Digital boundaries for 2001 output areas (OAs) and super output areas (LSOAs and MSOAs) for England and Wales are available to download. These boundaries are for users to input into their own geographical information systems to carry out spatial analysis or visualisation.
The boundaries are available in Esri Shapefile and MID/MIF formats, with accompanying metadata in HTML and XML formats which can be displayed in any internet browser.
Boundaries for each geography are created at full resolution and in a generalised (to 20 metres) format. We offer two coastal extents for each of the resolutions: 'extent of the realm' (usually this is the Mean Low Water Mark but in some cases boundaries extend beyond this to include offshore islands) and 'clipped to the coastline' (Mean High Water Mark) giving the coastline a more orthodox appearance.
The four boundary types produced are designed to be used in different contexts (such as analysis or visualisation).
It is important that users understand which boundary type they require prior to download by reading the boundary guidance document contained in the Downloads section.
2001 output areas are supplied under the Open Government Licence and Ordnance Survey Open Data terms and conditions.
2001 output areas (OA) boundary
| Date last released | Download formats | ||
| Full resolution, extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (428Mb) | |
| Full resolution, clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (364Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (138Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (144Mb) | |
All files will be downloaded in Zip format.
2001 lower layer super output areas (LSOA) boundary
| Date last released | Download formats | ||
| Full resolution, extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (242Mb) | |
| Full resolution, clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (271Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (82Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (85Mb) | |
All files will be downloaded in Zip format.
2001 middle layer super output areas (MSOA) boundary
| Date last released | Download formats | ||
| Full resolution, extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (150Mb) | |
| Full resolution, clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (151Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), extent of the realm | October 2012 | shapefile (52Mb) | |
| Generalised (20m), clipped to the coastline | October 2012 | shapefile (54Mb) | |
All files will be downloaded in Zip format.
File Download Manager
It is suggested that a Download Manager is used to support downloading of census geography products. It is a tool that facilitates file download from the Internet. These tools are particularly useful when working with large files (such as geography spatial files) by managing the download process and managing occurrences of broken download sessions. This saves you needing to restart the download.
If you do not have a Download Manager use an Internet search engine to search for 'file download manager' to discover a range of tools, both free and charged for.
Keep me informed
You can sign up for prospectus email alerts. These will be sent out every time the census geography prospectus content is updated. We will not use/share your details which will only be used to inform you of geography products and management of these, in line with the ONS MailChimp statement.
