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Features - Shapefile, TAB and GPKG

This section details the features for ESRI Shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage only. Please see GML and Vector Tile for information about working with these formats.

Boundary-Line features

This section describes the features for ESRI shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage which make up the Boundary-Line product, giving the following information about each attribute:

Name and Definition

The name of the attribute and what it is describing.

Condition

A condition associated with the attribute (Optional).

Attribute Type

The nature of the attribute, for example, a numeric value or a code list value.

Multiplicity

Describes how many times this element is expected to be populated in the data. An attribute may be optional or mandatory within the Boundary-Line product. These are denoted by:

  • ‘1’ – Mandatory – There must be a value.

  • ‘0..1’ – Optional – If populated, a maximum of one attribute will be returned.

These values may be used in combination.

Area - GB

Area features are polygons with attributes added.

The following schema applies to all area features in the GB folder of the shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage data supply, and for all area features in the Supplementary_Country folder of the shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage data supply.

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

fid

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: fid (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), Not provided (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Shape

Feature geometry.

  • Attribute Name: Not provided (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), SHAPE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Polygon

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Name

Name of the administrative area.

  • Attribute Name: Name (GKPG), Name (TAB), NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Area code

A code describing the level.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Code (GKPG), Area_Code (TAB), AREA_CODE (Shapefile)

  • Code List Name: AreaCode

  • Size: 3

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area description

Full name of the Area_Code.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Description (GKPG), Area_Description (TAB), DESCRIPTIO (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 50

  • Multiplicity: [1]

File name

Name of the Principal Area which the boundary sits within.

This may be the same boundary level as the boundary itself, for example, a Greater London Authority boundary will have ‘Greater London Authority’ present in this field. But for more granular boundaries, this field will show the principal boundary which is at the principal level.

  • Attribute Name: File_Name (GKPG), File_Name (TAB), FILE_NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Feature serial number

Serial Number applied to the Boundary Feature during the production of the product.

This is not the unique key for this product and is not maintained.

  • Attribute Name: Feature_Serial_Number (GKPG), Feature_Serial_Number (TAB), NUMBER (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Collection serial number

Collection Serial Number applied to the Boundary Feature during the production of the product.

This is not the unique key for this product and is not maintained.

  • Attribute Name: Collection_Serial_Number (GKPG), Collection_Serial_Number (TAB), NUMBER0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Global polygon ID

A globally unique sequential integer-maintained identifier.

  • Attribute Name: Global_Polygon_ID (GKPG), Global_Polygon_ID (TAB), POLYGON_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Admin unit ID

A globally unique sequential integer-maintained feature identifier. There are two cases where multiple records have the same UNIT_ID:

  1. When portions of local government or parliamentary constituency areas are separated from the main area, being completely surrounded by other local government or parliamentary constituency areas and not connected by direct access on the ground. Not applied to islands or parts of islands in the sea. Detached parts have the same attributes as the main area, except the POLYGON_ID and the Name which has a ‘(DET)’ suffix. In all the existing examples, there is exactly one detached part.

  2. In Scotland, two examples where the boundary has thousands of parts, so the multi-polygon is broken into simple polygons to make it easier to handle. The examples are the supplementary country_region layer where NAME=‘SCOTLAND_COUNTRY’ and scotland_and_wales_region where NAME='Highlands and Islands PER'.

  • Attribute Name: Admin_Unit_ID (GKPG), Admin_Unit_ID (TAB), UNIT_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Census code

Set to the Census / GSS Code for the boundary, for example, E10000014.

  • Attribute Name: Global_Polygon_ID (GKPG), Global_Polygon_ID (TAB), CODE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 9

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Hectares

Set to the Census / GSS Code for the boundary, for example, E10000014.

  • Attribute Name: Hectares (GKPG), Hectares (TAB), HECTARES (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 9

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Non-inland area

Amount of area within the boundary which is not considered ‘inland’. Non-inland areas are calculated by comparing the Boundary-Line polygons with the Mean High Water lines. The value is in hectares and represents the area between the Mean High Water line and the seaward limit of the boundary denoting Mean Low Water.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Inland_Area (GKPG), Non_Inland_Area (TAB), AREA (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Decimal (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 12 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area type code

Code depicting whether the boundary is part of a Civil Administration Area, a Civil Voting Area.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Type_Code (GKPG), Area_Type_Code (TAB), TYPE_CODE (Shapefile)

  • Code List Name: TypeCode

  • Size: 2

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area type description

Full description of TYPE_CODE.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Type_Description (GKPG), Area_Type_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 25

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Non-area type code

Shouldn’t be populated.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Area_Type_Code (GKPG), Non_Area_Type_Code (TAB), TYPE_COD0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 3

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Non-area type description

Shouldn’t be populated.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Area_Type_Description (GKPG), Non_Area_Type_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT1 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 36

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Area - English region

Area features are polygons with attributes added.

