2 December 2025

Mapping and GIS resources

Montage of two screenshots of parts of a map on a computer screen. The one on the left covers part of England from Peterborough in the north, to north London in the south, and from Milton Keynes in the west to Colchester in the east. The base layer is a general topgraphic map from Ordnance Survey via the OS Maps API. On top are two sets of grid squares. The 100km squares are shown with thick red lines and large, bold labels (here the label is 'TL'. The 10km squares are shown with thin grey lines and smaller labels (such as TL 00, TL01, etc). The one on the right is at a larger scale, covering part of England around Bishop's Stortford and Stansted Airport. The base layer is from the same source. On top are two sets of grid squares. The The 10km squares are shown with grey lines and large, bold labels (such as TL 41, TL 51, etc). The 5km squares are shown with thinner grey lines and smaller labels (such as TL41 SW, TL41 SE, etc). Contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database rights 2024

Resources for mapping and geographic information systems (GIS) in transport planning

National Grid square indexes

Some of the Ordnance Survey’s open data is made available as data tiles at various levels, but it can be awkward to guestimate which tiles are required for a particular project area – particularly when the file sizes are large. Having an index can help to more easily identify the tiles needed.

The zip file below contains just such a set of index files. It includes:

  • 100x100km squares (shapefile – .shp and its sidecar files)
  • 10x10km squares (ditto)
  • 5x5km squares (ditto)
  • Individual QGIS layer definition files for each of these three shapefiles
  • A QIGS layer definition file for these three shapefiles grouped together

The index files are shapefiles and can be used in most of the common GIS software applications such as ArcGIS and QGIS.

Additionally, for QGIS users, the layer definition files provide ready-designed symbology and labelling. All you have to load the layer definition file: it will pick up the data and apply the symbology. Note that the files are set to be visible at appropriate zoom levels; if you can’t see the smaller squares, try zooming in.

Users of other software can apply symbology and labelling as they see fit.

Screenshot of part of a map on a computer screen. It covers part of England from Peterborough in the north, to north London in the south, and from Milton Keynes in the west to Colchester in the east. The base layer is a general topgraphic map from Ordnance Survey via the OS Maps API. On top are two sets of grid squares. The 100km squares are shown with thick red lines and large, bold labels (here the label is 'TL'. The 10km squares are shown with thin grey lines and smaller labels (such as TL 00, TL01, etc). Contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database rights 2019
Screenshot of part of a map on a computer screen. It covers part of England around Bishop's Stortford and Stansted Airport. The base layer is a general topgraphic map from Ordnance Survey via the OS Maps API. On top are two sets of grid squares. The The 10km squares are shown with grey lines and large, bold labels (such as TL 41, TL 51, etc). The 5km squares are shown with thinner grey lines and smaller labels (such as TL41 SW, TL41 SE, etc). Contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database rights 2019

The index files, seen on top of base mappping from the OS Maps API (contains OS data (c) Crown copyright and database rights 2024).

Please see the terms of use before downloading.

National Grid squares (GJ Nov 2024)Download (2MB)