Looking for London postcode to area mapping data

Question

I am looking for London postcode to area mapping data.

I have reviewed several databases and API's and most resolve a postcode to at best a district and a ward, which doesn't correspond to the colloquial area (for want of a better word)

e.g.

Using these databases and API's typically maps SW1V1RB to administrative district and wards of:

"district":"Westminster","ward":"Warwick"

But a typical user would understand this to be Belgravia.

Is there a way to map postcodes to this area, rather than the administrative locations?

Answer 1

Start by considering synonyms for what you're calling "colloquial area", other than district or ward: neighborhood, region, zone, etc. See if there are already maps of such areas. Real estate agents often divide cities up into well-known but unofficial areas because they wish to group properties roughly according to market value and accepted colloquial terms. Maybe there are even official administrative districts, such as for school, health, police, etc, that do have popular names.

I notice Google Maps does seem to have mapped London neighborhoods. Maybe they have such data available via API. By the way, it says SW1V 1RB is in Pimlico, immediately SE of Belgravia.

Answer 2

OpenData BoundaryLine (Ordnance Survey)

ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) May 2014 edition. This includes full UK (including Northern Ireland)

Code-POINT Code-Point Open (May 2014)

This is a mirror that is updated yearly (or better) http://parlvid.mysociety.org/os/

Using all three you can build up a postcode to at best a district and a ward (We have done this for Parliament maps for Westminster offices in London). There will be some manual clean up with boundaries and postal code areas.

Answer 3

This is an interesting piece on such data for the UK.

Public data in the UK is often not-public, including post codes

Anyway the article provided via the link above will give you a direct link to the data you require. I'll let you decide on the morality of using wikileaks for such information.

Answer 4

Neighbourhood names are tricky, one possible source is the Flickr Shapefiles. You could look at Tom Taylor's work (referred to from here) but it seems not to be working today.