OS Open Names

OS Open Names is a geographic directory that contains basic information about identifiable places (Named Place). The content of the Product is divided into themes based on their type and local type classification values. The primary use of the product is to provide the location for a named place to support discovery or identification and visualisation, geocoding, routing and navigation and linking diverse information about a place (for example, statistics or descriptions). The name of the place will be the key property used for querying. It is also recognised that a place may have multiple names; an official name, which may be defined in multiple languages (English/Welsh or English/Gaelic), for example, Cardiff (English) and Caerdydd (Welsh). Names are not unique so additional location information is provided to enable users to refine their query to select the Named Place they are interested in. These include: postcode district, populated place, district/borough, county/unitary authority, European region and country. The OS Open Names specification will extend the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) Geographical Names theme to ensure that it is compliant with European open data initiatives.