Get permission to use Places Manager
Your managing editor can arrange for you to access Places Manager. They can ask GDS to:
Download and update the active data set
To check and update the live data set in a find my nearest page:
-
Log into Places Manager.
-
Select your service name.
-
Select Export active data set as CSV to download the data set.
-
Update the data file if needed - do not change any of the column headings.
-
Save a new copy of the data set as a .csv file.
Upload a new data set
To replace the active data with a new version:
-
Log into Places Manager.
-
Select your service name.
-
Select Upload new data set.
-
Select Choose file to select your new CSV file.
-
Add a change note with a brief outline of whats changed - the change note will not be published.
-
Select Upload.
-
Select Data sets at the top of the page - youll see your version of the data is inactive with a status of processing.
-
Wait a few minutes for the data set to finish uploading - refresh the page to check if its ready.
-
When the status of your data set changes to Ready, select View and then Make active.
The new data will go live instantly on GOV.UK.
Add a new place to a data set
How to add a new place to your data set depends on how your data set has been created in Places Manager.
Most data sets are based on postcodes. In Places Manager, they have a Location match type of Nearest.
To add a place to these data sets, add a new row with the address and contact details of the new place.
A small number of data sets are based on local council at a district or county level. In Places Manager, they have a Location match type of Local Authority / district or Local Authority / county.
To add a place to these data sets:
- add a new row with the details of the new place
- make sure you add a GSS code to the gss column
- check the Office for National Statistics list of GSS codes to find the code for the relevant local council
If youre not sure which way your data set is set up, report a technical fault to ask GDS.
Fix errors in a data set
After you upload a new dataset, sometimes the status will say ready - some places with problems.
This means there are some errors (also known as geocode errors) in the data. These stop users from seeing the right search result for their area.
To fix the errors:
-
Log into Places Manager.
-
Select your service name, then click data sets.
-
Select view to see the active data set details.
-
Select show only places with errors to see the rows in the data with errors.
-
Select view by each error to see the geocode error details.
-
Follow the process above to download the active data set as a CSV file.
-
Update the errors in the rows affected and upload the new data set.
If youre not sure what to update, check for these common causes of errors:
- out of date postcodes
- typos - for example typing the letter O instead of the number 0
- pasting text into a cell and accidentally including extra characters
If this does not fix the problem, report a technical fault to GDS.