OS Names API

What is OS Names API?

The OS Names API is a geographic directory containing basic information about identifiable places. It provides a reliable way of supporting the discovery, identification and visualisation of a named place. You can use it for geocoding, routing and navigation, linking diverse information (such as statistics or descriptions) and more.

The API allows you to locate a feature using only its name, or to find the closest location to a given point. Places are divided into themes, but the name of the place is the key property used in queries.

Within OS Names API, place names aren’t unique. Extra location details are provided to help you refine your queries and accurately identify the named place you're interested in. These include the postcode, district, populated place, district / borough, county / unitary authority, European region and country. Places may also have more than one name, for example, Cardiff (in English) and Caerdydd (in Welsh).

Get this data

To access the OS Names API, you need an API Key. This key will be specific to a dedicated API project linked to your OS Data Hub account.

Click Get started to find out how to get your API Key and access OS Names API data, or Go to the OS Data Hub where you can access the API Projects page to manage all of your OS APIs.

Get startedGo to the OS Data Hub

Features

Comprehensive data

Take advantage of direct access to the OS Open Names data.

Nearest location search

Help users find the closest named location.

Link your own data

Link your own data to named locations with co-ordinates that are ready to map.

Free to use

Free for all to use for any purpose. The underlying data is sourced from OS Open Names which is available under the Open Government Licence attribution to inform decision making.

Benefits

Improve search accuracy

Using a comprehensive data source to ensure correct named location identification.

Enhanced user experience

Enable faster and more reliable named location searches.

Summary

• Format: GeoJSON, XML

• Data Source: OS Open Names

• Coverage: Great Britain

• Update: Five working days from each product refresh date

Things to remember for OS Names API

You can:

• Search for areas, cities and roads

• Search for postcodes

• Search for named woodlands and forests

You can't:

• Search for specific addresses (for example, 21 Croxton Road)

• Bulk-search for addresses

What's next?

Getting started with example queries using Node.js

Example queries that you can adapt and use with OS Names API.

Technical specification

This technical specification explains the content of the OS Names API and the methods you can use to call it.

Code examples

Code examples you can use to display a map using the OS Names API.

Labs.os.uk

How to access the OS Names API

Visit the Getting started with an API project page for details on how to access and use the OS Names API in your projects.