Download Building Use with MasterMap^®

Building Use is a new layer provided by MapServe®, that uses OS NGD data. It’s available in CAD format as a new addition to OS MasterMap® and it helps visualise various building uses, such as residential, education, greenspaces, hospitals, and transport hubs.

It contains 28 CAD layers that show the most recent and comprehensive building usage and access data collected by the Ordnance Survey. These are: Agriculture Or Aquaculture, Attraction Or Activity, Animal Services, Distribution Or Storage, Industrial Or Manufacturing, Commercial Activity: Other, Retail, Emergency Services, Funerary, Community Services, Religious Worship, Construction, Defence, Education, Government Services, Historic, Medical Or Health Care, Mixed Use, Residential Accommodation, Sports Attraction Or Facility, Temporary Or Holiday Accommodation, Transport: Air, Transport: Rail, Transport: Road, Track Or Path, Transport: Water, Unknown, Unknown Use and Utility Or Environmental Protection.

The layer is constantly updated with up to daily updates from the OS.

Building Use data has many applications. It can be used to quickly understand building usage at specific locations (e.g. ‘private residential’ or ‘primary school’), to compare and contrast the density and distribution of site uses across regions (e.g. all schools in a county), and to understand how accessible major sites are (e.g. where schools, train stations, and public parks are) and how they connect to the road network (e.g. for better transportation planning and efficient navigation). It’s useful for planning applications, site analysis, design and access statements and much more.

It is a geographic depiction of a building that is designated as being utilised for a specific purpose, such as a school, shopping mall, or private dwelling. It aims to identify the scope of the activity, and while this may be comparable to or identical to the ownership information provided by HM Land Registry (HMLR) or Registers of Scotland (RoS), it should not be interpreted as indicating legal scope or ownership.

It uses the British National Grid reference system.

Building usage serves various purposes such as justifying proposed use on new sites, aiding in planning and architectural decisions by understanding site safety and services impact, and informing planning statements. It also assists in change of use situations, streamlines planning applications, supports design and access statements, aids in architectural and lease plans, and helps in pre-application inquiries.

You can read all about Ordnance Survey’s maps accuracy on our website here.