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BGS 1:10 560 / 1:10 000 National Grid Series geological maps

The BGS collection of 1:10 560 / 1:10 000 National Grid Series geological maps. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey National Grid series of maps, which are defined by the 10 km intervals of the larger 100 km square identified by a specific two-letter code. Each map is thus denoted by a unique reference, e.g. SP 29 NW. SP=100 km square; 29=10 km square; NW=5 km square. Since field mapping is generally undertaken at the scale of 1:10 000 (or equivalent), these maps are the largest-scale main series of geological maps that BGS holds. A small number of remote areas were mapped at 1:25 000 scale, the subsequent maps are also at 1:25 000 scale and are included in this series. The equivalent to the National Grid Series prior to the 1960s is the County Series (at 1:10 560 scale). In the 1960s, this series started to be replaced by 6 inches to 1 mile (1:10 560 scale) National Grid sheets based on the four quadrants (NW, NE, SW, SE) of a 10 km Ordnance Survey National Grid square. Areal coverage provided by the National Grid series of large-scale maps is limited in extent and the preceding County series of six-inch maps can still be the most up to date map available for some areas. 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.

Simple

Alternate title
BGS National Grid maps
Date (Creation)
1960
Identifier
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608195
Distributor
  British Geological Survey - Enquiries
The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom
0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276
Owner
  British Geological Survey - Enquiries
The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom
0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276
Point of contact
  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
notPlanned Not planned
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Geology
BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences
  • Geological mapping
  • Geological surveys
  • EGDI
  • Geology
  • UK Location (INSPIRE)
  • Maps
  • Geological maps
  • Geological models
dataCentre
  • UK Location (INSPIRE)
  • EGDI
Keywords
  • NERC_DDC
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Other constraints
restricted
Other constraints
The dataset has been formally approved by BGS for access by external clients under a BGS Digital Data Licence, issued via BGS's IPR Section. The dataset must not be provided to, or be accessible by, an external client until the IPR Section confirms that signed licence documentation is in place. Refer to the IPR Section (DigitalLE@bgs.ac.) if further advice is required.
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 restrictions
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]"
Spatial representation type
vector Vector
Denominator
10000
Denominator
10560
Denominator
25000
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
Geographic identifier
GBN

Date (Revision)
2009

Geographic identifier
GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

Date (Creation)
1979

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Begin date
1960
Supplemental 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. Maps also may have had copies produced for different purposes: for example, a hand-drawn and coloured geological 'standards' (officially approved maps), dyeline masters (created for reproduction), and dyeline prints (uncoloured and hand-coloured). A considerable number of these maps were printed lithographically, mostly in monochrome (sometimes called 'lines edition'). Some were also printed in colour. In the late 1970s, conversion to the metric 1:10 000 scale was introduced and became the standard large-scale format for field mapping. Formal publishing was abandoned and replaced by dyeline or photographic processes as a method of reproduction, maps were printed on demand rather than printing and holding stocks. On completion of each sheet, it became customary to prepare a short descriptive report providing notes and local details of the geology for each map sheet area. These were issued as 'open-file' in the Survey Technical Report series. Minor, undocumented changes may have been made to some of the maps (for example, new geological boundaries or changes in the colour of a geological unit). Occasionally, copies of the original standard were made, and the changes were marked on, without changing the signed and approved standard. These copies are often called 'correction copies'. Later maps were created digitally as 'electronic masters' and 'digital deposit copies'. These differ in their marginal information. Digitally-produced maps were, for the most part, printed, hand-signed and then scanned. A very small number of maps produced later (generally post-2010) were signed digitally and a hardcopy map was never produced.
Unique resource identifier
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84 (EPSG::4326)
Distribution format
  • PDF file (.pdf) ()

Distributor
  British Geological Survey - Enquiries
The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom
0115 936 3142
0115 936 3276
OnLine resource
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.

Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Other
dataset

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2011
Explanation
See the referenced specification
Pass
No

Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Explanation
See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF
Pass
No
Statement
The geological maps were created by the Geological Survey from approximately the 1960s onwards. The paper maps were scanned to TIF image format at 300 dpi. JPEG2000 and PDF derivatives were created from the master TIF scans. Since then, further maps have been added to the collection as these have been scanned.
File identifier
120b3e15-2c27-6602-e063-0937940a8a1b XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Date stamp
2025-11-13
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
Point of contact
  British Geological Survey
The Lyell Centre, Research Avenue South , EDINBURGH , LOTHIAN , EH14 4AP , United Kingdom
+44 131 667 1000
Dataset URI
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608195
 
 

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