OS Open Rivers

A free dataset showing the high-level view of watercourses in Great Britain. OS Open Rivers GIS data contains over 144,000 km of water bodies and watercourses map data. These include freshwater rivers, tidal estuaries and canals.

  • Networks
  • Download
  • OS OpenData Plan (FREE)
  • Premium Plan
  • Public Sector Plan

This product is updated every six months

Representation of data provided
Representation of data provided
© Crown copyright and database rights. Ordnance Survey 2025

What OS Open Rivers provides you with

Solve challenges

Model simple what-if scenarios. OS Open Rivers lets you answer questions like ‘which rivers would be affected by a toxic discharge from this site?’

Water quality data

For sharing water quality data, this is ideal. OS Open Rivers lets you tag information with the river IDs used by environment agencies so everybody can use it.

Comprehensive map data

OS Open Rivers GIS data contains over 144,000 km of water bodies and watercourses map data. These include freshwater rivers, tidal estuaries and canals.

OS Open Rivers

Technical information

© Crown copyright and database rights. Ordnance Survey 2025

Specifications

Access
  • Download
Data theme
  • Water
Data structure
Vector - Topologically structured link and node network
Coverage
Great Britain
Scale
1:15 000 to 1:30 000
Format
  • ESRI Shapefile
  • GeoPackage
  • GML 3.2.1
  • Vector Tiles
Ordering area
  • All of Great Britain
Publication months
  • April
  • October
OS Data Hub plan
  • OS OpenData Plan (FREE)
  • Premium Plan
  • Public Sector Plan

Documents and Support

Technical documentation

  • OS Open Rivers technical documentation
    Visit docs.os.uk to access all technical documentation for this product, including getting started guide, technical specification, release notes, and other supporting documents.
    link

OS Open Rivers

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What you get

Key features
  • Solve challenges
  • Water quality data
  • Comprehensive map data
Category
Networks
Access
  • Download
Data structure
Vector - Topologically structured link and node network
Update frequency
Every six months

How to access

OS OpenData is free

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Further support

For further help about how our data can transform your organisation, contact us today

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