OS Open Names

Here you will find all documentation for the OS Open Names product.

OS Open Names | Data Products | OSOrdnance Survey

OS Open Names is a comprehensive dataset of place names, roads numbers and postcodes for Great Britain. The data contains accurate and current settlement names, road names and numbers, postcodes and their locations, with additional contextual information and links to other datasets.

This product is updated quarterly in January, April, July, October.

A representation of OS Open Names data against a background map

Benefits

Accurate locations of streets and postcodes

Let your customer-facing staff find places quickly when talking to callers. OS Open Names provides the accurate locations of streets and postcodes in Great Britain.

Place name data

Quickly look up places and roads with two names. OS Open Names contains place name data in English and their Welsh, Scots or Gaelic alternatives.

Comprehensive National Grid data

OS Open Names contains over 870 000 named and numbered roads, nearly 44 000 settlements and over 1.6 million postcodes, all matched/mapped to the National Grid.

Use Cases

Summary

Additional Information

How to get this product

Access to this OS OpenData product is free through the OS Data Hub.

Sample data

Visualise OS Open Names sample data online

This product is available to try out free online using one of our three sets of sample data (Exeter, Newport and Inverness) through the OS MasterMap Product Viewer:

OS MasterMap Product Viewer

Interactive demonstrator of OS MasterMap Generation data

What's next?

To access additional documentation and resources relating to this product, please refer to the following:

Overview

The overview introduces OS Open Names and gives context for all users – highlighting key features, providing examples of potential uses, and listing details such as file sizes, supply formats, etc.

Getting Started Guide

The getting started guide provides instructions for using OS Open Names in different software applications. Users with limited technical knowledge will be able to follow this guide.

Technical Specification

The technical specification provides detailed technical information about OS Open Names. It is targeted at technical users and software developers.

Downloads

The downloads page provides links and resources to support the application of OS Open Names within your environment.

New users should start with the Overview to gain high-level insight into the product. The Getting Started Guide will help you to begin using product data in different software systems. The Technical Specification contains detailed technical insights.