Improved Access to MasterMap Data and Core Location Identifiers

The Geospatial Commission has improved access to Ordnance Survey MasterMap data and released core location identifiers under Open Government Licence.

All of us interact with address and street information on a regular basis via electoral rolls, council tax, waste collections, insurance and utilities, school places and emergency responses. Accurate and standardized information is essential for these critical services to run effectively.

From today, Ordnance Survey (OS) MasterMap will be made available for free up to a threshold through a range of new application programming interface (API) services to support innovators, start-ups, and business.

The Geospatial Commission, working with Ordnance Survey, Geoplace, Improvement Service Scotland, and the Local Government Association, has released on open terms for the first time core location identifiers – Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs), Unique Street Reference Numbers (USRN), and the Topographic Object Identifier (TOID) and their associated geometry.

Improved access to data is at the heart of the UK’s Geospatial Strategy. In addition, HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland have also today published their INSPIRE spatial polygon data, which will also better support the housing, land and planning sector to provide authoritative property extents.

Director of the Geospatial Commission, Thalia Baldwin, said: “Better data and improved access is crucial to our recovery and growth. Improving access to Ordnance Survey’s MasterMap, combined with the release of the core UPRN and USRN location data identifiers that form the golden thread links activity across sectors - from housing, transport and retail to emergency response, public health and environmental impacts - to support productivity and economic value.