Great Britain Country Boundaries at Multiple Resolutions, December 2015

Five digital vector boundary sets for countries in Great Britain as of 31 December 2015, including full-resolution and generalised versions. The data contains both Ordnance Survey and Office for National Statistics intellectual property rights. File sizes range from 168 KB for the ultra generalised version to 29 MB for the full-resolution coastline-clipped version.

Use Cases

• Create detailed national maps based on full-resolution boundaries extending to the Mean Low Water mark.
• Perform spatial analysis with coastline-clipped boundaries aligned to the Mean High Water mark.
• Develop web mapping applications using the super generalised (200m) or ultra generalised (500m) versions for faster rendering.
• Conduct boundary change analysis by comparing this 2015 snapshot with other temporal releases.

Strengths

• Offers five distinct boundary versions, including full-resolution and four generalised/clipped options.
• Provides specific file sizes for each version, with the smallest being 168 KB and the largest 29 MB.
• Includes a specific snapshot date of 31 December 2015 for temporal reference.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Likely digitized from official cartographic sources.

Time Range

Snapshot as of 31 December 2015.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:33:21.641034; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales).