Index of places in Great Britain
The Index of Place Names (IPN) in Great Britain is published by the Office for National Statistics.
The IPN is a list of "places" in Great Britain. For each "place" included, the IPN lists which areas that place is located within, for each of a set of administrative geographies.
The latest edition of the IPN (published July 2016) contains 87,338 entries.[1]
An Index of Place Names was first produced for the 1831 Census. The last Index to be produced as a separate Census volume was published in 1985. Since then the IPN has been available in electronic format, initially as a CD, and, more recently, as a download. The most recent version can be downloaded for free as a CSV file through the ONS Open Geography Portal. A searchable online version of the IPN is also available on the ONS Open Geography Portal.[2]
All place names are assigned to the appropriate administrative areas existing as at 31 December 2015. The Index gives some alternative names for places, as well as Welsh-language names where appropriate. The 2016 edition of the IPN is the first to also feature Scottish place names.
Types of place included
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The following types of "place" are included in the IPN (the IPN Place Name Type Code is in brackets):
- Locality (LOC) – villages, hamlets and localities without legally defined boundaries
- Historic County (CTYHIST)
- Lieutenancy County (CTYLT)
- Electoral ward / division (WD)
- Civil parish (PAR) (England and Scotland)
- Community (COM) (Wales)
- Unitary Authority (UA) (England and Wales)
- Council Area (CA) (Scotland)
- London borough (LONB) (England)
- Metropolitan District (MD) (England)
- Non-metropolitan District (NMD) (England)
- Non-metropolitan County (CTY) (England)
- National Park (NPARK)
- Region (RGN) (England)
- Built-up Area (BUA) (England and Wales)
- Built-up Area Sub-division (BUASD) (England and Wales)
Fields included for each place name
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Each record in the IPN relates the place name to the following fields (the IPN Field Name is in brackets after the description):
- Place Name Identifier (PLACEID) – unique numeric identifier ignoring splits across geographical areas
- Place Name Code (PLACE15CD) – code to identify place name taking into account splits across various geographical areas
- Place Name (PLACE15NM)
- Split Place name Indicator (SPLITIND) – shows where a place is split between two or more geographical areas. Each part is listed in a separate entry, with a different grid reference and a different identifying Place Name Code
- Population Count (based on 2011 Output Areas best-fit population) (POPCNT) – for local government areas
- Place Name Description (DESCNM) – type of place, as listed above, i.e. BUA, BUASD, CA, COM, CTY, CTYHIST, CTYLT, LOC, LONB, MD, NMD, NPARK, PAR, RGN, UA, or WD
- Historic County Name (CTYHISTNM) – Definition A of the Historic Counties Standard[3]
- Lieutenancy County Name (CTYLTNM) – ceremonial county (England) / preserved county (Wales) / lieutenancy area (Scotland)
- Country Name (CTRY15NM)
- County Code (CTY15CD) – metropolitan county / non-metropolitan county / Inner London / Outer London
- County Name (CTY15NM)
- Local Authority District Code (LAD15CD)
- Local Authority District Name (LAD15NM)
- Local Authority District Description (LADDESCNM) – London borough (LONB) / metropolitan district (MD) / non-metropolitan district (NMD) / unitary authority (UA) / Council Area (CA)
- Electoral Ward / division code (WD15CD)
- Civil parish code (England and Scotland), Community Code (Wales) (PAR15CD)
- Strategic Health Authority Code (England), Health Board Code (Scotland), Local Health Board Code (Wales) (HLTH12CD)
- Strategic Health Authority Name (England), Health Board Name (Scotland), Local Health Board Name (Wales) (HLTH12NM)
- Registration District Code (England and Wales) (REG15CD)
- Registration District Name (England and Wales) (REG15NM)
- Region Code (England) (RGN15CD)
- Region Name (England) (RGN15NM)
- National Park Code (NPARK15CD)
- National Park Name (NPARK15NM)
- Built-up Area Code (England and Wales), Built-up Area Sub-division Code (England and Wales) (BUA11CD)
- Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Code (PCON15CD)
- Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Name (PCON15NM)
- European Electoral Region Code (EER15CD)
- European Electoral Region Name (EER15NM)
- Police Force Area Code (PFA15CD)
- Police Force Area Name (PFA15NM)
- 1-metre grid reference (GRIDGB1M)
- 1-metre Easting grid reference (GRIDGB1E)
- 1-metre Northing grid reference (GRIDGB1N)
- 1-kilometre grid square reference (GRID1KM)
- Degrees latitude (to 6 decimal places) (LAT)
- Degrees longitude (to 6 decimal places) (LONG)
In the fields which present a code, the IPN uses the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standard 9-character codes.