Welsh Local Health Board Boundaries for 2015 and 2016

Wales is covered by digital vector boundaries for its Local Health Boards, effective as of 31 December 2015 and 31 December 2016. The dataset provides multiple geometry resolutions, including full, generalised (20m), super generalised (200m), and ultra generalised (500m) versions, clipped to the coastline or showing the full extent of the realm. It contains intellectual property from both the Ordnance Survey and the Office for National Statistics.

Use Cases

• Mapping health service catchment areas based on the provided vector boundaries.
• Conducting spatial joins with health statistics using the board geometries.
• Creating simplified (generalised) maps for public reports using the 20m, 200m, or 500m resolution files.
• Analyzing coastal versus full administrative extents for offshore island inclusion.

Strengths

• Provides five distinct geometry resolutions and clipping options, with specific file sizes listed (e.g., 23 KB for ultra generalised).
• Cross-platform presence on uk_data indicates established importance and official provenance from the Office for National Statistics.
• Contains explicit temporal snapshots for two years (2015 and 2016), allowing for potential change analysis.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, column names, and specific data formats are unknown across all sources.
• The 'last updated' metadata field (2026-07-08) is inconsistent with the dataset's content date (2015/2016), suggesting a platform metadata error.
• Documentation is sparse, lacking details on attribute data beyond the geometry.

Provenance

Source

Office for National Statistics (UK), incorporating Ordnance Survey intellectual property.

Collection Method

Likely digitized and maintained as official administrative boundaries.

Time Range

2015-12-31 to 2016-12-31

Freshness

The data content is from 2015 and 2016, though platform metadata lists a last updated date of 2026-07-08.

Geography

Wales, United Kingdom, including offshore islands.