Land Use Features

The OS NGD Land Use Features Collection gives you access to the most current and comprehensive land use sites and site access data captured by Ordnance Survey.

Example image showing what the two feature types in the OS NGD Land Use Features Collection look like in the data. A background map has been included to provide context.

A land use site is a geographic representation of an area that can be identified as being used for a particular purpose, for example, a school, shopping centre, or private residence. It seeks to define the extent of the activity, and while this may be similar to or the same as the ownership information provided by HM Land Registry (HMLR) or Registers of Scotland (RoS), it should not be regarded as representing legal extents or ownership.

Collection applications

The OS NGD Land Use Features Collection allows you to:

• Ensure your land use data is always completely up to date, with up to daily updates.

• Access all our land use sites and access locations data from one place.

• Visualise and analyse data based on the extent of areas with different types of land use, including amongst others, residential, education, greenspaces, hospitals, and transport hubs.

• Quickly interpret the land use which is happening at a given site, using the description or land use attribute value (such as private residential, primary school, golf course).

• Analyse the number and location of sites with a given land use across areas or regions (such as locating all the schools in a county).

• Understand the location of access points into major sites (such as train stations, schools, and public parks) and how these sites are accessed from the road network.

The enhanced Status attribute provided for Site features allows you to:

• Understand the state of a Site (i.e. 'Active', 'Derelict', 'Inactive', 'Under Construction' or 'Unknown') in relation to either its physical condition or the activity the feature is intended to support.

• Conduct risk assessments and ensure appropriate deployment of resources (Emergency Services).

• Produce more accurate Local Development Plans (LDPs) by assessing areas suitable for development, including brown and green field sites (Local Authorities).

• More easily gather land use status data to use in green infrastructure development projects, including requirements for Biodiversity Bet Gain policy (Architects and Developers).

• Identify potential growth areas for clean renewable energy (Government and industry experts, such as Energy UK).

• Publish a register of vacant and derelict land (Local Authorities in Scotland).

Example map showing Status attribute values against land use Sites. A background map has been included for context.

Example map showing select attribution held against a Site feature. The Status attribute indicates that the Site is 'Active'. A background map has been included for context.

⚠️ Please note that Status attribute values are only recorded against a subset of over 100 Site types, including Railway Stations, Schools, Sports Grounds, Power Stations and Quarries. Click the arrow to view the full list below.

The following table lists the Site types where a Status attribute value will be recorded:

Sites where Status attribute values are recorded
Abattoir
Air Navigation Beacon
Air Passenger Terminal
Aircraft Works
Airfield
Airport With Scheduled Services
Airport Without Scheduled Services
Airstrip
Amphitheatre
Amusement Park
Animal Crematorium
Aquatic Animal Attraction
Athletics Ground
Athletics Stadium
Biogas Power Station
Boat Lift
Bowls Site
Brewery
Brick Works
Bus Station
Cable Terminal Station
Cement Works
Chemical Works
Cider Factory
Cinema
Cliff Railway
Coach Station
Coastguard Lookout
Cooling Station
Crematorium
Cricket Ground (Spectating)
Crop Handling And Storage Site
Dairy Processing Site
Detention Centre
Docks
Dry Dock
Electricity Storage Site
Film Studio
Fish Farm
Fish Hatchery
Flour Mill
Football Ground (Spectating)
Gas Distribution Or Storage Site
Gas Extraction Site
Gas Production Site
Glassworks
Golf Course
Golf Driving Range
Greyhound Track Or Stadium
Heating Plant
Helicopter Station
Heliport
Holiday Centre
Horse Racing Course
Hospital
Hydroelectric Power Generating
Hydrogen Fuel Production And Supply
Ice Rink
Light Rail Station
Lighthouse
Livestock Market
Lock
Military Accommodation Site
Military Airfield
Military Docks
Mine
Model Village
Motor Sport Site
Nautical Navigation Beacon
Observatory
Oil Distribution Centre
Oil Extraction Site
Oil Refinery
Oil Terminal
Paddling Pool
Paper Mill
Peat Cuttings
Pottery
Pound
Power Station
Prison
Printing Works
Public House
Public Waste Disposal Site
Pumping Station
Quarry
Radar Station
Rail Freight Transport
Rail Maintenance Site
Railway Station
Retail Complex
Road Freight Site
Road Maintenance Site
Rugby Ground (Spectating)
Satellite Earth Station
School
Secure Residential Site
Sheep Dip
Ship Passenger Terminal
Shipyard
Shooting Range
Ski Centre
Slate Mining
Solar Power Site
Speedway Track
Sports Ground (Spectating)
Steel Works
Stone Works
Sugar Refinery
Swimming Pool
Telecommunications Site
Telephone Exchange
Tenpin Bowling Centre
Theatre
Tidal Power Station
Vehicular Rail Terminal
Ventilating Station
Waste Disposal Site
Waste Incineration Site
Waste Processing Site
Waste Water Treatment Works
Flood Or Water Controlling Site
Water Distribution Site
Water Monitoring Station
Water Treatment Site
Wildlife Or Zoological Park
Winery

Key elements

• Up to daily updates to data.

• Plug and play – the data is simple and quick to implement as you don't need to pre-process it before you use it.

• Rich attribution ensures the data is straightforward to navigate and query.

• Persistent unique identifiers with lifecycle information.

• Includes Sites for a wide range of land use types all in one dataset.

• Consistent classifications.

• Name attribution for non-residential sites (if known).

• Millions of new sites, including sites representing areas with residential land use.

• Site access location and routing points with links to OS NGD transport networks.

• National land use standards used to provide universal insights for human activity (NLUD classification and BS7666 national addressing classification).

• Ongoing improvement programme based on user feedback.

Coverage

Great Britain.

Default coordinate reference system

British National Grid (EPSG: 27700).

Temporal filtering

The earliest date on which you can request a one-off snapshot of a date in the past for data in this collection is noted at the top of the individual feature type pages.

Supply formats

GeoPackage, CSV (comma-separated values), GeoJSON or vector tiles (the latter format is only available for one feature type in the collection: Site).

Supply mechanism

Accessed through the OS Data Hub via:

• OS Select+Build (the bespoke OS NGD download service)

• OS NGD API – Features

• OS NGD API – Tiles (only available for one feature type in the collection: Site)

Using our data

• Included in the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) – therefore, it's free at point of use for Public Sector organisations.

• Available to OS Partners for commercial resell in your solutions.

• Available for organisations to try out for free for six months under the Data Exploration Licence; this licence is primarily designed for organisations either considering becoming an OS Partner or who want to trial OS Premium data before working with an existing OS Partner.