The following schema applies for all area features in the english_region_region and english_region layers in the GB folder of the shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage data supply, respectively.

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

fid

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: fid (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), Not provided (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Shape

Feature geometry.

  • Attribute Name: Not provided (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), SHAPE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Polygon

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Name

Name of the administrative area.

  • Attribute Name: Name (GKPG), Name (TAB), NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Area code

A code describing the level.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Code (GKPG), Area_Code (TAB), AREA_CODE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 3

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area description

Full name of the Area_Code.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Description (GKPG), Area_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 50

  • Multiplicity: [1]

File name

Name of the Principal Area which the boundary sits within.

This may be the same boundary level as the boundary itself, for example, a Greater London Authority boundary will have ‘Greater London Authority’ present in this field. But for more granular boundaries, this field will show the principal boundary which is at the principal level.

  • Attribute Name: File_Name (GKPG), File_Name (TAB), FILE_NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Feature serial number

Serial Number applied to the Boundary Feature during the production of the product.

This is not the unique key for this product and is not maintained.

  • Attribute Name: Feature_Serial_Number (GKPG), Feature_Serial_Number (TAB), NUMBER (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Collection serial number

Collection Serial Number applied to the Boundary Feature during the production of the product.

This is not the unique key for this product and is not maintained.

  • Attribute Name: Collection_Serial_Number (GKPG), Collection_Serial_Number (TAB), NUMBER0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Global polygon ID

A globally unique sequential integer-maintained identifier.

  • Attribute Name: Global_Polygon_ID (GKPG), Global_Polygon_ID (TAB), POLYGON_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Admin unit ID

A globally unique sequential integer-maintained feature identifier. There are two cases where multiple records have the same UNIT_ID:

  1. When portions of local government or parliamentary constituency areas are separated from the main area, being completely surrounded by other local government or parliamentary constituency areas and not connected by direct access on the ground. Not applied to islands or parts of islands in the sea. Detached parts have the same attributes as the main area, except the POLYGON_ID and the Name which has a ‘(DET)’ suffix. In all the existing examples, there is exactly one detached part.

  2. In Scotland, two examples where the boundary has thousands of parts, so the multi-polygon is broken into simple polygons to make it easier to handle. The examples are the supplementary country_region layer where NAME=‘SCOTLAND_COUNTRY’ and scotland_and_wales_region where NAME='Highlands and Islands PER'.

  • Attribute Name: Admin_Unit_ID (GKPG), Admin_Unit_ID (TAB), UNIT_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 11 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Census code

Set to the Census / GSS Code for the boundary, for example, E10000014.

  • Attribute Name: Global_Polygon_ID (GKPG), Global_Polygon_ID (TAB), CODE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 9

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Hectares

Set to the Census / GSS Code for the boundary, for example, E10000014.

  • Attribute Name: Hectares (GKPG), Hectares (TAB), HECTARES (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 9

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Non-inland area

Amount of area within the boundary which is not considered ‘inland’. Non-Inland Areas are calculated by comparing the Boundary-Line polygons with the Mean High Water lines. The value is in hectares and represents the area between the Mean High Water line and the seaward limit of the boundary denoting Mean Low Water.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Inland_Area (GKPG), Non_Inland_Area (TAB), AREA (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Decimal (TAB), Double (Shapefile)

  • Size: 12 (TAB), n/a (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area type code

Code depicting whether the boundary is part of a Civil Administration Area, a Civil Voting Area.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Type_Code (GKPG), Area_Type_Code (TAB), TYPE_CODE (Shapefile)

  • Code List Name: TypeCode

  • Size: 2

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area type description

Full description of TYPE_CODE.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Type_Description (GKPG), Area_Type_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 25

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Non-area type code

Shouldn’t be populated.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Area_Type_Code (GKPG), Non_Area_Type_Code (TAB), TYPE_COD0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 3

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Non-area type description

Shouldn’t be populated.

  • Attribute Name: Non_Area_Type_Description (GKPG), Non_Area_Type_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT1 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Char

  • Size: 36

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Area - Wales region

Area features are polygons with attributes added.

The following schema applies for all area features in the Wales folder of the shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage data supply.

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

fid

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: fid (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), Not provided (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Name

The name of the community ward.

  • Attribute Name: Name (GKPG), Name (TAB), NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Area description

The classification of the community ward.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Description (GKPG), Area_Description (TAB), DESCRIPTIO (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 3

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Community

The name of the parish_region that the ward is inside.

