County and Unitary Authority Boundaries for England and Wales, December 2016

Ultra generalised (500m) vector boundaries for Counties and Unitary Authorities in England and Wales, clipped to the Mean High Water coastline. This dataset contains multiple resolution versions, from full resolution (17-22 MB) to ultra generalised (168 KB), and is provided by the UK Office for National Statistics. The data represents the administrative geography as of December 2016.

Use Cases

• Create thematic maps for England and Wales based on the ultra generalised boundaries mentioned in the description.
• Perform spatial joins with other datasets using the provided administrative boundaries.
• Develop web mapping applications where small file sizes are advantageous, based on the available generalised versions.
• Analyze administrative geography changes over time by comparing this 2016 snapshot with other years.

Strengths

• Provides five distinct boundary resolutions, with file sizes ranging from 168 KB to 22 MB, offering flexibility for different applications.
• Contains intellectual property from both Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics, indicating authoritative sources.
• Boundaries are available clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark) for cartographic consistency.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data freshness should be verified as the snapshot is from December 2016, despite a recent platform update in 2026.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics and Ordnance Survey

Collection Method

Digital vector boundaries derived from authoritative UK mapping and administrative sources.

Time Range

December 2016

Freshness

Snapshot from December 2016; metadata last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:52.705046.

Geography

England and Wales