Data sources & licences
Every third-party dataset behind the API, which response field(s) it powers, and its licence. Code is MIT licensed; the data below is a mix of Open Government Licence, Creative Commons and public-domain sources. Currently serving ONSPD May 2026.
| Provides | Coverage | Dataset | Publisher | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
postcode, part, eastings, northings, admin_district, ward, constituency, county, parish_code, census, classification, health, travel_to_work_area_code, police_force_area_code, national_park_code, built_up_area_code, county_electoral_division_code, date_introduced (codes) | UK & Crown Dependencies | ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) ONSPD May 2026 | Office for National Statistics | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
admin_district, ward, constituency, county (names) | England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland | ONS Open Geography Portal "Names and Codes" registers | Office for National Statistics | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
census.msoa_name | England & Wales | MSOA Names | House of Commons Library | CC BY 4.0 |
elevation; OS-derived coordinates embedded in ONSPD (eastings, northings) | GB mainland | OS Terrain 50 | Ordnance Survey | Ordnance Survey Data Licence — Crown copyright and database right 2026 |
| The postcode text itself, via ONSPD | UK & Crown Dependencies | Bundled in ONSPD (see above) | Royal Mail | Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026 |
boundary | Great Britain (not Northern Ireland, Channel Islands or Isle of Man) | GB postcode unit boundaries Approximate - Voronoi diagram of ONS NSUL address points, not an official/legal boundary | Mark Longair, derived from ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (NSUL) | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
nearest.railway_station | GB mainland | davwheat/uk-railway-stations | davwheat | Not stated |
nearest.railway_station | Northern Ireland | Translink NI Railways Stations | Translink, via Open Data NI | Open Government Licence |
nearest.hospital, nearest.gp | England | CQC care directory | Care Quality Commission | Open Government Licence |
nearest.gp | Northern Ireland | GP Practice List Sizes | Business Services Organisation (BSO), via Open Data NI | Open Government Licence |
nearest.hospital | Northern Ireland (major HSC Trust hospitals only) | Hand-compiled from HSC Trust websites and nidirect - no single downloadable dataset of NI hospital locations was found (RQIA's register excludes GP practices and HSC-run hospitals) | - | n/a |
nearest.school | England | Get Information about Schools | Department for Education | Open Government Licence |
nearest.school | Scotland | Scottish School Roll and Locations | Scottish Government | Open Government Licence |
nearest.bus_stop | GB mainland | NaPTAN | Department for Transport | Open Government Licence |
nearest.bus_stop | Northern Ireland | Translink Bus Stop List | Translink, via Open Data NI | Open Government Licence |
nearest.airport | GB mainland | OurAirports | OurAirports | Public domain |
nearest.coast | GB mainland | Natural Earth | Natural Earth | Public domain |
nearest.foodbank | GB mainland | Give Food | Give Food | CC BY 4.0 |
nearest.defibrillator (public-access units only) | GB mainland | The Circuit | British Heart Foundation | Not stated |
nearest.pharmacy, nearest.post_office, nearest.library | GB mainland | OpenStreetMap | OpenStreetMap contributors | ODbL |
utilities.electricity | Great Britain (14 GB licence areas, point-in-polygon); Northern Ireland hardcoded to its single distributor, NIE Networks (name only - NI has no MPAN-style distributor id) | GIS Boundaries for GB DNO Licence Areas 2024-05-03 | National Energy System Operator | Open Government Licence |
utilities.water, utilities.sewerage | England & Wales (GIS boundaries); Scotland/NI hardcoded to the national supplier | Constituency information: Water companies v1.5, April 2024 | Ofwat, via the House of Commons Library | Open Government Licence |
utilities.broadband | GB & Northern Ireland (not Channel Islands or Isle of Man) | Connected Nations data downloads | Ofcom | Open Government Licence |