OS MasterMap Highways Network Overview

This overview introduces OS MasterMap Highways Network products and gives context for all users – highlighting key features and potential uses, and listing supply formats, currency, etc.

The OS MasterMap Highways Network product family provides an authoritative road and path network for Great Britain. The products are the result of collaboration between Ordnance Survey, GeoPlace and Improvement Service to bring together Ordnance Survey’s detailed road and path information, the National Street Gazetteer (NSG), the Trunk Road Street Gazetteer (TRSG) and the Scottish Street Gazetteer (SSG).

The Highways Network integrates the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) from the gazetteers with the most detailed definitive geometry from Ordnance Survey. The OS MasterMap Highways Network was produced in partnership with GeoPlace and the Local Government Association, and as of March 2021, it contains data created and maintained by Scottish Local Government.

Bringing together data to create OS MasterMap Highways Network.

The OS MasterMap Highways Network family of products includes a road network, a path network, connectivity across British islands through a ferry network, plus routing and asset management information.

The product family includes three products:

• OS MasterMap Highways Network – Roads

• OS MasterMap Highways Network – Routing and Asset Management Information (RAMI)

• OS MasterMap Highways Network – Paths

GeoPlace is a limited liability partnership jointly owned by the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey. It is responsible for compiling and maintaining the National Street Gazetteer (NSG). This is the definitive referencing system used in the notification process and the coordination of street works. Under legislation, each highway authority in England and Wales is required to create and maintain its own Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) and Associated Street Data (ASD); these are then compiled into the only master index built to the national standard (BS 7666).

Key features of the products

OS MasterMap Highways Network products contain several features, including the following:

• Unique Street Reference Number (USRN)

• Road names from the naming and numbering authority

• Department for Transport (DfT) road classifications

• Road maintenance authority

• Motorway junction to junction information

• Routing information

• Vehicle height, weight, width and length restrictions information

• Special designations

• Road reinstatement information

• Connected network across Great Britain, including islands, through the Ferry Network

One of the key strengths of the products is the collection of street information at the local highway authority level. The benefit of this is that the data capture is at the earliest point of creation within a local highway authority and there is detailed local knowledge driven by statutory requirements.

Product applications

OS MasterMap Highways Network is designed to be used as a single source of highway asset management by private and public sectors alike. It can be used for the following applications:

• As a source for legal road identifications

• To estimate costs or benefits of road policies

• For efficient funding allocations and evidence-based policy making, including:

  • Managing policies

  • Producing statistics

  • Allocating funding

  • Supporting legislation

• Asset management

• Journey planning, routing and navigation

• Emergency service and civil contingency planning

• Transport planning

• Smart cities

Index

This overview includes the following sections:

• Standards

• Coordinate reference system

• Feature types

• Product supply

• Product packaging

• File naming

• Feature validation data set

• Volume feature count

• OS Open Roads Lookup Table