🆕Postcode Unit Point

This page details upcoming data that will be provided for the Postcode Unit Point Feature Type in the OS NGD from the end of March 2026 to give you early insight. Data schema version 1.0 for this feature type is currently not available through the live access services. The information on this page is as accurate as possible, but is subject to change before launch.

The Postcode Unit Point Feature Type is a point representation of a postcode, calculated from the average positions of addresses which share a postcode.

Temporal filtering

The earliest date on which you can request a one-off snapshot of a date in the past for data in this feature type is 26 March 2026; any data temporally filtered earlier than the specified earliest date noted for the data schema version may contain data inconsistencies.

What is temporal filtering?

Temporal filtering allows you to order a one-off snapshot of data from the OS NGD from a current or past date. It is an optional step when you create a new data package in OS Select+Build (the OS NGD download service). More information about temporal filtering on OS NGD feature types is available from the Getting started with temporal filtering guide.

Collection update date and temporal filtering

Please note, postcodes data is updated on the seventeenth or next working day of each month. If you have a daily recipe, then you'll receive blank files for all other days. If you have monthly recipe, then this will be delivered to you on the first of the following month.

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.

Loading OS NGD CSV files into databases

Comma-separated values (CSV) file format is universally supported for easy ingestion into all major database products. Before loading OS NGD data contained in CSV files into a database, it is necessary to create relevant tables. Data definition language (DDL) statements for PostgreSQL, SQL Server and Oracle can be accessed in our OS NGD Resources GitHub repository.

For instructions on loading CSV files, see the Getting Started with CSV guide.

postcode

This is the identifier assigned by Royal Mail for the purposes of mail delivery. A postcode is an abbreviated form of address, made up of combinations of between five and seven alphanumeric characters. These alphanumeric characters are used by Royal Mail to help with the automated sorting of mail. A postcode may cover between 1 and 100 addresses. Postcodes (for example, NW6 4DP) are comprised of two components. The first component is the outward code, which is the first two to four characters of a postcode, constituting the postcode area and the postcode district, for example, NW6. The outward code is the part of the postcode that enables mail to be sent from the accepting office to the correct area for delivery. The second component of a postcode is the inward code, which is the last three characters of the postcode, constituting the postcode sector and the postcode unit, for example, 4DP. The inward code is used to sort mail at the local delivery office. This field will contain the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) postcode where the Local Authority address has been matched to PAF. For more information about the postcode, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 8

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: Yes

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

versiondate

Date when the version was last updated.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), Date (GPKG), Date (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

versionavailablefromdate

The date this version of the feature became the latest version.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), DateTime (GPKG), DateTime (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

versionavailabletodate

The date this version of the feature was superseded by an update or ceased to exist.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), DateTime (GPKG), DateTime (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

changetype

The type of change that generated a new version of the feature.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: changetypevalue

• Max Length: 50

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

geometry

Geometry for the feature.

• Data Types: Geometry (GeoJSON), Geometry (GPKG), WKT (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

• Geometry Type: Point

theme

The OS NGD theme to which the feature belongs.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: themevalue

• Max Length: 40

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

description

A single descriptive value intended for a quick understanding of what the feature represents.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: postcodeunitpointdescriptionvalue

• Max Length: 50

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodenospace

Full postcode with the whitespace removed between the postcode district and postcode sector.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 7

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodearea

The postcode area is identified by one or two alpha characters at the start of the postcode, the letters being derived from a town, city or district falling within the postcode area. There are, at present, 124 postcode areas in Great Britain, for example, FK for Falkirk, CF for Cardiff and SO for Southampton. For more information about the postcode area, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 2

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: Yes

• OS Select+Build Filterable: Yes

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedistrict

The postcode district is identified by one or two alphanumeric characters following the postcode area, for example, FK1 for Falkirk, CF10 for Cardiff and SO16 for Southampton. For more information about the postcode district, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

Note

There are certain non-geographic districts. In these instances, a district code is allocated to cover all large users in the postcode area. For more information about the postcode, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 4

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: Yes

• OS Select+Build Filterable: Yes

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodesector

The postcode sector is a sub-area of a postcode district. It's identified by one numeric character following the postcode district (with a space included), for example, FK1 1 for Falkirk, CF10 1 for Cardiff and SO16 1 for Southampton. For more information about the postcode sector, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 6

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: Yes

• OS Select+Build Filterable: Yes

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodetype

Describes the postcode as a small or large user as defined by Royal Mail. For more information about the postcode type, please consult chapter one 'Structure of a PAF address' of the Royal Mail Programmer's Guide.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: postcodetypevalue

• Max Length: 10

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedeliverypointcount_total

Count of Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) delivery points which are allocated to the postcode.

