Data Access for UK Academic Users

Geographically referenced datasets are expensive to create and maintain and have considerable commercial value. The key datasets in the UK are created by several different organizations and the exact mechanisms for access vary according to the sector in which you are working. In general, access is simplest for the academic sector, available at reduced cost or through central licensing for public sector users and most expensive for the commercial sector.

The UK academic community has entered into several licences with geographical data suppliers whereby key datasets may be used for research and teaching purposes free of charge to the individual user. Generally these deals are financed by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) or the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and may involve annual subscription payments from the user's academic institution. All require that the user be a valid and currently registered user who has accepted the terms and conditions of data supply. Whatever your organization, you may need to make local enquiries - often from the computing or information system services department - to ascertain your exact entitlements.

Access Routes

The following tables summarises the principal access routes for UK academic users to key georeferencing datasets and also gives some advice as to geographical coverage. We do not make any endorsement of the products and services identified here, nor have we attempted to list the many commercial organizations who provide services ranging from data supply to comprehensive spatial analysis.