Ordnance Survey reports record revenue amid AI push
Wed, 5th Aug 2026 (Today)
Ordnance Survey has reported record annual revenue of GBP £198.7 million, marking its 10th consecutive year of growth.
Revenue rose by GBP £4.1 million from the previous financial year, driven by the expansion of the National Underground Asset Register, growth in the OS Maps consumer app, and stronger demand from utilities, land and property customers.
A separate economic assessment cited by the organisation estimated that its work would generate GBP £10.6 billion in economic impact for the UK over the 10 years from the 2020-21 financial year to the 2029-30 financial year. Central to that calculation is the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement, a GBP £1 billion arrangement with government that gives public sector bodies access to Ordnance Survey data.
The figures show how far Ordnance Survey has moved beyond its historic identity as a producer of paper maps. It now maintains the National Geographic Database, a digital map of Britain containing 600 million location features and updated 30,000 times a day.
Use of that database grew by more than 30% over the year, while more than one million edits were made during the period. Since its launch four years ago, 16 data collections have been added and 70 major enhancements delivered.
Underground assets
A major part of the latest year's growth came from the National Underground Asset Register, which Ordnance Survey operates for the government. The platform combines records of buried pipes and cables that were previously held by hundreds of separate asset owners.
With Openreach joining the system, the register now covers more than 3.2 million kilometres of pipes and cables, representing more than 80% of known underground infrastructure in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The service has also widened its user base. More than 10,000 people now use the platform, transaction volumes rose 115% during the year, and more than 70% of local authorities and 90% of highway authorities have signed up to share details of their assets.
The wider aim is to reduce accidental strikes during excavation work, which can interrupt water and power supplies, delay projects and create safety risks. By bringing the data into a single view, contractors can check what lies beneath a site before work starts.
Climate analysis
Ordnance Survey has also been using its data in climate and infrastructure analysis. Work combining its mapping data with Environment Agency flood data found that 12% of England's roads and 20% of its rail lines could be exposed to climate-related flooding events.
Separate analysis identified 1.8 million homes at heightened wildfire risk on the edges of towns and cities. The organisation also said its subsidence modelling is being used to show where insurance claims are likely to be concentrated through to 2070.
In transport and energy planning, Ordnance Survey built a machine learning model with Transport for the North to identify which of the region's 6.4 million households have driveways or off-street parking. Local authorities can use that information to target public electric vehicle chargepoint locations.
It is also working with the Met Office to identify where solar potential is being missed. These projects reflect a broader shift in how Ordnance Survey is positioning its data: from a reference tool to a source of analysis used in planning, resilience and investment decisions.
AI shift
Artificial intelligence has been part of Ordnance Survey workflows for more than a decade, used to extract features from aerial and street-level imagery for map updates. The next step, according to the organisation, is agentic AI systems that would allow users to query geospatial information through natural language.
That would let users interrogate location data for decisions such as where to place housing, mobile phone masts or other infrastructure. The plan points to a wider effort to make Ordnance Survey's data easier to use across government and business.
Demand also increased across its commercial customer base over the year. Customer numbers rose by about 9% in utilities and 17% in land and property, according to the results.
On the consumer side, subscriptions to the OS Maps app increased 6% to 536,000, the highest total so far. Ordnance Survey also bought the remaining shareholding in Dennis Maps, reinforcing its position in the market for paper maps as well as digital services.
Nick Bolton, Chief Executive Officer of Ordnance Survey, said: "This year marked the 225th anniversary of our first map, and today, OS continues to innovate to meet the evolving needs of the nation. Our role is not just to provide data, but to ensure that it is continuously improving and delivering valuable insights: from mapping the pipes and cables beneath our streets to the flood and wildfire risks facing the communities above them. This work is helping both public and private sectors make better decisions about where to build, what to protect and how to unlock economic growth, as well as social and environmental opportunities."
He added that the organisation had completed a six-year programme to build its data foundation and was now focused on broader access. "This demand for trusted location data has delivered another year of growth, and with a six-year programme to build our data foundation now complete, our focus is now on making data more accessible to more people and organisations. Doing so will deepen our role as a strategic partner to government while creating greater value for customers across the private sector and strengthen our role as Britain's national mapping service," Bolton said.