Access free address data using AddressBase
Use free property and street information to add geospatial data to your projects and comply with the UPRN standard.
Follow this guidance if you work in the public sector and you need to use address data, such as property and street information.
You must use the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) standard when identifying places in the UK. This allows users to easily cross-reference between different data sets and reduces errors in data exchange and communication. Every addressable location in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales and excluding Northern Ireland) has a UPRN, and using this standard can save money, time, resources and lives.
The guidance shares best practice in accessing address data using Ordnance Survey (OS) AddressBase products. This is a free set of products that lets public sector workers access essential geospatial data as part of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA).
Use AddressBase Core to identify property and street information
You should consider AddressBase your source of truth for all address data in Great Britain, and use AddressBase Core whenever possible before other solutions.
If your work involves finding addresses outside Great Britain, such as Northern Ireland, you can use AddressBase Islands to supplement AddressBase Core’s data.
All public sector bodies should use AddressBase Core for accessing address data rather than paying for other third party products.
AddressBase Core lets public sector organisations easily identify any property with a UPRN in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland) and locate it on a map with precision. The property has to exist, and not have been demolished or be yet to be built.
Why you should use AddressBase
AddressBase products are free to use if your organisation or project is covered by the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement. You can check if you are covered by the PSGA and if not, register for a PSGA membership.
AddressBase’s primary source of address data is taken from local authorities. Local authorities have a legal responsibility to capture and maintain address data for Great Britain.
This means AddressBase’s data is real and accurate. It includes locations for around 33 million addresses, as well as additional metadata.
The core underlying data is updated constantly, many times a day. Ordnance Survey collects, quality checks and publishes a new version of the whole data set on AddressBase every week.
You can use AddressBase to:
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include address data in any activity you are responsible for, as long as it is non-profit
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make any information you have created that includes AddressBase data in print, online and as data - such as a CSV or an API - available to the public
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meet your INSPIRE publishing obligations by publishing geospatial data in a consistent way
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share address data with anybody who is involved in providing an immediate response in emergency situations, even if they are not licensed to use Ordnance Survey data
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produce data suitable for third party research and development
For detailed information about OS data licensing, please follow Ordnance Survey’s Publishing OS Data guidance and Royal Mail PAF Public Sector Licenses guidance.
Check other resources for finding geospatial data
If you need more geospatial data, including map tiles, searching within polygons and data verification, you can use the OS Places API. This API is also covered by the PSGA and is free to members.
If your project or use case needs more advanced or specific features, there are other versions of AddressBase available.
AddressBase Plus gives up-to-date local authority addresses, multi-occupancy addresses and OS MasterMap Topographic Identifier (TOID) references.
AddressBase Premium includes data in Geography Markup Language (GML) 3.2.1 of pre-build addresses, historic addresses, alternative addresses, OS MasterMap Topography and Integrated Transport Network Layer TOIDs
AddressBase Islands provides address data in Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
You can find more information about other AddressBase features, as well as contact details, on Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase website.