QGIS INSPIRE polygons: the Edgelands alternative

You've come across the INSPIRE Index Polygons and you're weighing up whether to use QGIS or Edgelands. The direct answer for the QGIS INSPIRE polygons question is this: QGIS if you want to work with the data, Edgelands if you want to look at it. Both show the same registered freehold boundaries for England and Wales. The difference is setup time, capability, and cost, and this article covers all three honestly, including where QGIS wins.

The data behind both tools is identical

Both draw from exactly the same source: the HM Land Registry INSPIRE Index Polygons, the free open dataset of every registered freehold boundary in England and Wales. Published monthly under the Open Government Licence, updated on the first Sunday of each month.

The polygons show registered freeholds only. No leaseholds. No owner names. Nothing for unregistered land, because by definition there is no register entry for it. Both tools inherit these limits identically. Neither can tell you who owns a parcel (that is a £7 title register from HM Land Registry), and neither can tell you whether a gap is genuinely unregistered land or a digitising artefact. If you want to understand the dataset properly before you pick a tool, what INSPIRE Index Polygons actually are covers the format, licensing, and limitations in full.

What QGIS is and what it actually costs you

QGIS is a free, open-source desktop GIS application. Cross-platform, actively maintained, no fee of any kind. If the analysis you need is in scope, it is the obvious choice: serious capability, a community that has been developing it since 2002, and nothing to pay.

The cost is time and friction, and it is worth being honest about what the process involves.

To view INSPIRE polygons in QGIS you go to the Use land and property data service on gov.uk, download the INSPIRE data by local authority, and extract the GML files inside. There is one zip per council. For one or two councils, that is quick. For a county, you are downloading several dozen zips. For all of England and Wales, you are downloading several hundred.

The GML geometry arrives in ETRS89, the coordinate system the INSPIRE specification mandates. Most aerial basemaps and British data are in Web Mercator or British National Grid. QGIS reprojects on the fly, but getting the projection right the first time is the step everyone gets wrong once. You fix it, style the polygons to be semi-transparent so you can see through them to the basemap, add an XYZ tile service for aerial imagery, and you are working. It takes an afternoon the first time.

The data also goes stale. HM Land Registry publishes a new INSPIRE release each month, but your local copy does not update itself. Whatever you built in July is a July snapshot.

For the detailed walkthrough including the reprojection, basemap options, and QGIS styling, how to overlay INSPIRE polygons on an aerial map covers all of it.

What QGIS does that we do not

This section matters and it comes first for a reason. QGIS does things Edgelands simply cannot do.

Spatial analysis. QGIS can answer questions no viewer can. Show me every gap within 200 metres of this road. Intersect the unregistered areas with the Environment Agency flood zones. List every parcel under 0.1 hectares in this parish. A web viewer shows you what is there; a GIS tells you what is true across the whole dataset. If your question has "every" or "within" or "across" in it, you need a GIS.

Your own data. The point where a viewer ends and a GIS starts is when you want to bring your own layer in. Your survey points. A client's portfolio of holdings. A spreadsheet of addresses you want to geocode and cross-reference against registered boundaries. None of that is possible in Edgelands. All of it is possible in QGIS.

Exports. If you need a shapefile, a georeferenced PDF, or a print layout with a scale bar and a north arrow for a planning report or a solicitor's pack, QGIS is the tool. Edgelands is not a production mapping platform.

Offline work. Once you have the files on disk, QGIS works without a connection. If you are in the field with a laptop or you want a snapshot that does not depend on a subscription, that is a real advantage.

Free. Not a minor point. QGIS costs nothing now and costs nothing in two years. If your research is done and you do not need the map again, there is no ongoing charge. Edgelands is £5 a month. If you are already comfortable in QGIS and it does what you need, there is no reason to add a subscription on top.

What Edgelands does that QGIS makes harder

The difference is not capability, it is friction. Specifically: friction for the use case of looking at one patch of ground, today, without installing anything.

No setup. National coverage, already downloaded from gov.uk, converted from GML, reprojected into the right coordinate system, and tiled for smooth browser rendering. You do not download a zip per council or wait through a slow desktop render. You open a browser.

Works on a phone. Panning around a map on a mobile browser is a completely different experience from a QGIS desktop. For a quick check while you are out, or for looking at something on your phone that you want to visit, the browser is the right answer.

Basemaps pre-wired. OS Outdoor mapping and satellite imagery are already set up, with an opacity slider on the polygon layer so you can fade the boundaries over whatever is underneath. You are not reading the terms of use for an XYZ tile service before you can see anything.

