Local Authority District Boundaries for Great Britain, December 2009

Ultra generalised (500m) clipped vector boundaries for Local Authority Districts in Great Britain as of December 2009. The dataset contains boundaries from Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics, available in five resolutions with file sizes ranging from 367 KB to 49 MB. It was last updated on the platform in July 2026.

Use Cases

• Create thematic maps based on the ultra generalised (500m) boundaries for efficient web visualization.
• Perform spatial joins with other UK datasets using the full-resolution extent-of-the-realm boundaries.
• Analyze coastal administrative units using the coastline-clipped boundary versions.
• Compare boundary detail and file size trade-offs across the five available resolutions.

Strengths

• Provides five distinct boundary resolutions, from full (49 MB) to ultra generalised (367 KB), offering flexibility for different applications.
• Includes both extent-of-the-realm and coastline-clipped versions, allowing for analysis of offshore areas.
• Contains intellectual property from both Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics, indicating authoritative sources.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data reflects a specific snapshot from December 2009; boundary changes after this date are not included.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale joins.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics

Collection Method

Digital vector boundaries derived from Ordnance Survey and ONS data.

Time Range

December 2009

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:41.461640; freshness should be verified

Geography

Great Britain