Data source

OS Open Roads, OS Open Rivers and OS Open Built Up Areas

Published by Ordnance Survey. The roads, rivers and built-up areas drawn under the maps.

The copy we hold

  • CoversGreat Britain
  • Our copyOS Open Roads 2026-04, OS Open Rivers 2026-04, OS Open Built Up Areas 2026-04
  • How oftenLoaded again by hand when the publisher puts out a new release
  • LicenceOpen Government Licence v3.0

How we use it

Drawn under the maps only, never counted or quoted. Each road and river is simplified to under a pixel at the closest zoom and cut to the map; minor roads are left out of the wider maps. Lakes and the sea are not drawn: these products do not hold them as areas.

Open the original from the publisher

The credit it asks for

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

It is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Each page that shows it gives this line beside the figures, in the line that names the source, linked here.

Something wrong?

If a figure from this source looks wrong on any page, report it and we will check it against the original.

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