BGS 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 series geological maps

The 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 scale map series are the most useful scale for most purposes. They provide almost complete coverage of onshore Great Britain. The BGS collection of 1:63 360 and 1:50 000 scale maps comprises two map series: - Geological Survey of England and Wales 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 Geological Map Series [New Series]. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey One-inch New Series topographic basemaps and provide almost complete coverage of England and Wales, with the exception of sheet 180 (Knighton). The quarter-sheets of 1:63 360 Old Series sheets 91 to 110 coincide with sheets 1 to 73 of the New Series maps. These earlier maps often carry two sheet numbers which refer to the Old Series and the New Series. - Geological Survey of Scotland 1:63 360 / 1:50 000 Geological Map Series. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey First, Second, Third and Fourth editions of the One-inch map of Scotland. The maps used the most recent topographic basemap available at the time. In the Western Isles, one-inch mapping was abandoned and replaced by maps at 1:100 000 scale, which are associated with this series. Sheets were traditionally issued at 1:63 360 scale, with the first 1:50 000 maps appearing in 1972. Sheets at 1:50 000 scale may be either facsimile enlargements of an existing 1:63 360 sheets, or may contain new geology and cartography. The latter bear the additional series designation '1:50 000 series'. Within the Scottish series, new mapping at 1:50 000 scale was split into east and west sheets. For example, the original one-inch sheet 32 became 1:50 000 sheets 32E and 32W. A number of irregular sheets were also introduced with the new 1:50 000 scale mapping. There are a number of irregular special sheets within both series. Geological maps represent a geologist's compiled interpretation of the geology of an area. A geologist will consider the data available at the time, including measurements and observations collected during field campaigns, as well as their knowledge of geological processes and the geological context to create a model of the geology of an area. This model is then fitted to a topographic basemap and drawn up at the appropriate scale, with generalization if necessary, to create a geological map, which is a representation of the geological model. Explanatory notes and vertical and horizontal cross sections may be published with the map. Geological maps may be created to show various aspects of the geology, or themes. The most common map themes held by BGS are solid (later referred to as bedrock) and drift (later referred to as superficial). These maps are, for the most part, hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

Identification info

Alternative title: BGS 50k maps

Metadata Language: English (en)

Dataset Reference Date (): 1856

Identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608196

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom

0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom

0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276

British Geological Survey - Enquiries

The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom

0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276

Maintenance and update frequency: asNeeded

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Geological models
Geological surveys
Maps
UK Location (INSPIRE)
Geological maps
Geology
Geological mapping

Keywords ()

UK Location (INSPIRE)

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Limitations on Public Access: otherRestrictions

Other constraints: no limitations

Other constraints: The dataset is made freely available for access, e.g. via the Internet. Either no third party data / information is contained in the dataset or BGS has secured written permission from the owner(s) of any third party data / information contained in the dataset to make the dataset freely accessible.

Use constraints: otherRestrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Other constraints: There are no restrictions on the use that may be made of the dataset, although an appropriate copyright acknowledgement must be made when any part of the dataset is reproduced. Either no third party data / information is contained in the dataset or BGS has secured written permission from the owner of any third party data / information contained in the dataset to make the dataset freely available without any use constraints - inclusion of any third party data / information will affect the copyright acknowledgement that needs to be made.

Spatial representation type: vector

Denominator: 50000

Denominator: 63360

Denominator: 100000

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Extent

GBN

Dataset Reference Date (): 2009

Extent

GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

Dataset Reference Date (): 1979

Begin date: 1856

End date: 2015

Additional information: In some cases, BGS may hold multiple copies of the same map - for example if there were originally different copies held in different Survey offices, or at different locations at the same site. As a result of this, there may be multiple scans for the same map.

Code: OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)

Code: WGS 84 (EPSG::4326)

Distribution Information

Data format

PDF ()

Resource Locator: BGS Maps Portal ( HTTP )
The BGS maps portal provides access to over 45 000 high-resolution viewing images of almost all the small, medium and large scale maps produced by the BGS since mapping started in 1832 right up to the most recent maps released in 2020. It incorporates all the earlier maps and history pages that were previously made available through the BGS ‘Historical maps of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland’ web resource.

Resource Locator: BGS Maps Portal ( HTTP )
The BGS maps portal provides access to over 45 000 high-resolution viewing images of almost all the small, medium and large scale maps produced by the BGS since mapping started in 1832 right up to the most recent maps released in 2020. It incorporates all the earlier maps and history pages that were previously made available through the BGS ‘Historical maps of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland’ web resource.

Quality Scope: dataset

Other: dataset

Report

Dataset Reference Date (): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Degree

Report

Dataset Reference Date (): 2010-12-08

Explanation: See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Degree

Statement: The geological maps were created by the Geological Survey from approximately the 1850s onwards. The paper maps were scanned to TIF image format at 300 dpi as part a scanning project in 2014. JPEG2000 and PDF copies were created from the master TIF scans.

Metadata

File identifier: 120e1002-dcdd-1b22-e063-0937940ae43d XML

Metadata Language: English (en)

Resource type: dataset

Metadata Date: 2024-09-09

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

British Geological Survey

The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom

+44 131 667 1000

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Report

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