More about Boundaries and boundary data

Digital boundary products are often used to create thematic (shaded) maps showing trends and identifying gaps or hot spots. Boundaries also add context to your map, so the user can immediately see which country or county is being shown.

Boundaries show the area enclosing each specific postcode or administrative unit. They are available at many different levels from country borders to individual postcodes or TV areas.

Boundaries can be used to identify trends, see distribution anomalies and identify opportunities. They can also be used to group information and balance territories, e.g. allocating postcode sectors to particular sales representatives. Some boundary products also include additional information such as, town population, streets, contours, rivers, etc.

Within the UK there are four postcode levels to consider:

Area
Used to create UK wide shaded maps or large distribution territories

District
Ideal building block for creating dealer territories, delivery areas, pharmaceutical bricks; or any application where you need a more strategic view

Sector
Popular for mapping trends such as performance measures, business and consumer demographics, marketing response rates, etc. Use postcode sector boundaries to create shaded maps or combine them to create sales territories, hospital catchments, etc. Can also be used to geocode your own data if you do not have a full postcode or exact placement is unimportant

Unit
Most often used to geocode data, e.g. add each entry in your customer address list so they are individually displayed. Unit postcode boundaries are often used to make small territories or make detailed, local analysis (e.g. catchments covering everywhere within 5 minutes of an outlet)