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Geo-Refer logo Geographical Referencing Learning Resources

Data Access for UK Academic Users

Geographically referenced datasets are expensive to create and maintain and have considerable commercial value. The key datasets in the UK are created by several different organizations and the exact mechanisms for access vary according to the sector in which you are working. In general, access is simplest for the academic sector, available at reduced cost or through central licensing for public sector users and most expensive for the commercial sector.

The UK academic community has entered into several licences with geographical data suppliers whereby key datasets may be used for research and teaching purposes free of charge to the individual user. Generally these deals are financed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) or the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and may involve annual subscription payments from the user's academic institution. All require that the user be a valid and currently registered user who has accepted the terms and conditions of data supply. Whatever your organization, you may need to make local enquiries - often from the computing or information system services department - to ascertain your exact entitlements.

Access Routes

The following tables summarises the principal access routes for UK academic users to key georeferencing datasets and also gives some advice as to geographical coverage. We do not make any endorsement of the products and services identified here, nor have we attempted to list the many commercial organizations who provide services ranging from data supply to comprehensive spatial analysis.

Datasets  Access route   URL  
Ordnance Survey (GB) digital mapping, including ADDRESS-POINT  Freely available to users at registered institutions through Digimap   GB: https://digimap.edina.ac.uk/ 
Neighbourhood statistics Freely available for download from Neighbourhood Statistics services England and Wales: http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/
Scotland: http://www.sns.gov.uk/
Northern Ireland: http://www.ninis.nisra.gov.uk/
2001 census area boundaries Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme UKBORDERS service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
2001 census aggregate data Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme Casweb service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
1991 census area boundaries Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme UKBORDERS service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
1991 census aggregate data Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme Casweb service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
National Statistics Postcode Directory Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme UKBORDERS service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
  Online data matching tool available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme GeoConvert service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
2004 Indices of Deprivation Freely available for download from Communities and Local Government England and Wales: http://www.communities.gov.uk/
(Different indices and dates apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
2007 Indices of Deprivation Freely available for download from Communities and Local Government England and Wales: http://www.communities.gov.uk/
(Different indices and dates apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland)
2001 Output Area Classifications Available to registered users through ESRC Census Programme Casweb service UK: http://census.ac.uk/
Postcode Address File Available for purchase from Royal Mail UK: http://www.royalmail.com/
National Land and Property Gazetteer Not currently available  

Copyright Attribution

ADDRESS-POINT® is a registered trademark of Ordnance Survey (Great Britain). Digimap is a registered trademark of the University Court of the University of Edinburgh and the Postcode Address File (PAF®) is a registered trademark of Royal Mail.