Description: From 1845 to1930, civil parishes formed part of Scotland’s local government system. The parishes, which had their origins in the ecclesiastical parishes of the Church of Scotland, often overlapped the then existing county boundaries. Parishes have had no direct administrative function in Scotland since 1930. There are 871 civil parishes in Scotland. The initial version of the Civil Parish boundaries was first created by Geography Branch, GROS in the mid-1960s. The boundaries were plotted on to Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 maps using the written descriptions of the parishes. In the late 1980s the boundaries were digitised using the Geographic Information System, called “GenaMap”. In 2006, GenaMap was replaced by ESRI’s ArcGIS product, and the civil parish boundaries were migrated to the new system. In March-April 2009 many of the coastal postcodes were edited to improve their alignment with MasterMap’s coastal detail. As a result, in May 2009 some of the coastal parishes were edited to ensure that all postcodes’ Gridlink points would fall within the limits of the civil parish boundaries. In terms of provenance, the vast majority of the civil parish boundaries date back to their original drawing in the mid-1960s onto OS 1:10,000 maps.
Description: The geography of Scotland comprises the mainland plus many islands. Some of these islands are inhabited and through time their inhabited/uninhabited status can change. The prime reason for identifying inhabited islands was to aid the delivery and collection of Census questionnaires. If an island is inhabited, then Royal Mail will allocate postcodes to the island’s addresses. Many of the larger islands, with relatively large populations, will have postcodes that cover only the island. However, some of the smaller inhabited islands have very few households and in some cases the postcode for these island addresses is the same as that of some households on the mainland. In order to ensure that Census questionnaires are collected and delivered correctly, it is important that both parts of the postcode (the island addresses and the mainland addresses) are contained within the same Census Enumeration District. The identification of inhabited islands helps with the creation of meaningful Census Enumeration Districts. In addition to the enumeration aspect of the census, there has always been an interest in the statistics associated with Scotland’s inhabited islands and this dataset helps ensure that they are all identified.
Description: National Records of Scotland (NRS) create and maintain digital locality boundaries to support the creation of statistics for geographies that generally describe the urban areas of Scotland. Localities have a minimum rounded population of 500 people or more and generally correspond with the more recognisable towns and cities of Scotland. This dataset represents the population weighted centroids for each locality. Current Locality geographies are reflective of mid-2016 populations, having been created using an amended version of postcodes from the Scottish Postcode Directory (SPD) 2016, release 2. Older versions of Settlements and Localities geographies are available from the NRS website.
Description: National Records of Scotland (NRS) create and maintain digital locality boundaries to support the creation of statistics for geographies that generally describe the urban areas of Scotland. Localities have a minimum rounded population of 500 people or more and generally correspond with the more recognisable towns and cities of Scotland. Localities nest within NRS Settlements geography, with every settlement having at least one locality (i.e. the Locality is the Settlement). Current Locality boundaries are reflective of mid-2016 populations, having been created using an amended version of postcodes from the Scottish Postcode Directory (SPD) 2016, release 2. Older versions of Settlements and Localities geographies are available from the NRS website.
Description: National Records of Scotland (NRS) create and maintain digital settlement geographies to support the creation of statistics for areas that generally describe the urban or built up areas of Scotland. NRS define a settlement as a collection of contiguous high density postcodes, bounded by low density postcodes (or water), with a population of 500 or more. This dataset represents the population weighted centroids for each settlement. Current Settlement geographies are reflective of mid-2016 populations, having been created using an amended version of postcodes from the Scottish Postcode Directory (SPD) 2016, release 2. Older versions of Settlements and Localities geographies are available from the NRS website.
Description: National Records of Scotland (NRS) create and maintain digital settlement boundaries to support the creation of statistics for geographies that generally describe the urban areas of Scotland. NRS define a settlement as a collection of contiguous high density postcodes, bounded by low density postcodes (or water), with a population of 500 or more. While settlements can go a long way in defining the towns and cities in Scotland, some cover extensive areas and group together large populations. Current Settlement boundaries are reflective of mid-2016 populations, having been created using an amended version of postcodes from the Scottish Postcode Directory (SPD) 2016, release 2. Older versions of Settlements and Localities geographies are available from the NRS website.