Any views expressed within media held on this service are those of the contributors, should not be taken as approved or endorsed by the University, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University in respect of any particular issue.
Digimap is an online map and data delivery service, available by subscription to UK Higher and Further Education establishments. Operated by EDINA at the University of Edinburgh, Digimap offers a number of data collections, including Ordnance Survey, historical, geological, aerial photography, LiDAR, marine maps, land cover mapping, global mapping and census data. For more information about Digimap go to our website: https://digimap.edina.ac.uk Background image Contains OS data (c) Crown Copyright and database right 2022
Ordnance Survey have released nearly 5000 extra 5km squares of building height data, with the total coverage increasing from 2578 to 7302. Each square has at least one building with height attributes added, with most fully covered. We have added this data to Digimap’s Data Download facility allowing you easy access to the data you need.
The Building Heights data is available from Data Download in a range of formats created especially for Digimap users. The most straightforward to use are DWG, File Geodatabase and KML which can be viewed directly in CAD, GIS and Google Earth respectively. You can also take the data as a CSV list that can be joined to the attribute table of any existing MasterMap Building data you have, using the TOID identifier. This means that you don’t have to recreate your project work with new data if you have already spent a lot of time working on it; as long as the buildings still have a TOID in their attribute data you can add the height information to it.
The Building Heights data is ideal for anyone working with the MasterMap data in 3D and has a range of applications in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Modelling, Archaeological Reconstructions and many more different disciplines. Here are a couple of examples:
OS MasterMap Topography Layer Building Height Attribute data on top of OS Terrain 5 Contours
3D model using Aerial Imagery, OS Terrain 5 DTM and MasterMap Building Heights Data
The Points of Interest (PoI) data is great for research and you can make fantastic looking maps too as we have been showcasing on our twitter account. You have certainly been making the most of it too, with 16,877 PoI downloads being made since May 2015. Here are 3 dot density maps we made to show a single class of PoI data:
However until today you had to take all the different classes of points for your specified area and you were limited to taking no more than 10,000 Km2 in a single download. As PoI data is split into 9 groups, 52 categories and over 600 classes (see the full scheme here), we though it would make things easier if we exposed some of this hierarchy in Digimap’s Data Download service.
You can now select one or more of the groups or categories to download, taking some of the data processing load off you and making your downloads more manageable. Being able to filter the features in your download by group or category means smaller downloads so we have also removed the limit on the area you can take; you can now take the whole country in one download if you want.
One note of caution though, the PoI data has around 4.5 million records and is over 1gb in size as a simple CSV file. So if you are taking national coverage you may want to only take one group or a few categories to minimise the amount of data you are dealing with.
To select a group or category of features simply add PoI data to your basket then use the drop down menu in the layers column to choose what you are interested in.
We hope that you find this change really improves the accessibility of the Points of Interest data, we look forward to seeing some of the interesting analyses and maps you produce!
EDINA were delighted to co-host an event with King’s College London exploring the benefits of Digimap. We were joined by a full complement of staff and students from both King’s College and other neighbouring universities at the impressive Bush House, and would like to offer our warmest thanks to staff at King’s College for making the arrangements.
We heard two fascinating talks from Dr Stuart Dunn (KCL) and Dr Stuart Brookes (UCL). Dr Dunn talked about the identification and mapping of corpse roads by combining different types of data from a variety of sources, including historical texts and map data from Digimap. These ancient pathways exist in several areas of the country but their location is shrouded in the mists of folklore.
Dr Brookes gave a fabulous insight into how our reading of historical landscapes can explain and inform the development of our country today and how maps and spatial data play a key part in this analysis. Not only can this analysis explain the past but can also begin to predict future developments. In particular he demonstrated how spatial data has assisted in demonstrating how ancient roads have impacted the growth of modern day transport networks and urban areas.
EDINA’s Director, Janet Roberts, gave a short talk about the value of Digimap and the use of data, highlighting particularly the importance of data skills to graduate employability and economic activity in both the short and medium term.
Both Dr Dunn and Dr Brookes have made use of a range of data from Digimap in their research and demonstrated the immense value that Digimap can bring to so many aspects of research and teaching. Having a wide range of data available in one place, with support available from EDINA, makes maps and map data easily accessible and usable for all staff and students from any discipline, novice and expert user alike.
This event was held in part to help broaden the use of Digimap at King’s College into more departments. There is a recognition that Digimap is a key resource at a high level at King’s College…
“An astonishing resource to have available which could be useful to all sorts of surprising research and teaching contexts across the faculty”
Professor Simon Tanner, Pro Vice Dean (Impact & Innovation), Arts & Humanities
… so we were very happy to do what we could to help. If you would like to showcase your own use of Digimap and promote the use of maps and spatial data throughout your institution, please get in touch (edina@ed.ac.uk). We look forward to co-hosting other similar events elsewhere.
EDINA is pleased to announce a new schedule of webinar dates. Some topics have yet to be confirmed. Please book a place….just click any webinar to go to the booking page.
If you have suggestions for other webinar topics relating to Digimap, please drop us a line on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.
EDINA is very excited to be holding a joint event with King’s College, London on Thursday 22nd March 2018, exploring the benefits of Digimap . Watch this space for a write-up of the event. If you’re joining us, we’re looking forward to seeing you!
