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This overview introduces OS Open Built Up Areas, giving context for all users – highlighting key features, providing examples of uses, and listing details such as file sizes, supply formats, etc.
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OS Open Built Up Areas is a dataset representing the built-up areas of Great Britain. It was designed primarily to underpin the statistical analysis that contributes to policy enablement across the public sector.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Scottish Government made significant contributions in the design of the dataset to ensure it is fit for purpose and focussed on the needs of the wider public sector.
OS Open Built Up Areas is released and maintained as an OS OpenData product with Open Government Licensing (OGL), which means that anyone can use this data for a wide range of purposes.
OS Open Built Up Areas is specifically designed for statistical analysis to support policy development. The product was co-designed with ONS and Scottish Government to fulfil their requirements. This collaboration allowed OS to create a customer-focussed product that is precisely suitable for its purpose.
Comprised of three feature types that enable a wide range of statistical analysis:
Built Up Areas is the aggregation of Built Up Extents and Non Built Up Extents.
Built Up Extents is the representation of built-up areas within the extent of Built Up Areas.
Non Built Up Extents is the representation of non-built-up areas within the extent of Built Up Areas.
Comprises only built-up areas of 200 000 m² (20 ha) or more, in accordance with customer requirements.
Area values are provided in square metres (m²) and hectares (ha) to support interoperability with other OS datasets.
Feature types contain (or reference) Government Statistical Service (GSS) codes to facilitate compatibility and interoperability with related public sector datasets referencing GSS codes.
Includes Built Up Area names in alternative languages (Gaelic and Welsh), where available.
Built Up Areas with the same name are easily distinguished by the lower-tier local authority or district name that is appended in brackets.
Supplied in two widely used formats, GeoPackage and CSV (comma-separated values), that are both easy to load into geographic information systems (GIS) and databases. GeoPackage is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard format.
Open Government Licensing (OGL) means the data is available to everyone free at the point of use, with no restrictions on use.
OS Open Built Up Areas enables policy makers and analysts, both nationally and locally, to conduct analysis corresponding to actual urban extents, for example, at a town, city, and village level. This allows economic, social, and environmental issues to be understood on the basis of the actual settlements in which most people in Great Britain live. These insights can be invaluable in the design and implementation of policies, such as, Levelling Up and Net Zero.
The product can be used to monitor changes related to Built Up Areas over time to improve understanding of economic, social, and environmental factors. It also provides a means to measure the effectiveness of policy delivery and to improve planning and services.
Built Up Extents can support demographic population density statistics because they represent the actual places in which people live and work.
Non Built Up Extents can provide insights into non-built-up areas that can be used to inform and calculate statistics, such as, the impact of natural capital on house prices.
The use of GSS codes enables linking to other statistics and datasets for better asset management in Built Up Areas. This improves consistency and accuracy in decision making and planning.
The dataset can be used to create thematic mapping and data visualisations linked to government-recognised Built Up Areas.
