Ordnance Survey Places API

Overview

Use this API for looking up and validating addresses, typically before updating patient details in the Personal Demographics Service.

You can:

identify UK addresses

verify the address records you are capturing against authoritative data from Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase® Premium and AddressBase® Premium - Islands

make requests using a full or partial address, a postcode, or a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)

find addresses closest to a given point

find all the known addresses within a user-defined area, bounding box or circle

verify an address before updating a patient's details in the Personal Demographics Service

This API is a third party API recommended for UK government services.

Data update frequency

The address, geometry and UPRN data is available for the UK and Isle of Man.  The address and UPRN data is available for Jersey and Guernsey.

This data is updated every 6 weeks.

Requests

This API has seven types of request in two categories.

Capture and verification category:

Find - a free text search for quick use

Postcode - a search based on a property’s postcode

UPRN - a search that takes a UPRN as the search parameter

GeoSearch category:

Nearest - finds the closest address to a given point

Bounding box - finds all addresses inside a bounding box

Radius - finds all addresses that intersect a given circle

Polygon - finds all addresses in a polygon or multi-polygon object

For more information, see the Technical Specification.

Documentation

Ordnance Survey Places API documentation

Endpoint

https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/ordnance-survey-places-api

Contact

https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/help-and-support