DiGMapGB-50: Artificial Ground Map of Great Britain at 1:50k Scale

Great Britain's landscape areas where the ground surface has been significantly modified by human activity, categorized into types like made ground and infilled ground. The data is provided as vector polygons by the British Geological Survey and represents a snapshot in time. It was last updated on 2026-05-28.

Use Cases

• Identify potential contamination or instability risks based on infilled ground and landfill site locations.
• Model hydrological impacts based on areas of disturbed or landscaped ground.
• Plan construction projects by analyzing the distribution of made ground like embankments and spoil heaps.
• Assess land reuse potential based on the classification of worked ground such as quarries and cuttings.

Strengths

• Data is attributed with specific types of artificial ground, including made, worked, and infilled ground.
• Covers the national scale of Great Britain at a 1:50,000 mapping resolution.
• Provided in a structured vector format (ESRI shapefile) linking geometry to attribute data.

Limitations

• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality and column semantics require manual inspection after download.
• The data represents a snapshot in time and may become dated rapidly due to the shifting nature of land use.
• Row count and total file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale projects.

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Collection Method

Likely derived from geological survey mapping and remote sensing.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-28 14:04:39.707667; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Britain