Ordnance Survey maps have been put online on the Government-funded OS OpenData web site, in a move that will provide civilians with free and unrestricted access to most of OS map data.

The OS, which originally was a mapping organization, decided to release certain maps after months-long consultation with the Government.

The move will allow Britons to download and use maps relating to electoral and local authority boundaries as well as postcode areas free of cost.

Communities’ secretary John Denham said that local leaders could now use OS data to enhance local improvements as they could use it in crime mapping.

But, the Conservative Party has said that the Government’s concerned decision had put the future of the organization at risk. Some of the opponents have also showed concerns about how the government would fund the OS data release.

But, John Denham argued, “The wider economic benefits vastly outweigh the cost involved in making the data public and we’re confident of that.”

The move was the biggest shakeup in the over 250-year history of Ordnance Survey as previously every piece of map data had to be paid for.