Establishing coordinates

Dear Requester

Request for information - FOI12298

Thank you for your e-mail of 8th June 2012, requesting:

'I have been attempting for some time now to establish the proper co-ordinates of a property adjacent to my own.

The boundary of the property in question appears on maps as old as 1845 and is the northern boundary of a field whose parcel number is 6500 on a 1959 edition of Plan SD 4807 and Plan SD 4907.

The current OS map has not shown this boundary since 1980 when it was altered to reflect the construction of a housing estate to the north of the field

I have been advised that up to 1979 the co-ordinates for the north-west corner of this field are E349590:N407100. Can you please confirm these co-ordinates and whether they would remain so up to the present moment?'

Ordnance Survey is unable to confirm coordinates from 1979 as we do not hold this information. The reason we do not hold this information is because our historic map archive closed in July 2008 and weBno longer hold the historical information to confirm.

Under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 'the duty to provide advice and assistance' it may be of interest to note that in line with the Legal Deposit Libraries Act, Ordnance Survey as a commercial publisher has over many years deposited copies of all of its publications with the six Legal Deposit Libraries and during the disposal of the Ordnance Survey collection in 2008, these Legal Deposit Libraries had an opportunity to supplement or replace their comprehensive holdings.
The legal deposit libraries are:

The British Library
Web: http://portico.bl.uk
Email: maps@bl.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7412 7702

Bodleian Library Oxford
Web: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/rooms/nbrr
Email: maps@bodley.ox.ac.uk
Tel: 01865 (2)77013

Cambridge University Library
Web: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/
Email: library@lib.cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223 333000

National Library of Scotland
Web: http://www.nls.uk/collections/maps/index.html
Email: maps@nls.uk
Tel: 0131 623 3970

Library of Trinity College Dublin
Web: http://www.tcd.ie/Library/libraries/map.php
Email: map.library@tcd.ie
Tel: (+353 1) 896 2087/1544

National Library of Wales
Web: http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=maps
Email: holi@llgc.org.uk
Tel: 01970 632933

Ordnance Survey confirms that we do hold, and are able to provide theBcurrent coordinates. From the current recorded feature in the north-west corner of the field in question, these are: E349589 and N407102. These coordinates have been obtained from our current digital mapping using a computerBmouse to pinpoint the feature at which the coordinate has been derived.

We draw your attention to the fact that Ordnance Survey maps are topographic in nature. They only show physical features on the ground at the time of survey. Ordnance Survey maps never show legal property boundaries nor do they show ownership of physical features.

Although some property boundaries may be coincident with surveyed map features, no assumption should be made should be made in these instances and consequently it is not possible to be sure of a legal property boundary from an Ordnance Survey map.

You can read further boundary information at the following page of our website, which details in full the role of Ordnance Survey and HM Land Registry.

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/support/knowledgebase/property-boundaries.html

Internal Review
Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. If you are unhappy with our response, you may request anBinternal reviewBwith our FOI Appeals Officer, by contacting them as follows:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
Southampton
SO16 0AS

E-mail: foi@ordnancesurvey.co.uk
Please include the reference number above. You may request an internal reviewBwhere you believe Ordnance Survey has:

• Failed to respond to your request within the time limits (normally 20 working days)
• Failed to tell you whether or not we hold the information
• Failed to provide the information you have requested
• Failed to explain the reasons for refusing a request
• Failed to correctly apply an exemption
  

The FOI Appeals Officer will not have been involved in the original decision. They will undertake an internal review and will inform you of the outcome of the review normally within 20 working days, but exceptionally within 40 working days, in line with the Information Commissionerbs guidance. The FOI Appeals Officer will either: uphold the original decision, provide additional explanation of the exemption/s applied or release further information, if it is considered appropriate to do so.

Appeal to Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)
If following the outcome of the internal review you remain unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Case Reception Unit
Customer Service Team
The Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

E-mail: mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk 

Telephone helpline: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745 for advice, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

Thank you for your enquiry.