and Wrekin	West Midlands	view or download raw data
Thurrock	East of England	view or download raw data
Torbay	South West England	view or download raw data
Tower Hamlets	Greater London (inner)
Trafford	North West England	view or download raw data
Wakefield	Yorkshire and the Humber	view or download raw data
Walsall	West Midlands	view or download raw data
Waltham Forest	Greater London (outer)
Wandsworth	Greater London (inner)
Warrington	North West England	download raw data
Warwickshire	West Midlands	view or download raw data	[17]		Various maps available online or via WMS/WFS/TMS/WMTS under various licences
West Berkshire	South East England	view or download raw data
West Northamptonshire	East Midlands	view or download raw data		At [18] the Definitive Statement was requested by rjw62. The Council said "the full statement information is contained within the GIS data".	The data and DS for West Northamptonshire were obtained by rjw62. In 2021, Northamptonshire County Council was abolished and two new unitary authorities created in its place: they are North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council. These two authorities are responsible for the public rights of way that are in their area.
West Sussex	South East England	view or download raw data	[19] [20]
Westminster	Greater London (inner)
Wigan	North West England	view or download raw data		Definitive Statements (© Non-Free)	rjw62 requested OGL use 2012-05-04. No reply, so follow-up sent 2012-06-29.
Wiltshire	South West England	view or download raw data
Windsor and Maidenhead	South East England	view or download raw data		Definitive Map and Statement
Wirral	North West England	download raw data			more details about downloading
Wokingham	South East England	view or download raw data
Wolverhampton	West Midlands
Worcestershire	West Midlands	view, WMS Service	[21]	Scans of the definitive statement for each path can be accessed through the PRoW map. We have permission to use the statements under the OGL. The RoW data provided through the WMS service can be used under OS OpenData licence.	rjw62 requested OGL use 2012-05-03. Now granted. RobJN received confirmation that the WMS service is available under the OS OpenData Licence (Aug 2012) [22].
York	Yorkshire and the Humber	Bridleways, Footpaths	[23] [24]		Definitive map released by City of York Council under Crown Copyright / OGL 3.0 (May 2015)

Wales

The following local authorities are (believed to be) the "surveying authorities" responsible for maintaining a definitive map and statement of public rights of way in Wales. Please respect the © copyright when following external web links.

Council	Right of Way iMap	Other maps	Public Right of Way Definitive Statement & Definitive Map	Notes
Blaenau Gwent	view or download raw data
Brecon Beacons National Park Authority	download raw data			more details about downloading
Bridgend
Caerphilly	view or download raw data			Thanks to Dafydd Stephenson for getting the data
Cardiff	view or download raw data
Carmarthenshire	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for getting the data
Ceredigion	view or download raw data
Conwy	view or download raw data
Denbighshire	view or download raw data
Flintshire	view or download raw data
Gwynedd	download raw data
Isle of Anglesey	view or download raw data
Merthyr Tydfil	download raw data
Monmouthshire	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for getting the data
Neath Port Talbot	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for getting the data
Newport	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for getting the data
Pembrokeshire	download raw data	view
Powys	view or download raw data			Thanks to John Thorn for helping to get the data released
Rhondda Cynon Taf	download raw data	view
Swansea	view or download raw data
Torfaen	download raw data	view
Vale of Glamorgan	view or download raw data
Wrexham	view in English edrych arno yn y Gymraeg download raw data

OpenStreetMap Development Platform in general

The above ideas are more around end uses. There are some ideas we could work on before that though to make it easier to build end-use apps. These ideas are not really specific to UK councils, but considering council-sized areas of data presents some interesting possibilities.

Turn NOVAM into something that can be used to check any specified POI data, including imports

Extract server

• A basic extract server. Extract greater london.
• Pull in updates (minutely?)
• Extract individual boroughs by their boundary=administrative outlines
  • Enhanced features for trimming edges off a polygon extract?
  • boundary=administrative error checker?

Extract formats

Shapefiles, Garmin IMGs, GPX POIs. These have been done before (see planet.osm#Extracts)

A small area like a London borough would allow us to convert to other formats. Could be interesting to build these into an extract server:

SVG, PDF (MapOSMatic?), Adobe Illustrator, DXF. Other ideas see Converting map data between formats

XAPI-like tag extracts

(but avoiding trying to install XAPI!) Again this is nicely simplified by considering an area the size of a borough:

• Extend extract server to also provide various tag extracts.
  • e.g. Extract all shops. Extract all bus stops. Extract all recycle bins.
  • Multiple themed tags in one download? e.g. for kids: schools, play areas, youth clubs. Low Carbon Zones showing all renewables
• A useful (but optional) format simplification might be to convert POIs mapped as areas (e.g. schools) back to single nodes (centrepoints)
• POI formats: GeoRSS, KML, GPX, Tabular CSV data.

Visualising XAPI-like results

Having built above features we'd want out-of-the box OpenLayers (or Mapstraction?) configs or at least sample code for easily hooking up to it and seeing the results. e.g. all school POIs as markers on a slippy map. Maybe take ideas from NaPTAN/Novam ([25])

Great case studies

West Midlands gritting routes map - blog and map

NaPTAN data import (bus stops, etc.)

Ordnance Survey Opendata being traced / imported / etc.

Surrey Air Survey to provide free aerial photography of Surrey for tracing by councils and OSM volunteers.