OS MasterMap® Topography layer
The Topography Layer product shows the position and extent of around half a billion features on the landscape. It enables you to visualise the most up-to-date context of buildings, land, water, roads and non-physical features such as administrative boundaries. Each feature has a unique identifier that helps with full integration across the other layers of OS MasterMap and enables the association of your own or third party data, for evidence-based analysis and planning.
OS MasterMap Topography Layer is created from a master dataset that is refreshed regularly (every six months in Digimap). The Topography Layer works on the principle that you will take an initial supply of all data in your area of interest and then update the data by taking change-only update (COU). COU brings your database up to date with only the change that has happened since your last update for your geographical area of interest. Any feature that is new or changed since the COU date you provide will be supplied with its latest version, and departed features will indicate which features have been moved or deleted since that date.
Some Topography Layer feature attributes
| Label | Definition |
|---|---|
| Building | Features representing buildings (not including glasshouses). |
| Buildings Or Structure | Text features describing or naming buildings and structures. |
| Built Environment | Geographic areas and extents of man-made environments, terrain and communication links. |
| General Feature | General topographic features and minor detail. |
| General Surface | Features representing, describing or limiting areas of land not covered by buildings or structures. |
| Glasshouse | Features representing glasshouses. |
| Height Control | Features with height information. |
| Historic Interest | Features of heritage value. |
| Inland Water | Features representing, describing or limiting areas of water that are not tidal. |
| Landform | Features representing, describing or limiting areas of land form, for example, slopes or cliffs. |
| Natural Environment | Features representing geographic areas and extents of natural environments and terrain. |
| Network Or Polygon Closing Geometry | Features used to close polygons. |
| Path | Features representing and limiting the extent of pathways. |
| Political Or Administrative | Features representing political or administrative (such as electoral) boundaries. |
| Rail | Features representing, describing or limiting the extents of railways. |
| Road Or Track | Features representing, describing or limiting the extents of roadways and tracks. |
| Roadside | Features representing, describing or limiting the extents of roadside detail. |
| Structure | Features representing, describing or limiting structures other than buildings or glasshouses. |
| Terrain And Height | Features giving information about the altitude at a location or changes of level of the ground surface. |
| Tidal Water | Features representing, describing or limiting areas of water that are tidal. |
| Unclassified | Topographic features that have not been given a description yet. |
Further information on MasterMap Topography is available to registered users within the Digimap service.
Contact us at: edina@ed.ac.uk
EDINA, Causewayside House
160 Causewayside, Edinburgh
United Kingdom EH9 1PR
EDINA is the Jisc-designated national data centre at the University of Edinburgh.
