GeoPackage overview

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) defines GeoPackage (*.gpkg) as an open, non-proprietary, platform-independent, standards-based data format for geographic information systems (GIS). It is designed to be a lightweight format that can contain large amounts of varied and complex data in a single, easy-to- distribute and ready-to-use file. GeoPackage is natively supported by numerous software applications.

GeoPackage offer users the following benefits:

• The single file is easy to transfer and offers a rich end-user experience.

• Attribute names are not limited in length, making the format user friendly.

• The file size limit is large at 140 TB.

A file size limit could be imposed by the file system to which the file is written.

• It supports raster, vector, and database formats, making it a highly versatile solution.

• It is an OGC standard.

• In most cases, it is a plug-and-play format.

For information on how to open, use and understand a GeoPackage dataset, please refer to our Getting Started with GeoPackage guide. For further information on GeoPackage, please see the GeoPackage website.

GeoPackage format changes

We've recently updated some of our products available in GeoPackage format to align with OGC standards and we've also fixed various formatting inconsistencies. For OS Open Greenspace, the updates are as follows:

• GeoPackage attribution: The following attribute names have been changed from title case to snake case:

GeoPackage attribute name changes in April 2023.

GeoPackage attribute name prior to April 2023	GeoPackage attribute name after April 2023
fid	fid
id	id
function	function
distinctiveName1	distinctive_name_1
distinctiveName2	distinctive_name_2
distinctiveName3	distinctive_name_3
distinctiveName4	distinctive_name_4
geom	geometry
accessType	access_type
refToGreenspaceSite	ref_to_greenspace_site

• Layer names: The following layer names have been changed from title case to snake case:

  • AccessPoint to access_point

  • GreenspaceSite to greenspace_site

• Constraints: The following constraints have been changed from title case to snake case:

  • AccessPoint_pkey to access_point_pkey

  • GreenspaceSite_pkey to greenspace_site_pkey

Example records

Greenspace Site

GeoPackage example records for Greenspace Site features.

Access Point

GeoPackage example records for Access Point features.