GeoPackage overview

OS MasterMap Topography Layer is supplied as six GeoPackage files (one file per feature type) for a user- defined area of interest (AOI) only. GeoPackage (*.gpkg) is an open, standard, non-proprietary, platform- independent data format for geographic information systems (GIS), as defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). 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 offers users the following benefits:

• The files are easy to transfer and offer the end-user a rich experience.

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

• The file size limit is very large at 140 TB, so lots of data can be easily accommodated (please note that a file size limit may 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. Further detailed information on GeoPackage can be found on the GeoPackage website.

It is not recommended that users download large AOIs of OS MasterMap Topography Layer in GeoPackage format as this will be too large a file for the majority of GIS to handle.