Guidance

How to access Natural England's maps and data

Find out the best way to download and use Natural England's data on the natural environment.

Published 3 February 2015
Last updated 1 February 2019 — see all updates
From:
Natural England
Applies to:
England

Natural England makes much of its data available to planners, developers, land managers and academics to help with decisions and support sustained environmental improvements. The data can be viewed or downloaded for use in a geographic information system (GIS).

Interactive mapping and data download from Magic

The Magic website provides interactive mapping of the natural environment from across government. You do not need specialist software and can access maps using a standard web browser. See T1 in the Magic FAQ for browsers that are supported.

Magic also provides dataset listings and options for existing data download services. The Magic download facility allows you to download directly from the Magic web page or link to another website where the responsible authority holds their data.

Natural England’s data

The list of data supplied by Natural England (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 231KB) provides information about the data and its availability:

  • you do not need to submit a data request if data is publicly available - to download click the link in column F

  • when you download the data you are provided with a link to the licence for that dataset - note the copyright acknowledgement text to use on maps

  • to find data that is not publicly available, filter column C to “Available on request for projects meeting Natural England’s core purpose” and make a data request following the instructions in Contractors and partners using geographic data

Data available on data.gov.uk

See the Natural England data products available on data.gov.uk. Each record includes links to download the data and further information.

Open Data

Pre-defined searches on data.gov.uk for Natural England’s Open Data:

Published under Natural England’s terms of use

Pre-defined searches on data.gov.uk for data published under Natural England’s terms of use.

Contact Natural England

For further information on:

Contractors and partners using geographic data

Follow the process below if you are a contractor recently awarded a contract with Natural England or working in a partnership with Natural England.

Make a data request

Select the required licence for your data request

The data spreadsheet above describes the contractors’ licences required for each set of data available. Fill out all details highlighted in yellow in the appropriate licence documents.

Download Natural England licence forms.

Send the data request by email

Email the work request form, the data spreadsheet and associated licences to naturalenglandgidatamanagers@naturalengland.org.uk.

Next steps

Natural England will make sure your application is an authorised use of the data with the correct licences in place and send you the appropriate data or register you for the partner data catalogue - where you can select and download the data you need.

Geographic data supply service standards

Natural England is committed to excellent customer service when supplying geographic data or responding to enquiries. Natural England’s data managers have service standards where they commit to:

  • respond to your initial email within 10 working days
  • send data within 10 working days of receipt of the work request form, data spreadsheet and licences for data that is on the DataShare website, or owned or held by Natural England
  • be helpful and properly trained to deal with your request
  • making sure you receive data in a timely way
  • inform you of other services where geographic data is publicly available
  • inform you of any delays, if there is a high demand for data

Note: data not owned or held by Natural England may take longer to supply than suggested above.

In return, Natural England expects that:

  • the person at the organisation who uses the data supplied is the person who reads and completes the work request form and licences
  • the correct acknowledgements or copyright are used for data, depending on which licence is used
  • the work request form and licence agreement is returned within 10 working days of receiving it
  • hard drives with data are returned promptly and within 5 working days
  • the job number is quoted in all correspondence so it can be referenced quickly
  • on receipt of data you will confirm within 5 working days that:
    • you have received all the data you expected
    • the data opens and displays correctly
    • the data request can be closed

If all information is not received within the timescales above the job will be archived. If the work request form and licences are sent after 10 working days, the job will be reactivated, but will be placed in a queue.

Terms and conditions for use of data

Natural England has made many of its geographic datasets available under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

The OGL is designed to give anyone - businesses, individuals, charities and community groups - a perpetual licence to re-use public sector information for either commercial or non-commercial use without having to pay or get specific permission.

The relevant licence is stated in the record on data.gov.uk along with any special licence conditions or acknowledgements. Natural England no longer publishes data under separate OGL documents.

If constraints such as third party intellectual property rights do not allow the use of the OGL the data will be published under Natural England’s terms of use for information and data (PDF, 77.1KB, 7 pages) .

Published 3 February 2015
Last updated 1 February 2019 + show all updates
  1. Updated version of Natural England’s terms of use for information and data.
  2. Added set of pre-defined searches for Natural England data on DATA.GOV.UK.
  3. First published.
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