OS NGD Geographical Names

Introduction to the theme

Geographical names provide orientation and identity to places; they are named locations in the real world, such as cities, towns, beaches and reservoirs. Geographical names now includes Named Road Junction providing the names and / or numbers of roads intersecting a named or numbered road junction. The dataset offers a comprehensive list of names of features and places of geographic significance captured by Ordnance Survey, represented as points or polygons. You can use the dataset to perform quick and accurate gazetteer searches as well as high-level visualisation and spatial analysis of named features and places.

Data structure

The OS NGD Geographical Names Theme is made up of the OS NGD Named Features Collection, which in turn is comprised of three feature types: Named Area, Named Point and Named Road Junction.

OS NGD Geographical Names Theme data structure diagram showing the theme name, collection name and feature type names.

Unique identifiers

One main unique identifier is provided with each feature within the OS NGD Geographical Names Theme:

• OSID (Ordnance Survey Identifier): The primary identifier and unique key for this theme. Within the Named Features Collection, the same features will be represented in the Named Area, Named Point and the Named Road Junction Feature Types. All representations will have the same OSID.

You will also find a number of additional identifiers in this theme to help you use the data, including Local Authority names and codes, along with references to commonly used third-party databases (for example, GeoNames.org and DBpedia). The additional identifiers for this theme are listed on the individual feature type pages for Named Area, Named Point, and Named Road Junction.