Ordnance Survey expands into new territory with British Geological Survey

OS and the British Geological Survey (BGS) have teamed up to add a range of geological data products to the popular OS Data Hub, making it easier for users to access and use both above and below ground geospatial data.

With OS as Great Britain’s leading geospatial data provider and BGS as the leading provider of the UK’s scientific earth data – both members of the Geo6 - this is an exciting new development and paves the way for further collaboration with other third parties. It’s the first time that products from another authoritative government data partner have been made available through the OS Data Hub and OS hopes it will be followed by more, to enable developers, data scientists and geospatial specialists across the nation with easier access to a broader range of geospatial data to support their activities.

This new development has been funded by the Government Office of Technology Transfer’s Knowledge Asset Grant Fund which supports public sector organisations to explore or further develop new and exciting uses for their Knowledge Assets. This followed engagement with OS and BGS’ customers that showed potential benefits to both public and private sectors from greater access to geological data. This development will enable customers to access OS and BGS data from a single platform, making it easier than ever to create value from geospatial data.

BGS is a data-rich organisation which manages over 400 datasets as well as digital databases and physical collections e.g. borehole core, rocks, minerals and fossils. Nine of their primary datasets will now be included as Open Data in the OS Data Hub. The datasets will provide access to large-scale overview maps of ground hazards, where, for example, there could be landslides that can inform further assessment, and highlight potential hazards that either need to be regraded or investigated in more detail.