UK Counties and Unitary Authorities: Administrative Boundaries

United Kingdom digital vector boundaries for Counties and Unitary Authorities. The dataset provides full-resolution boundaries clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark) and contains intellectual property from both Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics. It is available in multiple geospatial formats and is accessible via REST and WFS services.

Use Cases

• Mapping regional administrative units for demographic analysis based on county and unitary authority boundaries.
• Creating choropleth maps for public health or economic indicators using the provided vector geometries.
• Integrating administrative boundaries into GIS systems for spatial planning and service delivery modeling.
• Performing spatial joins with other UK datasets using the consistent boundary definitions.

Strengths

• Contains full-resolution (BFC) boundaries from authoritative sources (Ordnance Survey and ONS).
• Available in multiple standard geospatial formats (GeoJSON, GeoPackage, ESRI File Geodatabase).
• Accessible via both REST Feature Service and WFS Server for programmatic use.

Limitations

• Sources conflict on the reference date (December 2025 vs. December 2023), creating uncertainty about the temporal accuracy.
• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific license terms are not provided on any platform.
• Column names and attribute schema are not detailed in the available descriptions.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics (UK), Ordnance Survey

Collection Method

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

Time Range

December 2023 or December 2025 (conflict between sources)

Freshness

2026-05-13 18:04:06.772911

Geography

United Kingdom