Guide to this website

On our Map images website, you can access and view over a quarter of a million maps as high-resolution, colour, zoomable images. Watch an introductory video. Read research guides for using maps to explore specific subjects.

Contents

Maps website home page graphic

I. Finding Maps

II. Viewing Maps

III. Enquiries and Copies

IV. Related Information

V. Site Map

I. Finding Maps

There are five main ways to find maps on our website. Watch an introductory video on our Map Finder.

  1. Map Finder - with Marker Pin

    Map Finder - with Marker Pin graphic

    Simply place a Marker Pin on your point of interest and view maps covering that place. Filter the results by date range, map type, scale, or keyword.

  2. Map Finder - with Outlines

    Map Finder - with Outlines graphic

    More advanced search. Search by map series or category, placename, National Grid Reference, and more. The outlines or geographic extents of your selected map series are shown on the screen.

  3. Browse by map category

    Browse by map category graphic

    From the home page, choose a category of maps (eg. Ordnance Survey maps, estate maps, or town plans) from the left-hand column. Read about the map category and scroll through browseable lists to view them. See also our Browse by category page for a descriptive list.

  4. Browse by map maker

    Browse by map maker graphic

    Browse an alphabetical list of names of those who created the map: surveyors, engravers, and map publishers.

  5. Keyword search

    Keyword search graphic

    At the top right of any page, type a keyword to use Google’s custom search of text on all of our map pages.


II. Viewing Maps

Bookmarks / Linking to the viewers

The URL in your web browser address bar changes dynamically as you zoom and pan the map viewers, and when you alter visible map layers and overlays. You can copy or bookmark the URL in your web browser address bar to save the current viewer zoom level, location, and layers, ie.:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=5.0&lat=56.00000&lon=-4.00000&layers=1&b=1&o=100

In the standard Map Images viewer, select the Link to this view tab in the footer to add these specific view parameters onto the base URL.

You can create any number of bookmarks to start each viewer focused on a specific location and with your choice of layers.


III. Enquiries and Copies

We are happy to supply printouts, digital images, and photocopies of the maps on our website. Read further guidance. Some maps have commercial re-use restrictions. For information about re-use and copyright, visit our Copyright page.

You can order a map from the standard Map Image viewer. You cannot order a map directly from the Georeferenced Map viewer. Read further guidance.

We are happy to answer any enquiries you may have about our website or our maps. For more information, visit our Contact Us page or our Ask a Question page.

IV. Related Information

Stay informed

V. Site Map

Our Site Map provides an overview of our website with links to the main sections.