Glossary
bulk export
A bulk export delivers a dataset as complete files - ZIPs, XLSX workbooks, GML archives - instead of paged API calls. RIDB publishes complete-export ZIPs, OS Open Greenspace ships 34-76 MB zips across four GIS formats, and data.gov.uk lists nine formats from csv to wfs under bulk delivery.
What is a bulk export?
It is the whole-dataset file, offered directly. Recreation Information Database (RIDB) pairs its documented REST API with 'full JSON/CSV bulk exports; complete-export ZIPs published for download'. OS Open Greenspace goes further on format breadth: zipped downloads approx 34-76 MB depending on format across GML 3.2.1, Esri Shapefile, GeoPackage and Vector Tiles.
Statistical agencies join the same pattern. US Census Foreign Trade offers a downloadable country.xlsx covering all trading partners (~5 MB advertised, 1.9 MB observed); BEA's Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account provides XLSX and PDF downloads requiring no registration; and data.gov.uk's UK National Data Library records bulk delivery access spanning csv, geojson, shp, xls, xml, kml, json, wfs and wms.
Why does bulk export matter when choosing a dataset?
Format fit decides engineering effort. OS Open Greenspace's four-format spread means GIS teams pick GeoPackage or Shapefile without conversion, while web mappers take vector tiles from the same source.
Registration policy matters just as much: BEA requiring no registration removes onboarding friction entirely, whereas RIDB's API-plus-export duality lets teams choose their integration style. Watch advertised sizes against reality too - Census country.xlsx advertises ~5 MB but observed 1.9 MB - because capacity planning built on marketing numbers over-provisions.
How do you evaluate bulk exports in a source?
- Count available formats. Nine at data.gov.uk (csv through wms) and four GIS formats for OS Open Greenspace signal broad compatibility.
- Weigh export versus API. RIDB offers both; choose exports for snapshots and APIs for live availability queries.
- Check registration requirements. BEA needs none; confirm equivalents elsewhere.
- Validate actual file sizes. Advertised ~5 MB versus observed 1.9 MB for Census country.xlsx - measure before provisioning.
- Mind geospatial compression. 34-76 MB zips unpack substantially once extracted.
Related terms
- api-key-registration - the gate bulk exports often let you skip.
- overpass-api - the query-based alternative for OpenStreetMap-derived geodata.
Sector hub: leisure-facilities data.
Frequently asked questions
What formats do bulk exports come in?
Everything from CSV and JSON to GIS containers: OS Open Greenspace ships GML, Shapefile, GeoPackage and Vector Tiles; data.gov.uk lists csv, geojson, shp, xls, xml, kml, json, wfs and wms.
Do bulk exports require registration?
Frequently not - BEA ORSA XLSX and PDF downloads require no registration, and several agency exports follow the same keyless pattern.
Datasets containing this field
Datasets containing bulk export
6 datasets carry bulk export in the catalog. Open one, count the fields, judge for yourself.
BEA Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index — Recreational Goods & Vehicles
UK National Data Library — data.gov.uk
Decathlon.com Structured Outdoor & Sporting Goods Product Listings
sku · price · compare_at_price …+3 more
Eurostat Health Statistics
NPS Visitor Use Statistics (IRMA Stats)
Every listing shows the field dictionary, sample rows, and coverage before you commit. API, files, or your warehouse. Daily, weekly, or hourly.
Get sample rows