How to use Historic Download: Searching and Selecting Tiles

Please note: this help page refers to the previous version of Historic Download which is due to be withdrawn in December 2015, all functionality is now available in the new Historic Download application.

The Search and Select Tiles page of Historic Download is the main page of the Historic Download service, where you get to see where data is available and select the tiles or sheets you want to take.

NOTE: Areas with maps available are shaded light blue, darker shades of blue indicate there are overlapping maps sheets or tiles.

You can use the search options to locate an area that you would like to download data for. You can also simply zoom and pan the map to locate the data tiles or sheets. When you have found the location and edition you want you will need to make sure you are zoomed in far enough to see the tiles then you can change to select mode using the button at the top right of the map and begin highlighting the ones you want to take.

More details about:

• Changing the Edition
• Searching for a location
• Selecting tiles

Changing the Edition

Each data product has a 1st edition and up to 4 other revisions or later editions. You can change the editions at the top left hand corner of the map. All the editions of that particular product with their date ranges are listed. You will find that the area covered by each edition will vary and usually the later the edition the less area it covers. By changing the edition of your selected product before searching you can see how the coverage varies over the whole country.

NOTE: You can select from different editions in a single download, this is useful if you want to see how a small area has changed over time. Once you have found your location select the sheets or tiles you want then change the edition and select the tiles or sheets again if they exist for that area.

Searching for a Location

You can use the search boxes on the left hand side of the map to search for a place name or postcode, a grid reference, or a historical parish name. If there is a single match to our search the map will centre on its location automatically. If there are multiple matches then they will be listed below the search boxes. Clicking on the place you are looking for in the list will cause the map to centre on that location.

You can search for a new location at any stage, moving away from an area that you have already selected tiles will not cause them to be lost from your selection. If you want to zoom out to the maximum level at any stage then click on the small square button showing Britain at the top right of the map.

Selecting Tiles

Once you have found your location you will need to zoom in till you can see the individual tile or sheet outlines on the map. At this point the red text at the top of the map that says "Zoom in to select tiles" will disappear and the Select Tiles button at the top right edge of the map will now be toggleable.

Click on the Select Tiles button; the background to the arrow at the left side of the button will change colour to red indicating you are in select mode. You will now select tiles when you click on the map. Click and hold to drag a box to select a large number of tiles to cover a larger area. If you want to move the map, switch back to pan mode by clicking on the Move Map button next to the Select Tiles button. When selected a tile will change from blue to red. Re-clicking on a tile will deselect it, notice that when tiles are selected they will be listed on the right-hand side of the map.

The list contains all the tiles that will be downloaded, though there will be an opportunity to remove any unwanted tiles at the next stage. Tiles will remain in the list even if you have moved away from an area or have changed the edition. Selecting an area where there are overlapping tiles will result in all tiles for that area being added to the list. If you are sure that you do not need the tiles from one or more of the overlapping counties (If downloading County Series data) or scale bands (If downloading Town Plans) then you can remove them on at the Download Data stage.

Above the list there is a note of how many tiles you have selected and how many in total you can take.

Once you are happy with the list of tiles click Continue to go to the Downloading Data page.