• Data Types: Integer (GeoJSON), Integer (GPKG), Integer (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedeliverypointcount_residential

Count of Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) delivery points which are allocated to the postcode and do not have an Organisation Name populated, excluding PO Boxes.

• Data Types: Integer (GeoJSON), Integer (GPKG), Integer (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedeliverypointcount_commercial

Count of Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) delivery points which are allocated to the postcode and have an Organisation Name populated, excluding PO Boxes.

• Data Types: Integer (GeoJSON), Integer (GPKG), Integer (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedeliverypointcount_matched

Count of Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) delivery points which are allocated to the postcode and are matched to an equivalent local authority address.

• Data Types: Integer (GeoJSON), Integer (GPKG), Integer (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

postcodedeliverypointcount_unmatched

Count of Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF) delivery points which are allocated to the postcode and are not matched to an equivalent local authority address.

• Data Types: Integer (GeoJSON), Integer (GPKG), Integer (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

ispobox

Flag to indicate whether a postcode is a PO Box or not.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: true

• Code List Name: yesnovalue

• Max Length: 3

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

inputaddressaccuracy

Indication of the positional accuracy of the local authority addresses that are within this postcode part, which supply the geometry from which the average position is calculated.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: inputaddressaccuracyvalue

• Max Length: 100

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: Yes

• OS Select+Build Filterable: Yes

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

easting

X coordinate defining the position of the object in accordance with the Irish Grid (EPSG:29003) coordinate reference system.

• Data Types: Number (GeoJSON), Float (GPKG), Real (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Precision: 8

• Scale: 2

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

northing

Y coordinate defining the position of the object in accordance with the Irish Grid (EPSG:29003) coordinate reference system.

• Data Types: Number (GeoJSON), Float (GPKG), Real (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Precision: 9

• Scale: 2

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

latitude

Value defining the latitude of the object location in accordance with the ETRS89 (EPSG:4258) coordinate reference system.

• Data Types: Number (GeoJSON), Float (GPKG), Real (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Precision: 9

• Scale: 7

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

longitude

Value defining the longitude of the object location in accordance with the ETRS89 (EPSG:4258) coordinate reference system.

• Data Types: Number (GeoJSON), Float (GPKG), Real (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Precision: 9

• Scale: 7

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

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Related Entity

The Related Entity Related Component provides cross-reference information to key identifiers from other datasets, allowing for the linking of the postcode to its associated feature types.

relatedentityid

Primary key providing a unique row identifier assigned to enable indexing for efficient querying.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 36

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

featuretypeid

Postcode assigned by Royal Mail as a persistent identifier. This is used along with the Feature Type Version Date attribute to join the component to the Postcode Unit Point Feature Type.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 36

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

featuretypeversiondate

Date of the feature version to which this related component applies. This is used along with the Feature Type ID attribute to join the component to the Postcode Unit Point Feature Type.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), DateTime (GPKG), DateTime (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

crossreferencefeature

Description of the related dataset that the cross reference refers to, for example, 'Lower Tier Local Authority'.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: dataentitycataloguepostcodevalue

• Max Length: 50

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

crossreferenceid

Identifier of the related data entity or feature type instance that is the target of the reference or link.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Max Length: 36

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0

relationshiptype

Type of relationship which has been formed between the source and target features, for example, 'Within' or 'Same As'.

• Data Types: String (GeoJSON), String (GPKG), String (CSV)

• Nullable: false

• Code List Name: relationshiptypevalue

• Code List Version: 1.0

• Max Length: 30

• OS NGD API – Features Filterable: No

• OS Select+Build Filterable: No

• Data Schema Version: 1.0