Wales

Mapping projects in the United Kingdom by country – England · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Wales

V・T・E Wales, United Kingdom

latitude: 52.4490, longitude: -4.2270 boundary: 5843758437, label: 26422880172642288017

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.

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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.

Council	OSM relation	Note
Anglesey	298793 298793
Blaenau Gwent	2750598 2750598
Bridgend	99774 99774
Caerphilly	2750677 2750677
Cardiff	1625787 1625787
Carmarthenshire	57534 57534
Ceredigion	77904 77904
Conwy	297287 297287
Denbighshire	192442 192442
Flintshire	198566 198566
Gwynedd	297286 297286
Merthyr Tydfil	2750939 2750939
Monmouthshire	358021 358021
Neath Port Talbot	89846 89846
Newport	335184 335184
Pembrokeshire	57535 57535
Powys	134324 134324
Rhondda Cynon Taf	2751428 2751428
Swansea	87944 87944
Torfaen	2750460 2750460
Vale of Glamorgan	103776 103776
Wrexham	137981 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	77961 77961
Mid Glamorgan	Relation not defined yet
Powys	2699713 2699713
South Glamorgan	Relation not defined yet
West Glamorgan	Relation not defined yet

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

National Parks

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

Name	OSM Relation	Note
Brecon Beacons	357283 357283
Pembrokeshire Coast	165598 165598
Snowdonia	287425 287425

Major cities

• Cardiff
• Newport
• Swansea

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. This remains poorly defined and has been arbitrarily mapped as following a line roughly equidistant between the English and Welsh mean low water marks.

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.