MiniScale

MiniScale | Data Products | OSOrdnance Survey

MiniScale is a free small-scale digital map of Great Britain in a single data file that clearly shows towns and cities, motorways, major roads, railways and airports. MiniScale is aimed at any customer who requires a high-quality, visually appealing map for their documents and / or publications, whether that be a magazine, brochure or website.

This product is updated annually in January.

MiniScale map representation showing areas of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset.

MiniScale is a vector graphic that has been created using desktop publishing software so that it can be customised and converted into a wide variety of graphic formats. Alternatively, the raster examples can also be used for web applications or within a geographical information system (GIS) as a backdrop.

Benefits

See the big picture

MiniScale is ideal as a fast-loading national map of Great Britain for your GIS. It's accurate, quality-assured and easy on the eye.

Ideal for desktop publishing

MiniScale maps are great for desktop publishing. You can print them as wall maps or use extracts in sales brochures or project documents.

Flexible for GIS users and graphic designers

Choose the map that’s right for you. MiniScale downloads include files for both GIS users and graphic designers. We provide a map highlighting roads and cities, and another with terrain to the fore.

Use Cases

MiniScale can be used to:

• Create high-quality, visually appealing location maps for websites or promotional material, for example, showing the locations of head offices or the distribution of assets across Great Britain.

• Produce overview or entry screen maps within an Intranet or Internet web mapping service.

• Facilitate high-level route planning along major roads and railways.

• Create a basemap for web applications or within a geographical information system (GIS) for interactive web maps or mobile apps.

Summary

• Access: Download

• Data theme: Contextual

• Data structure: Raster

• Coverage: Great Britain

• Scale: 1:1 000 000

• Format: Zip file (containing EPS, Illustrator and TIFF-LZW)

• Ordering area: All of Great Britain

• Publication month: January

• OS Data Hub plan: Energy & Infrastructure Plan, OS OpenData Plan (FREE), Premium Plan, Public Sector Plan

Additional Information

Colour and options

Palette of 256 colours in the TIFF version of this product.

Customisation options

You can turn off layers in the .ai files, which open in Adobe Illustrator (open source alternatives are available), then export files in other formats for use in your GIS or printed documents.

Image editing

You can open MiniScale files in Photoshop or similar image editing programmes in order to use extracts for location maps and other purposes.

How to get this product

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

What's next?

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

Product guide

The product guide contains additional theoretical information related to MiniScale. All users will find the Product Information document useful and informative.

Technical Specification

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

Downloads

The downloads page provides links and resources to support the application of the Miniscale product within your environment.

New users should start with the product guide to gain high-level insight into the product. The Technical Specification contains detailed technical insights.