Power BI shape maps for Wales and the UK

Ready-to-use map files for the Power BI Shape map visual: real boundaries and hex maps, from Output Areas in Swansea to councils across the UK.

Open the live dashboard · Pick a file · Use it in Power BI · Guides

At a glance

Areas	Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, each Welsh health board area, all of Wales, England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Levels	Output Area (OA), LSOA, MSOA, council, health board, primary care cluster
Versions	Census boundaries for 2001, 2011 and 2021. Councils for 2011, 2021 and 2026. Health boards for 2023. Clusters for 2019 and 2024.
Map types	Geographic (real boundaries), hexmap and geogrid (one equal-sized hexagon per area)
Data	Synthetic sample data for every map, and the real Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2025
Format	TopoJSON, saved as .json
Sources	ONS Open Geography Portal and DataMapWales, downloaded on 10/11/2026

Quick start

1. See it first. Open the live dashboard and switch between areas and map types.
2. Pick a file from the catalogue and download it.
3. Load it into a Shape map visual by following Use a file in Power BI.

No data yet? Try a map with the sample data.

Previews

Each colour is one group that the hex maps keep together: a council, a health board or a nation.

	Geographic	Hexmap	Geogrid
Swansea and Neath Port Talbot, LSOA 2021
Betsi Cadwaladr health board area, LSOA 2021
Wales, MSOA 2021, by health board
Wales, primary care clusters 2024
England and Wales, councils 2026

Map type	What it shows
Geographic	The real boundaries.
Hexmap	One hexagon per area, following the outline of the map. Each group stays in one piece, with a thin gap between groups. Made with hexmap.
Geogrid	One hexagon per area on a regular grid shaped like the whole map. Each group stays in one piece, with no gap between groups. Grid made with geogrid.

Every map file has a matching image in images/.

Pick a file

Files follow one pattern:

maps/<version>/<level>/<area>/<map type>/<file>.json

The catalogue lists all 180 files with links and shape counts. This table shows what exists.

Shapes	Areas covered	Versions	Shapes per file
OA, LSOA, MSOA	Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, both together	2001, 2011, 2021	18 to 1,291
Council outline	Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, both together	2026	1 to 2
LSOA, MSOA	Each of the 7 Welsh health board areas	2021	19 to 417
LSOA, MSOA	All of Wales	2021	408 and 1,917
Councils	Wales, England and Wales, Scotland	2011, 2021, 2026	22 to 348
Councils	Northern Ireland	2021, 2026	11
Health boards	Wales	2023	7
Primary care clusters	Wales	2019, 2024	64 and 63
Primary care clusters	Swansea Bay health board area	2019, 2024	8

The all-Wales LSOA file has 1,917 shapes, more than the 1,500 that Power BI plots. For LSOA maps in Power BI, use a health board file instead. Every other file fits.

Use the version that matches your data. Area codes changed between censuses. 2021 census data needs a 2021 map, 2011 data needs a 2011 map, and so on.

Use a file in Power BI

You need a table with one row per area and a column holding the area code, for example W01000736.

1. In Power BI Desktop, add a Shape map visual to the report.
2. Drag your area code column into Location.
3. Drag a number, for example population, into Color saturation.
4. Select the visual. In the Visualizations pane, select Format visual and expand Map settings.
5. Set Map type to Custom map.
6. Select Add a map type and choose the .json file you downloaded.
7. Set Projection to Mercator.
8. Select View map type key and check that the codes match your column.

The full guide covers map keys, WIMD, loading by URL and fixes for common problems: Use the maps in Power BI.

Data

Folder	What it holds	Real?
data/synthetic/	One CSV per level and version, for example synthetic-lsoa-2021.csv. Area code, name, parent area and three measures.	No. The numbers are made up. Use them to try a map.
data/wimd/	wimd-2025-lsoa.csv: the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2025. Rank, decile and quintile for the overall index and its 8 domains, for all 1,917 LSOAs in Wales.	Yes. Published by the Welsh Government.

WIMD 2025 uses 2021 LSOA codes, so it joins to any 2021 LSOA map here. Rank 1 is the most deprived area.

Guides

Guide	Read it when
Use the maps in Power BI	You want to load a map and colour it with data.
Map files	You want the full list of files, with links.
What a map file needs	A map will not load, or you are checking a file from elsewhere.
How to use mapshaper	You are new to mapshaper, the tool that builds these files.
mapshaper cheat sheet	You know mapshaper and need a command.
Prepare your own map	You have your own JSON map and want it ready for Power BI, as a hexmap or as a geogrid.

Rebuild the files

Most people can skip this section. You only need it to refresh the data or change how the maps are made. It needs Bun. The hex maps also need R with four packages: see Install the R packages.

bun install
bun run build          # rebuild maps/ and images/, reusing .cache/
bun run build:rehex    # also compute the hexagons again (slow)
bun run build:refresh  # download everything again and rebuild
bun run data           # rewrite the synthetic sample data
bun run wimd           # download WIMD 2025 again
bun run catalogue      # rewrite docs/map-files.md
bun run check          # validate every map, image and data file
bun run site:serve     # build the dashboard and serve it locally

The build downloads each layer, checks the number of areas against the provider's own count, computes the hexagons with R, and writes maps/ and images/ with mapshaper. What to build is set in scripts/sources.ts.

Sources

The catalogue names the layer behind every level and version.

Publisher	Used for
ONS Open Geography Portal	Census areas, councils and health boards
DataMapWales, Welsh Government	Primary care clusters and WIMD 2025

ONS withdrew some layers on 10/11/2026. That day ONS stopped public access to the detailed (20 m) census boundary layers this project first used. The Swansea and Neath Port Talbot files built from them are unchanged, but they cannot be downloaded again until ONS restores access. The all-Wales and health board files use the ONS 200 m layers, which remain public.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Licence and attribution

The code and guides are under the MIT licence.

The boundary data and WIMD 2025 are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If you publish a map made with these files, include:

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

For primary care clusters or WIMD 2025, also include:

Contains Welsh Government data licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.