  • Attribute Name: Community (GKPG), Community (TAB), COMMUNITY (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

File name

The name of district_borough_unitary_region that the community ward is inside; written in UPPERCASE with underscores.

  • Attribute Name: File_Name (GKPG), File_Name (TAB), FILE_NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Link feature type

Links represent all linear features; that is boundaries, extent of the realm (EOR) and mean high water (springs) mark (MHW). All links are broken when they intersect with one another. The first and last coordinate pairs in a link correspond exactly with the end coordinates of the adjoining link(s). Links may comprise up to several thousand line segments.

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

fid

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: fid (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), Not provided (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Shape

Feature geometry.

  • Attribute Name: Not provided (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), SHAPE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Polyline

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Feature code

Code value assigned to the Mean High Water Line polyline. This value will always be set to – 0071 as this is the feature code applicable to a Mean High Water Line feature.

  • Attribute Name: Feature_Code (GKPG), Feature_Code (TAB), CODE (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 4

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Feature description

Description of the boundary feature. Set to ‘High Water Mark’ (HWM)

  • Attribute Name: Feature_Description (GKPG), Feature_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 21

  • Multiplicity: [1]

File name

Name of the boundary polygon that the line is contained by; written in UPPERCASE with underscores.

The high water mark line is split up by every boundary that it crosses. Where the resulting line is contained in multiple polygons, for the product the same geometry is used for multiple features, with the File_Name referencing the containing boundary polygon, and the same Global_Link_ID used for all of them.

  • Attribute Name: File_Name (GKPG), File_Name (TAB), FILE_NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Feature serial number

Serial number applied to the polyline feature during the production of the product.

In the current product, this is not unique nor maintained.

  • Attribute Name: Feature_Serial_Number (GKPG), Feature_Serial_Number (TAB), NUMBER (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Number (Shapefile)

  • Size: n/a (TAB), 11 (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Global link ID

A maintained sequential integer identifier that is unique, except for records with duplicate geometry referencing multiple boundary polygons.

  • Attribute Name: Global_Link_ID (GKPG), Global_Link_ID (TAB), LINK_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: Integer (TAB), Number (Shapefile)

  • Size: n/a (TAB), 11 (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area - Polling districts England

Area features are polygons with attributes added.

The following schema applies for all area features in the Polling Districts England folder of the shapefile, MapInfo TAB and GeoPackage data supply.

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

Object ID

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: Not provided (GKPG), OBJECTID (TAB), OBJECTID (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

PD ID

Identifier comprising 1 to 10 characters.

  • Attribute Name: PD_ID (GKPG), PD_ID (TAB), PD_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 10

  • Multiplicity: [1]

County

The name of the county_region that the feature is inside (includes Greater London Authority).

  • Attribute Name: County (GKPG), County (TAB), County (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

District borough

The name of the district_borough_unitary_region that the feature is inside.

  • Attribute Name: Distric_Bo (GKPG), Distric_Bo (TAB), Distric_Bo (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Ward

The name of the district_borough_unitary_ward_region that the feature is inside.

  • Attribute Name: Ward (GKPG), Ward (TAB), Ward (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Parish

The name of the parish_region where Area_Description='Civil Parish Or Community' that the feature is inside.

  • Attribute Name: Parish (GKPG), Parish (TAB), Parish (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: CharacterString

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [0..1]

Historical and ceremonial boundaries features

There are several supplementary layers included alongside the main Boundary-Line product. These supplementary layers sit separately to the main GB Boundary-Line folder and are included as separate directories in the shapefile and MapInfo TAB file formats.

Features included as supplementary in the supplementary directory are:

  • Historical counties

  • Ceremonial counties

  • Historical European regions (frozen as of 1 April 2021)

  • Country

Feature type attributes

The following sub-sections provide details about the attributes included with this feature type, their data types in the different output formats, and other important metadata about them.

fid

Feature identifier added by the software.

  • Attribute Name: fid (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), Not provided (Shapefile)

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Name

Name of the Ceremonial County, Historic County or Historic European Region.

  • Attribute Name: Name (GKPG), Name (TAB), NAME (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 100

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Area description

Classification set to Ceremonial County or Historic County or Historic European Region.

  • Attribute Name: Area_Description (GKPG), Area_Description (TAB), DESCRIPT0 (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: char

  • Size: 50

  • Multiplicity: [1]

Link ID

Boundary polygon.

  • Attribute Name: Not provided (GKPG), Not provided (TAB), LINK_ID (Shapefile)

  • Data Type: GM_Surface