England and Wales County and Unitary Authority Boundaries, December 2015

Digital vector boundaries for counties, metropolitan districts, London boroughs, and unitary authorities in England and Wales as of December 2015. The dataset contains five boundary versions, from full resolution to ultra generalised, with file sizes ranging from 160 KB to 22 MB. Contains both Ordnance Survey and Office for National Statistics intellectual property rights.

Use Cases

• Create thematic maps based on administrative units mentioned in the description
• Perform spatial joins or aggregations using the provided vector boundaries
• Simplify geometries for web mapping using the generalised (20m, 200m, 500m) boundary versions
• Analyze coastal administrative extents using the 'clipped to coastline' and 'extent of the realm' variants

Strengths

• Provides five distinct boundary versions for different use cases, from full resolution to ultra generalised (500m)
• Includes specific file sizes for each version, ranging from 160 KB to 22 MB
• Contains boundaries for multiple administrative unit types: counties, metropolitan districts, London boroughs, and unitary authorities

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data reflects a specific snapshot from December 2015; administrative boundaries may have changed

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Digital vector boundaries derived from Ordnance Survey and ONS data.

Time Range

December 2015

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:37.056828; freshness should be verified

Geography

England and Wales