Loading Documents obtained from Public Sources

Official copies of documents supplied by Public Bodies

By law certain public bodies have to keep documents in a register and supply copies - usually in PDF form - to anyone who requests one. Examples include the Land Registry, Companies House, and local authority planning departments. The PDF copy downloaded from the organisation's website will generally have a "date modified" date which is the date the organisation supplied the copy to you - not the date of the document itself - so, after you have loaded the document  by tapping the Add Documents button (see example video), you then need to set the date (see example video) so that it shows the correct date of the document (unless the downloaded PDF already happens to include the document date in d MMM yyyy format in which case that date will be set automatically). 

The Document Description set will initially be the file name of the PDF which may be a useful description - PDFs obtained from the Land Registry and from local authority planning departments usually have meaningful names including the type of document and a reference number such as the title number or planning application number, but PDFs provided by Companies House, for example, often do not. If it is a useful name you may be able to leave it as it is: if not then give it a concise descriptive name. Sometimes the name of the downloaded PDF varies depending on how it is downloaded from the organisation's website: if there is more than one way of downloading it choose the method which results in the most meaningful PDF filename. Some downloaded documents - e.g. from the Land Registry - may have Document Title metadata which is a fuller description than the file name in which case that can be used as the Document Description.

Occasionally Some information provided by public bodies is only available to be display on their website and not specifically provided to be downloaded in PDF form. In this case you can "print to PDF" to obtain a PDF copy. 

Public Documents provided by Private Organisations 

Some private organisations provide to the public geographical information such as satellite images and street views and, although they may be private organisations under no statutory duty to provide accurate (or indeed any) information to the public, many - Google for example - have a good reputation for providing accurate geographical information. 

Unlike with public bodies providing official documents, which may be designed to be used in legal proceedings and contain dates and other key information, the form in which images can be provided by private organisations may not have that purpose specifically in mind so it is important to select the correct options, when taking a copy, to ensure that the date of the image is present in any copy taken, as explained below.      

Google Earth Pro images

If you find an image on Google Earth Pro which is relevant to your case, you can email a screenshot to yourself then load the screenshot file in the usual way by tapping the Add Documents button (see video).

The document management system may will initially set the Document Date to be the date you downloaded the screenshot so you then need to change it (see example video) so that it shows the correct year (and month) when the image was taken.

It is important to use a screenshot as explained above, rather than simply "saving" in Google Pro Earth, in order to ensure that the year the image was captured is shown in the image.  

If you already have a relevant Google Earth Pro image saved, check that it includes the year of the image. If it does not you can probably obtain the same image from Google Earth Pro showing the year, using the procedure explained above, and load that, in which case you don't generally need to load the image you previously obtained (which does not show the year) as well. However, there are some cases where what you reasonably believed in the past, about some matter, can be legally relevant (separately from, and in addition to, what can now actually be proved about that matter) and in that case what documents you actually had in your possession in the past can be relevant to the question of what, at the relevant time in the past, your beliefs were and how reasonable they were, in which case you should load the actual copy which you saved in the past as well as a further copy showing the year now obtained as a snapshot.

Google Street View images

If you find a Street View image which is relevant to your case, you can "print" a copy as a PDF as explained here). 

Load the PDF in the usual way by tapping the Add Documents button (see example video).

The system may initially set the Document Date to be the date you created the PDF and you then need to change it (see video) so that it shows the correct month and year when the image was taken (you can see the month and year in the PDF).

It is important to use a version of Google Street View which includes the month and year the Street View image was taken.  

If you already have a relevant Google Street View image saved, check that it includes the month/year of the image. If it does not you can probably now obtain the same image, showing the month/year, using the correct version of Google Street View and load that, in which case you don't generally need to load the image you previously obtained (which does not show the month/year) as well. However, there are some cases where what you reasonably believed in the past, about some matter, can be legally relevant (separately from, and in addition to, what can now actually be proved about that matter) and in that case what documents you actually had in your possession in the past can be relevant to the question of what, at the relevant time in the past, your beliefs were, and how reasonable they were, in which case you should load the actual copy which you saved in the past as well as a further copy (showing the month/year) now obtained using the correct version of Google Street View.

Copies of web pages

Google Street View is an example of a website which is thought to contain reliable historical information from an authoritative source - it is not an official source (such as Ordnance Survey) but it is a well-known private source which is independent (assuming your legal dispute is not with Google itself!) and believed to be accurate. But, depending on what your dispute is about, you might want to take copies of pages from websites of the person or body you are in dispute with. For example if you have a dispute with a supplier from whom you have ordered goods or services online you might want to take a copy of the details displayed on their website - taking a copy at the actual time you ordered would be the ideal but taking a copy as soon as you think of it has at least some value. You might, in fact, have already - some weeks ago - taken a copy of such a website in which case loading up that previously taken copy might be better than taking a new copy now. 

But if you haven't previously copied a web page which is relevant to your case, you can make a PDF copy now using the Save as PDF option of the Print function of Chrome as shown in the example here. Then load the PDF in the usual way by tapping the Add Documents button (see example video). 

Maps supplied in PDF form

If you need to obtain maps, such as historical Ordnance Survey maps, for your case, these can often be obtained in PDF form (for example from Groundsure).

Because surveying takes place over a period of time it is usual for maps to be dated with just the year.  

Paper Maps

If you do have to obtain some historical maps in paper form, make sure that where they came from is apparent on the face of them. For example if you obtain a copy of a paper map, or a paper copy of a map on microfische from a county record office, it might not say what it is or where it came from but often the county record office will, on request, stamp it to confirm what it is. 

If you have a map already in your possession which appears to be relevant but which does not have such identifying features, you should see if you can obtain the same map, with identifying information, from official sources and load that, in which case you don't generally need to load the map in your possession as well. However, before deciding that you do not need to load the map in your possession as well, check whether it contains additional relevant information - sometimes an Ordnance Survey map has been used as a convenient base on which some further drawing has been made. Also there are some cases where what you reasonably believed in the past, about some matter, can be relevant and in that case what document you actually had in your possession in the past can be relevant.

Disclaimer

This information page is designed to be used only by clients of John Antell who have entered into an agreement for the provision of legal services. The information in it is necessarily of a general nature and will not be applicable to every case: it is intended to be used only in conjunction with more specific advice to the individual client about the individual case. This information page should not be used by, or relied on, by anyone else.

The information on this page about specific computer techniques is provided for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the information is accurate and up to date at the time it was written but no responsibility for its accuracy, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by me. You should satisfy yourself, before using any of the techniques, software or services described, that the techniques are appropriate for your purposes and that the software or service is reliable.

This page was lasted updated in May 2025. Disclaimer