Our data

The BGS is a data-rich organisation with over 400 datasets in its care; including environmental monitoring data, digital databases, physical collections (borehole core, rocks, minerals and fossils), records and archives. Our data is managed by the National Geoscience Data Centre.

Link: The British Geological Survey (BGS) has achieved accreditation under the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS) from the Director of the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI).

A full list of our datasets are available on Discovery Metadata.

Free data access and tools | OpenGeoscience

OpenGeoscience is a service that provides a wide range of freely available geoscience information allowing you to view maps, download data, scans, photos and other information. To encourage the use and re-use of this data we have wherever possible made the data within OpenGeoscience available under the Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced BGS materials: "Contains British Geological Survey materials © NERC [year]".

GeoIndex

Browse a UK map of a selection of our digital products

Downloads

Free downloads of reports, datasets and software

Web map services

Data in open formats for GIS: WMS, KML and linked data

Mobile apps

iGeology, mySoil and more!

Our products

Our products: a wide range of licensed GIS and tabular geoscience data. The datasets available have typically been developed on a national scale and range from the reference geological data family (DiGMapGB) to offshore bathymetric data, ground stability datasets and 3D models.

Data are typically available under licence, however an increasing number are available for view or download in OpenGeoscience.

Premium data services | For commercial use

GeoRecords

Search over a million borehole (and well) records held by the BGS in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC). Order copies online (either paper or digital) .

GeoReports

Online ordering of site specific geoscience reports. Available for a number of geoscience topics including: ground stability, flooding and radon across Britain.

BGS data resellers

Value added resellers (VARs), such as ARKeX

National Geological Repository

The National Geological Repository (NGR) is a national science facility and comprises borehole cores, cuttings, samples, specimens, and related subsurface information from the UK landmass and continental shelf. These collections are used extensively by industry, in research, and to support university teaching.

National Geoscience Data Centre | Managing our data

The National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) comprises data gathered or generated by the BGS or its precursors, as part of its national strategic mapping programme, in addition to data provided by external organisations.

We have the most comprehensive collection of geoscience information of Great Britain at the NGDC — for academic and commercial users.

Working with NERC

BGS data and information are supplied according to the NERC data policy.

NERC Data Catalogue Service

Find out about the digital products across NERC.

World data systems

The BGS is part of a network of world data centres.

World Data Centre for Geomagnetism (Edinburgh)

The Geomagnetism team of the BGS hosts the World Data Centre for Geomagnetism (Edinburgh) as part of the World Data Centre (WDC) system established by the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU).

30 most viewed datasets