FCA authorised · FRN 724952 0117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Mapping and GIS
Yes: if clients rely on your maps, plans or GIS data, you need professional indemnity insurance. A boundary drawn in the wrong place, a feature missing from a constraints map or base mapping used without the right licence can cost a client far more than your fee, and none of those losses involve injury or damage. Public liability will not pay for them. PI covers your legal liability for negligent mapping and data work, subject to the policy terms.
Part of: Professional indemnity for consultants
In short
Cartographers and GIS consultants face claims when people act on a map: sellers and buyers fixing boundaries, designers laying out sites, councils and utilities planning work. In England and Wales, HM Land Registry title plans almost always show general boundaries only, and its guidance warns against taking measurements from them, so a plan you draw can become the main evidence in a boundary dispute. Ordnance Survey data is protected by copyright and database rights, and using, publishing or sharing it may need a licence; even free OS OpenData must carry an attribution. PI should respond to negligent mapping, data errors and, where included, unintentional copyright infringement.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
A map is a statement that something is where it is shown. Clients use your work to sell land, design developments, route cables, plan emergency responses and publish guides. When a line is in the wrong place or a feature is missing, the person who relied on it loses money: a redesign, a failed sale, a dispute with a neighbour, a pulped print run. That is a financial loss caused by professional work, and it is what professional indemnity (PI) insurance is for.
Public liability (PL) covers accidental injury and property damage, such as a landowner’s gate left open during a field visit and livestock escaping onto a road. It does not respond to a client who built to your map, or a publisher sued over your base mapping. If you fly drones for survey work, that needs its own aviation liability cover as well.
Your work may range from deed and sale plans to published maps, web mapping, spatial analysis and data services. Each one carries reliance, and your policy should describe all of them.
The following scenarios are illustrative, not real claims. They show the kind of allegation mapping professionals face.
Each allegation is the same at heart: a competent cartographer would have drawn, checked, licensed or labelled the work differently.
Mapping disputes are argued against land registration law, the rights in the base data and the quality you claimed for your output. These are the main reference points.
| Reference point | What it says | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| Land Registration Act 2002, s.60 | A registered boundary is a general boundary unless it has been determined, and a general boundary does not fix the exact line. | The title plan rarely settles a dispute, so earlier deed plans, including yours, carry the weight. |
| HM Land Registry, Boundaries and boundary disputes (2026) | Title plans are based on OS mapping and usually show general boundaries; measurements should not be taken from them. HM Land Registry cannot resolve disputes. A determined boundary plan almost always needs a chartered land surveyor, and less than 1% of registers have determined boundaries. | Clients need to know what your plan can and cannot prove. |
| HM Land Registry practice guide 40, supplement 2 | Plans must let the land be identified on the OS map or the application may be rejected or cancelled. Preferred scales are 1:500 to 1:1250 for urban and 1:2500 for rural land; plans should be drawn to a stated scale with a bar scale, and should not say “do not scale”. It notes plans printed from PDFs are often reduced and no longer to scale. | Sets the practical standard for any plan heading for registration. |
| Ordnance Survey licensing and copyright | Copyright and database rights subsist in OS data, and using, publishing, copying or sharing it may need a licence. Mapping created before 1 April 2015 is Crown copyright for 50 years from first publication; later mapping is protected for 70 years after the death of those who created it. | The most common source of infringement allegations against mapmakers. |
| OS OpenData and the Open Government Licence v3.0 | OS OpenData is free for commercial and personal reuse under the OGL, which requires you to acknowledge the source with the specified attribution. The rights end automatically if you do not. | Free data still carries conditions you can breach. |
| ISO 19157-1:2023 | Sets principles for describing the quality of geographic data, including how well a dataset conforms to its product specification. | A recognised benchmark for the quality statements you give with data. |
If a client supplies OS or other licensed data for a project, ask on what terms. Data passed to you for one job is not usually yours to reuse on the next.
This is the claim that sets cartography apart. Because registered boundaries in England and Wales are almost always general boundaries, the plan attached to a transfer or lease often becomes the main evidence of what was sold. If your plan is ambiguous, two neighbours can spend years and large sums arguing about what it means, and both may look to you for their costs.
Keep every version you issue. Sale plans are often redrawn several times before completion, and a dispute years later will turn on which version was signed.
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Negligent plans and maps that misplace boundaries or features | Deliberate copying, or use of data you knew was outside your licence | Drone flying (aviation liability) |
| Errors in GIS analysis, data processing and coordinate transformations | Promises of guaranteed accuracy or fitness for purpose | Injury or damage during fieldwork (public liability) |
| Unintentional infringement of copyright or database rights, where IP cover is included | Licence fees you would have had to pay anyway | Survey kit, drones and plotters (equipment cover) |
| Claims from third parties who relied on your maps, subject to the terms | Indemnities to clients that go beyond your legal liability | A ransomware attack on your servers (cyber) |
| Defence costs, including expert mapping evidence | Fines and penalties | Staff you employ (employers’ liability) |
Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms. Some PI wordings treat intellectual property claims narrowly, so ask for the infringement cover to be confirmed in writing if you work with third-party mapping.
No law sets a PI limit for cartographers. Developers, utilities, councils, publishers and engineering firms set one in their appointments or supplier terms, sometimes alongside an intellectual property indemnity. Size your limit by what people will do with the map: a constraints plan for a large development, a utility dataset used by contractors or a published map printed in thousands carries far more exposure than the fee suggests. Check whether the client wants each and every claim or aggregate cover, and whether IP claims carry a lower sub-limit.
Mapping claims often arrive late. A sale plan is tested when the land is next sold or a fence is moved, and a dataset can sit in a client’s systems for years before someone digs on the strength of it. PI is claims-made, so the policy that responds is the one in force when the claim is made, not when you drew the plan. Keep cover continuous, and arrange run-off if you retire or close the business. See run-off cover explained.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for cartographers, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes, if clients or the public rely on your maps, plans or data. A misplaced boundary, a missing feature or unlicensed base mapping can cause losses far larger than your fee, and public liability does not cover financial loss from professional work. PI covers your legal liability for negligent mapping, subject to the policy terms.
No law requires cartographers or GIS consultants to hold PI. In practice developers, utilities, councils and publishers usually make it a condition of the appointment or supplier terms, often with a minimum limit and sometimes with an intellectual property indemnity alongside it.
Yes, if the plan was drawn negligently. Registered boundaries in England and Wales are usually general boundaries, so a deed plan can become the key evidence. Make clear which side of a feature the boundary follows, add measurements where nothing physical marks it, and keep every version you issue.
It can, if your policy includes intellectual property infringement, subject to the terms. Wordings commonly exclude deliberate infringement, and PI will not pay licence fees you should have paid anyway. Check the licence for every dataset you use, including client-supplied data and OS OpenData, which needs an attribution.
Ordnance Survey says mapping created before 1 April 2015 is Crown copyright for 50 years from first publication, so a map first published over 50 years ago can be used without an OS licence. Newer mapping is protected for 70 years after its creators’ deaths. Check any separate terms from whoever supplied the scan.
Usually, if the error was negligent and data services are in your policy’s business description. State the source, date, accuracy and limitations of every dataset, using a recognised framework such as ISO 19157-1, and cap your liability in the licence or contract you supply it under.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for cartographers across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
