Wales

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Mapping projects in the United Kingdom by countryEngland · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Wales
VTE
Wales, United Kingdom
Wikidata

latitude: 52.4490, longitude: -4.2270
boundary: 58437, label: 2642288017
Browse map of Wales 52°26′56.40″ N, 4°13′37.20″ W
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Wales is a country in the United Kingdom at latitude 52°26′56.40″ North, longitude 4°13′37.20″ West.

This page contains information relating to mapping activity that is specific to Wales.

See also United Kingdom.

Welsh names

Most places in Wales have Welsh names - these are shown on road signs and on street signs.

Welsh names can be tagged using name:cy=* see Multilingual names#Wales for an in-depth discussion of when and where to use it.

An OSM rendering showing the Welsh names is available at OpenStreetMap Cymraeg, as of November 2017.

Principal areas

The Principal Areas are governed by unitary authorities and are the legislative regions of Wales[1].

Council OSM relation Note
Anglesey relation 298793
Blaenau Gwent relation 2750598
Bridgend relation 99774
Caerphilly relation 2750677
Cardiff relation 1625787
Carmarthenshire relation 57534
Ceredigion relation 77904
Conwy relation 297287
Denbighshire relation 192442
Flintshire relation 198566
Gwynedd relation 297286
Merthyr Tydfil relation 2750939
Monmouthshire relation 358021
Neath Port Talbot relation 89846
Newport relation 335184
Pembrokeshire relation 57535
Powys relation 134324
Rhondda Cynon Taf relation 2751428
Swansea relation 87944
Torfaen relation 2750460
Vale of Glamorgan relation 103776
Wrexham relation 137981

Preserved counties

Preserved counties are counties based on the historic counties of Wales and used for lieutenancy.

Preserved county OSM relation Note
Clwyd Relation not defined yet
Dyfed Relation not defined yet
Gwent Relation not defined yet
Gwynedd relation 77961
Mid Glamorgan Relation not defined yet
Powys relation 2699713
South Glamorgan relation 11683951
West Glamorgan relation 11684749

Historic counties

There are thirteen historic counties of Wales (including Monmouthshire), the last of which were created by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. For the purposes of biological recording each historic county forms an eponymous vice county, with the detached parts of Flintshire treated as being in Denbighshire.

Historic county OSM relation Vice county OSM relation Note
Anglesey VC52 relation 360939
Brecknockshire VC42 relation 359909
Caernarvonshire VC49 relation 298872
Cardiganshire VC46 relation 361613
Carmarthenshire VC44 relation 361616
Denbighshire relation 363513 VC50 relation 298843 VC50 includes Maelor and Marford.
Flintshire relation 363512 VC51 relation 298834 VC51 excludes Maelor and Marford.
Glamorgan VC41 relation 359902
Merionethshire VC48 relation 298875
Monmouthshire VC35 relation 359815
Montgomeryshire VC47 relation 298880
Pembrokeshire VC45 relation 361615
Radnorshire VC43 relation 359950

National Parks

3 of the National Parks in the United Kingdom are in Wales.

Name OSM Relation Note
Brecon Beacons relation 357283
Pembrokeshire Coast relation 165598
Snowdonia relation 287245

Major cities

Boundary

The Welsh boundary can be best considered as split into three types:

  1. The land-based border between Wales and England. This is well defined, but the lack of copyright-free data means that the OSM boundary has been derived from New Popular Edition data and its accuracy may be limited.
  2. The maritime border between Wales and international waters. This was defined by the Government of Wales Act 2006, section 158: “Wales” includes the sea adjacent to Wales out as far as the seaward boundary of the territorial sea. The territorial boundary is in general 12 nautical miles (22.22 km) from the mean low water mark. In OSM, this has been automatically derived from coastline data.
  3. The maritime border between Wales and England, extending from land along the Dee and Severn estuaries to the territorial limit. The boundary is defined by means of specified coordinates in The Welsh Zone (Boundaries and Transfer of Functions) Order 2010. (Note: the coordinates specified in this legislation are erroneously written in degrees-minutes-seconds format when they are, presumably, degrees and decimal minutes, as the "seconds" are greater than 59 in several cases.)

See United Kingdom boundaries for more discussion regarding UK boundaries.

The boundary for Wales' maritime unitary authorities is generally at the 3 mile limit except where special provisions apply where islands are within three miles of more than one Unitary authority or where unitary authorities are themselves closer than 3 miles to one another. Thus the division between Anglesey and Gwynedd is a notional line down the Menai Strait. For Gwynedd the boundary includes Bardsey island and out to a limit of 3 miles beyond.

References

  1. Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 accessed 16 September 2009