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BGS 1:10 560 / 1:10 000 County Series geological maps

For much of the Geological Survey's existence, the County Series of maps were the standard large-scale maps on which geological mapping was undertaken. These maps are based on the Ordnance Survey County (or six-inch to the mile) series of maps. These maps were cut up to be used in the field to record geological observations, and on return to the office, the geology was transferred to a complete County Series map, which after approval was known as a 'standard' (England / Wales) or 'clean copy' (Scotland). This dataset contains the 'standard' or 'clean copy' County Series maps held by BGS. 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 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 County Series geological maps

Date (Creation)
1847
Citation identifier
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608221
Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Distributor

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Owner

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Point of contact
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

  • Geological maps

  • Geological models

  • Geology

  • UK Location (INSPIRE)

  • Geological surveys

  • Geological mapping

  • Maps

dataCentre
  • UK Location (INSPIRE)
Keywords
  • NERC_DDC

Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
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
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
Denominator
10560
Language
English
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information
Geographic identifier
GBN

ISO 3166_2 2009 revision

Geographic identifier
GREAT BRITAIN [id=139600]

British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

N
S
E
W
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Begin date
1847 After
End date
1980 Before
Supplemental Information

Each county is a sub-series with further sub series depending on the OS base map series used. As a result, maps of regions close to county borders may overlap. Their map projection was related to a central meridian for each county or groups of counties, so each had its own sheet numbering system. For some counties the meridian changed and the OS base maps and subsequent geological maps were issued on different sheetlines and numbering system. The new sheetlines/sheet numbers bear no relation to the sheetlines/sheet numbers of the superseded series. For some areas users will need to check the different series for their chosen area, checking index maps to ensure coverage and sheet numbers. The County Series were issued as either 'Full Sheets' and 'Quarter Sheets'. The latter — carrying the suffixes NW, NE, SW, and SE — are more recent, the former, full sheets being mainly from earlier periods of production. Over 10 000 sheet areas are covered if all the editions and amended or superseded versions were taken into account. There are over 30 000 map sheets. A considerable number of sheets, particularly in the coalfield counties such as Yorkshire, Lancashire and Durham, were published as monochrome maps (from engraved copper or lithographic plates) and subsequently hand-coloured. Sheets for the London area were eventually published and printed in colour. 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).

Unique resource identifier
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700)
Unique resource identifier
WGS 84 (EPSG::4326)
Distribution format
Name Version

PDF

Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

Enquiries

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name

HTTP

https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/data/MapsPortal/

BGS Maps Portal

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other

dataset

Conformance result

Title

INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication)
2011
Explanation

See the referenced specification

Pass
No

Conformance result

Title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

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

These geological maps were created by the Geological Survey from approximately the 1840s onwards. The paper maps were scanned to TIF image format at 300 dpi as part a scanning project from c. 2000 to the present day. JPEG2000 and PDF copies were created from the master TIF scans.

Metadata

File identifier
1702d912-a0e6-556e-e063-0937940a3bde XML
Metadata language
English
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Date stamp
2025-02-11
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

British Geological Survey

enquiries@bgs.ac.uk

Point of contact
Dataset URI

http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608221

 
 

Overviews

overview

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

UK Location (INSPIRE)


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