Combined Authorities: England Administrative Boundaries (2015-2016)

Digital vector boundaries for Combined Authorities in England are available at five distinct resolutions, from full detail to ultra-generalized 500-meter versions. These boundaries, produced by the Office for National Statistics, contain both Ordnance Survey and ONS intellectual property rights. The dataset includes separate files for boundaries as of April 2015 and June 2016, providing snapshots of administrative geography.

Use Cases

• Regional policy analysis based on the official Combined Authority boundaries.
• Creating thematic maps using the coastline-clipped or full-extent boundary versions.
• Web mapping and visualization using the super-generalized (200m) or ultra-generalized (500m) files for faster rendering.
• Integrating administrative units into a Geographic Information System (GIS) for spatial analysis.

Strengths

• Provides five specific geometric resolutions, with file sizes ranging from 18 KB to 1.3 MB for the June 2016 version.
• Contains boundaries from two distinct time points (April 2015 and June 2016), allowing for temporal comparison.
• Sourced from authoritative UK institutions: the Office for National Statistics and Ordnance Survey.

Limitations

• Column names and schema are not provided in the source metadata, limiting understanding of attribute data.
• The 'last updated' metadata field (2026) appears to be a future date, conflicting with the actual data vintage (2015-2016).
• Descriptions are identical for multiple entries, suggesting potential duplication in platform listings.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics (UK), incorporating Ordnance Survey intellectual property.

Collection Method

Official digital vector boundaries produced for administrative geography.

Time Range

2015 to 2016

Freshness

Data represents boundaries as of June 2016 and April 2015. Platform metadata shows a last updated date of 2026-07-08, which is likely a system artifact.

Geography

England