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Our public task

Our public task sets out what we do for Britain on behalf of UK Government.

Under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), Ordnance Survey (OS) provides Great Britain’s national mapping services. We create, maintain and provide access to consistent, definitive and authoritative location data of Great Britain. Our expertise helps organisations to maximise the use, value and benefit of the data for the national interest and the public good.

Our public task means we:

  1. Create, maintain and improve the National Geographic Database (NGD). This contains the data that describes the geography of Britain;
  2. Provide access to the NGD with the public and private sectors;
  3. Provide technical and customer support to maximise the use, value and benefit of the NGD;
  4. Provide leadership, domestically and internationally, on best practice with regards geospatial data, standards and services; and
  5. Maintain and develop the underlying physical infrastructure which is needed to support the capture and maintenance of the NGD.

The PSGA contract provides details of all of the activities we undertake to deliver our public task.