England and Wales County and Unitary Authority Boundaries for 2015

Five distinct resolution levels of vector boundaries, from full 17 MB files to ultra-generalised 160 KB versions, provide flexibility for mapping and analysis. The dataset covers counties, metropolitan districts, London boroughs, and unitary authorities in England and Wales as of December 2015. Boundaries are available both as the full extent of the realm and clipped to the Mean High Water coastline.

Use Cases

• Creating thematic maps based on administrative units in England and Wales.
• Performing spatial joins with other datasets using the provided boundary geometries.
• Optimizing web map performance by selecting an appropriate generalised boundary resolution (20m, 200m, 500m).
• Analyzing coastal versus inland administrative areas using the clipped and full-extent boundary versions.

Strengths

• Provides five specific resolution options with explicit file sizes (e.g., 17 MB full, 160 KB ultra-generalised).
• Contains intellectual property from both Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics, indicating authoritative sourcing.
• Includes both full-realm and coastline-clipped versions for different analytical needs.

Limitations

• Metadata for row counts, column names, and specific file formats (beyond ZIP) is missing from the provided sources.
• The data is static for December 2015 and may not reflect subsequent boundary changes.
• The 'last updated' metadata dates (2026) are inconsistent with the dataset's 2015 reference date, suggesting potential platform metadata errors.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Ordnance Survey

Collection Method

Official digital vector boundaries produced by the national mapping and statistical agencies.

Time Range

December 2015

Freshness

2026-07-08 13:32:33.576738

Geography

England and Wales