Great Britain Country Boundaries at December 2016 with Multiple Resolutions

Digital vector boundaries for Countries in Great Britain, as at December 2016. The dataset contains five versions of boundaries, including full resolution and several generalised versions clipped to the coastline. Contains both Ordnance Survey and Office for National Statistics Intellectual Property Rights.

Use Cases

• Create national-level maps based on the full-resolution country boundaries.
• Perform spatial analysis using the generalised (20m) boundaries for faster processing.
• Visualize country outlines in web applications using the ultra generalised (500m) boundaries for reduced file size.
• Analyze coastal administrative extents based on the Mean High Water mark clipping mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Provides five distinct boundary versions, from full resolution to ultra generalised (500m).
• File sizes are specified, ranging from 150 KB for ultra generalised to 29 MB for full resolution clipped.
• Contains intellectual property from authoritative sources: Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The data is from December 2016; freshness should be verified for current applications.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Digital vector boundaries from Ordnance Survey and ONS.

Time Range

December 2016

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:31.550878; freshness should be verified

Geography

Great Britain