January 2024

This release note provides information about the latest release of OS MasterMap (OSMM) Topography Layer, released to customers on 04 January 2024

OSMM Topography Layer product count

The following table contains product counts for this release of OSMM Topography Layer data. The dates shown are extraction dates, not release dates.

OSMM Topography Layer
Count on 02/11/2023 (Previous Release)
Count on 14/12/2023 (Current Release)

Total Feature Count

506 484 147

506 917 679

Count of Topo Area

126 697 703

126 804 006

Count of Topo Line

348 999 864

349 295 187

Count of Topo Point

4 333 471

4 345 063

Count of Topo Bline

533 428

532 991

Count of Topo CartoSym

3 734 550

3 745 400

Count of Topo CartoTxt

22 185 131

22 195 032

Total Count of Deletes

482 784

333 884

Count of Topo Area deletions

78 620

70 410

Count of Topo Line deletions

360 998

231 489

Count of Topo Point deletions

3 993

3 420

Count of Topo Bline deletions

591

828

Count of Topo CartoSymcc deletions

9 635

7 670

Count of Topo CartoTxtcc deletions

28 947

20 067

Total Count of Inserts

915 049

767 416

Count of Topo Area inserts

214 888

176 713

Count of Topo Line inserts

624 246

526 812

Count of Topo Point inserts

16 055

15 012

Count of Topo Bline inserts

398

391

Count of Topo CartoSym inserts

21 829

18 520

Count of Topo CartoTxt inserts

37 633

29 968

Total Count of Modifications

681 711

515 536

Count of Topo Area Modifications

289 725

246 717

Count of Topo Line Modifications

369 012

254 055

Count of Topo Point Modifications

374

254

Count of Topo Bline Modifications

674

955

Count of Topo CartoSym Modifications

57

45

Count of Topo CartoTxt Modifications

21 869

13 510

COU Size (bytes)

402 922 509

347 863 984

New formats available

Alongside GML format, OSMM Topography Layer is also available in GeoPackage and vector tiles formats (from March 2023). Please see the Getting Started with GeoPackage and Getting Started with Vector Tiles guides for more information on using these new formats. The product is supplied as an online download. You can download data in its various formats from the OS Data Hub.

Discrepancies

In this release 6 minor errors were detected, which is 20 less than the 26 errors found in the last refresh. Of these errors, 2 have existed since the previous refresh – these are minor issues caused by conflict (where the geometry of adjacent feature has not been updated to match), but there are no visible issues.

Land cover refinement changes

The land cover specification for rural geographies has been refined. The Mountain and Moorland refinement was completed in 2022.

The rural geography updates began capture in May 2022. The initial updates fed through to the July 2022 release of OSMM Topography Layer, with the multi class land cover polygons completed in December 2022. The single class land cover polygons will continue to feed through to product from April 2023.

The following two tables articulate this specification refinement:

Old land cover specification

Geographic Area
Minimum Area Size for Land Cover
Minimum Width

Urban

0.1hectares (ha) (1 000m²)

5m

Rural

0.1hectares (ha) (1 000m²)

10m

Mountain and moorland

1.0hectares (ha) (10 000m²)

10m

New land cover specification

Geographic Area
Minimum Area Size for Land Cover
Minimum Width

Urban

0.1hectares (ha) (1 000m²)

5m

Rural

0.1hectares (ha) (1 000m²)

5m*

Mountain and moorland

0.1hectares (ha) (1 000m²)*

5m*

The asterisk symbol (*) shows which criteria have been refined.

The land cover specification refinement means that the rural land cover data within OSMM Topography Layer will become more granular, producing a more detailed view made up of smaller more numerous polygons. This provides users with more accurate data that meets each individual’s specific requirements. These changes are purely refinements and do not change the data attribution.

Annex A shows three examples of how the rural land cover refinement is being translated into OSMM Topography Layer.

Changed TOIDs

Numerous TOIDs (Topographic Identifiers) have changed since the last refresh, resulting in a visual difference in the data. The list below shows a sample of changed TOIDs and their locations that you can use as 'lookup samples' to validate that your latest supply has updated correctly:

TOID
Location (i.e. XY coordinates)

osgb1000000168404255

328579.99, 958515.98

osgb5000005152517605

348374.945, 431019.423

osgb1000001824692637

541419.437, 101834.574

osgb1000000385134315

188967, 835637.5

osgb5000005299962750

416833.55, 444757.47

osgb1000000013827617

508743.536, 482017.503

Next release

The next release of OS MasterMap Topography Layer is scheduled for 19 February 2024.

Annex A: Rural land cover specification refinement examples

Below are three real-world examples of how the rural land cover specification refinement has affected the data within OSMM Topography Layer. The examples showcase three areas in southern Scotland where the specification refinement has broken up one land polygon within the Topographic Area Feature Type into smaller, separate polygons.

Example one

Location of example area one:

5km Tile
OS Grid Reference
Coordinates (OSGB36)

NS4505

NS 47825 05240

247790.7, 605224.0

TOIDs for example area one:

  • OSMM Topography Layer (July 2022): osgb1000000316775097

  • OSMM Topography Layer (August 2022): osgb5000005297485451, osgb5000005297485455, osgb5000005297485456

Source imagery of example area one for comparative purposes:

Data before the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – July 2022):

Data after the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – August 2022):

Example two

Location of example area two:

5km Tile
OS Grid Reference
Coordinates (OSGB36)

NX3540

NX 37464 41871

237419, 541979

TOIDs for example area two:

  • OSMM Topography Layer (July 2022): osgb1000000318639911

  • OSMM Topography Layer (August 2022): osgb1000000318639911, osgb5000005298080383, osgb5000005298080465

Source imagery of example area two for comparative purposes:

Data before the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – August 2022):

Data after the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – October 2022):

Example three

Location of example area three:

5km Tile
OS Grid Reference
Coordinates (OSGB36)

NX6550

NX 68975 51146

268968, 551139

TOIDs for example area three:

  • OSMM Topography Layer (July 2022): osgb1000000319079420

  • OSMM Topography Layer (August 2022): osgb1000000319079420, osgb5000005298106224

Source imagery of example area three for comparative purposes:

Data before the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – August 2022):

Data after the rural land cover specification refinement update (OSMM Topography Layer – October 2022):

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