Data stays current. The monthly INSPIRE release goes live in Edgelands automatically. You do not maintain the pipeline.

One question, one place. For the person who has spotted something that looks like a gap and wants to know whether there is a registered polygon over it, the setup overhead for QGIS is the expensive part of the afternoon. For that single question, a browser is faster.

Side by side

The shared limits

Worth being plain about, because neither tool changes them.

The polygons show a general boundary. Under section 60 of the Land Registration Act 2002 a title plan does not determine the exact legal line. The boundary is indicative: drawn at 1:1250 in urban areas and 1:2500 in rural, where the width of the drawn line itself covers a real distance on the ground. For anything that matters legally, you need the deeds, the physical evidence, and usually a surveyor. The general boundaries rule explains this in full.

Neither tool shows owner names. The proprietor is in the title register: £7 per parcel from HM Land Registry. Neither shows leaseholds or unregistered land.

A gap in either tool is a lead, not a conclusion. It might be genuinely unregistered land. It might be a boundary artefact, a sliver a metre wide that is noise rather than ground. Is there a map of unregistered land in the UK? covers how to tell the difference and what to do next.

Who each tool is actually for

QGIS is for the person who wants to work with this data properly. A researcher mapping something across a region. A planner who needs to export into a report. Someone with their own survey data who wants to cross-reference it against INSPIRE. A student learning GIS. Someone already using QGIS for something else who does not want a second subscription. If any of that is you, install QGIS and put the time in. It will pay back.

Edgelands is for the person with a specific question about a specific place. Someone who spotted a blank on a map and wants to look at it before committing to anything. A hobbyist working through a list of candidates one by one. Someone who wants to check a parcel from their phone while they are standing near it. If the research question is "what is this and is there a registered polygon over it," the browser is faster.

There is a reasonable middle ground: using both. QGIS for analysis work, a viewer for the quick look. Nothing stops that.

Where Edgelands sits in all this

Edgelands maps every registered freehold in England and Wales with the gaps left showing, on a map you pan around in a browser. We processed the INSPIRE download, the GML conversion, the reprojection, and the monthly update cycle so you do not have to. OS Outdoor and satellite basemaps are already wired in.

It is a research tool for finding unregistered land: it shows you the gaps, which is the part that is genuinely hard to do without software. It does not tell you who owns a parcel, it cannot help you claim anything, and its boundaries are indicative under the same general boundaries rule that applies to any INSPIRE viewer. Find a gap worth investigating, confirm it with a title search, and talk to a property solicitor before you do anything on the ground.

£5 a month, 7-day free trial. If QGIS already does what you need, there is no case for adding a subscription. If you want to browse gaps without installing a GIS, that is what Edgelands is for.

FAQ

Is Edgelands a replacement for QGIS? No. They are different tools for different jobs. QGIS is a full GIS application for spatial analysis, data joining, exports, and offline work. Edgelands is a browser-based viewer for looking at INSPIRE polygons over aerial and OS basemaps. If you need to run spatial queries or work with your own datasets, QGIS is the right tool. If you want to browse the gaps and find unregistered land candidates, Edgelands is faster to start with.

Is QGIS free? Yes. QGIS is free, open-source software available at qgis.org, licensed under the GNU General Public Licence. There is no subscription or fee. Edgelands costs £5 a month with a 7-day free trial.

Do QGIS and Edgelands use the same INSPIRE data? Yes. Both draw on the HM Land Registry INSPIRE Index Polygons: the free boundary dataset of every registered freehold in England and Wales, published monthly under the Open Government Licence. The data is identical. The difference is how it reaches you.

What can QGIS do that Edgelands cannot? Spatial analysis: areas, buffers, intersections, distance queries. Joining polygons to your own data. Exporting as shapefiles, PDFs or print layouts with a scale bar. Working offline. Adding any layer you choose: soil maps, flood zones, historic mapping, your own survey data. QGIS is free and works forever. These are real advantages and Edgelands does not replicate them.

What does Edgelands do that QGIS makes harder? Edgelands has national INSPIRE coverage already downloaded, reprojected and tiled, with OS Outdoor and satellite basemaps pre-wired and data updated monthly. In QGIS you source and configure all of that yourself: one GML zip per local authority, a reprojection step, basemap licensing, and a stale local copy every month. Edgelands also works on a phone. QGIS does not.