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
The latest version of Ordnance Survey’s Boundary-Line data contains two new layers, Ceremonial Counties and Historical Counties.
Ceremonial Counties
This new layer in the Boundary-Line data represents the areas of England, Scotland and Wales that are represented by a Lord Lieutenant. The Lord Lieutenant is the chief officer of the county and representative of the Crown; whenever the Queen visits an area she will be accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant.
This layer is very useful for those who want to make a map of Great Britain divided into its counties without all the complexities of Unitary Authorities, Districts and Boroughs. This is the layer to choose when making a map showing a more traditional view of Great Britain without making a historical view.
Historical Counties
The historic counties dataset shows the county boundaries in place in 1888 in England and Wales and 1899 in Scotland. The boundaries for England and Wales were derived from mapping from the National Archives dating from 1890. The Scottish boundaries are derived from maps as late as 1940.
This layer is very useful for those studying this time period and when combined with the ceremonial counties and modern the most up to date boundaries gives a good picture of how fluid the boundaries are over time.
Selecting Layers in Data Download
If you have the Boundary-Line data you need already but would like to add the new layers without downloading it all again then follow this useful tip. Once you have added the product to your basket click on the arrow in the layers column to pick and choose those that you want to take. See the image below:
You will then just receive these new layers and not all the others which you may already have or not need.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of the service:
May has been a busy month for data updates in OS Data Download. Not only have we released Points of Interest, Urban Paths and MasterMap Sites Layer, but a number of other datasets have also been updated.
The latest version of Boundary-Line includes new datasets for Welsh Wards, Historical Counties, and Ceremonial Counties. Plus the data is now available in TAB format which is great news for MapInfo users. You can read more about these changes in this blog post.
The table below lists all the datasets that have been updated and includes the OS release date:
We are pleased to announce that the Points of Interest dataset from Ordnance Survey is now available to download through the Digimap Data Download application.
Points of Interest is a national dataset covering the whole of Great Britain and contains over 4 million different features. All features are supplied with location, functional information and addresses (where possible). Points of Interest has a three-level classification to assist customers in identifying the features or sets of features they require. This classification is explained in detail in chapter 3 of the official User Guide. The top level classification is given below:
Accommodation, eating and drinking
Commercial services
Attractions
Sport and entertainment
Education and health
Public infrastructure
Manufacturing and production
Retail
Transport
Please note:the copyright statement for Points of Interest is slightly different to the usual Digimap statement as the data is licensed from PointX by Ordnance Survey. The correct copyright statement that should be displayed with Points of Interest data is included below:
The data can be found in the Boundary and Location Data section in Data Download:
The data is provided in CSV format and uses the pipe character as the field separator. To load this in to GIS for visualisation on a map requires a couple of short steps to create a definition file so that the GIS application uses the correct data types for each field in the file. We have created instructions on how to do this in ArcGIS and QGIS:
A new MasterMap data layer is available to download that allows you to add an extra level of information to your maps. The Sites Layer shows boundaries for features such as schools, hospitals and other government property. The dataset currently contains the extents of over 40,000 important locations in Great Britain broken down in to seven themes, with more to be added in the future:
MasterMap Sites Layer includes access points, such as pedestrian gates and driveways, and routing points allowing the data to be fully integrated with other OS products including MasterMap Topography Layer and MasterMap Integrated Transport Network (ITN) layer. Sites Layer can be used for informed decision-making and spatial analysis, enabling users to answer questions such as: ‘how much of this health centre is at risk of flooding?’.
Ordnance Survey have published clear instructions on how to import the data, which is supplied in GML3 format, into common GIS packages in their Sites Layer Getting Started Guide.
If you have any questions about Sites Layer or Digimap please contact us:
We are pleased to announce that users can now download OS MasterMap Building Height Attribute data in file geodatabase format. The data consists of building polygons together with the building height attributes supplied by OS in the latest alpha release of their Building Height Attribute dataset (December 2014 at the time of writing).
This makes the process of visualising the data in 3D much simpler for the majority of GIS users. The file geodatabase format can be read by both QGIS and ArcGIS, including the new ArcGIS Pro, without the need for any complex data processing. Making the data available in file geodatabase format removes the need for users to download building features from OS MasterMap Topography Layer and then use the JOIN function in GIS to connect the Building Height Attribute data to the buildings.
The data is supplied on a 5x5km grid, so you may receive multiple separate geodatabases if your area covers multiple 5km grid cells, however it is easy to merge the datasets together using common GIS functions.
We hope this makes it much easier to use the data but we welcome any feedback you may have.
An introduction to the day from Professor David Maguire, Jisc Chair, Vice principle of the University of Greenwich, former chief scientist at Esri and an acknowledged expert in computer mapping and geographic information systems.
A talk given by Ordnance Survey about their cartographic principles and how they apply them when designing the visual representations for features on their maps.
A presentation given by architecture and design staff and students from Ravensbourne showcasing the physical models they have been producing using or inspired by Digimap maps and data.
A round-up of all the things you need to know about from the recently updated Ordnance Survey licence.
University of Greenwich Queen Anne Court
As well as these presentations we will have our data and software suppliers present to tell you about their new and up coming products such as OS Open Map data, BGS Groundhog & ArcGIS Pro. We will also be bringing you up to date with all the new developments at EDINA and taking you outside in the impressive grounds of the old Royal Naval College to have a look at some new developments with EDINA’s Fieldtrip App.
Finally there will be time for you to chat with people from all the other institutions about how they support and promote geospatial data and software, there are already over 50 people registered to attend with over 25 different institutions represented so far.
If you haven’t booked your place yet then please do so soon, places will be limited:
We have added the Feature Information tool to Environment Roam. This allows you to select points on the map to identify what the land use is at that location. Some of the colours used on the maps are very similar, which, while necessary with so many different categories, makes the maps more difficult to interpret. When the opacity slider is used to see the base map through the colours there can be even less distinction. The feature information tool helps to overcome this difficulty. The tool is also vital for those with a colour vision deficiency,
To identify the land use category for a particular point, click on the i button in the bar above the map:
You will notice there is now a little question mark next to your mouse pointer, now click on a location to identify the land use at that point. A small red pin will appear on the map along with a box containing the information about the location clicked on:
This feature has been a part of the Historic, Geology and Marine Roam interfaces for some time. However, it took much longer to develop this tool for Environment Roam because the data is very different. Rather than querying a database about the location we use colour matching technology to find the corresponding legend entry for the location clicked on. For this reason, we can’t operate the Feature Information tool on the 1930s Dudley Stamp maps. These maps were hand coloured, often by different people using different equipment, therefore the digital versions of the colours are inconsistent. Since the Dudley Stamp maps have fewer land use categories there is less confusion in identifying the appropriate colours in the legend, but we recognise that there may still be difficulties for those with colour vision deficiency.
GeoForum is a free all day event aimed at lecturers, researchers and support staff who promote and support the use of geospatial data and services at their institution. Throughout the day we there will be talks and demonstrations to inform you of current geospatial developments at EDINA and the wider community. It is also an opportunity to give EDINA feedback on the services we provide and discuss geospatial issues with the team.
Full details of this years event will and the programme will appear on the website when available:
This year Ordnance Survey’s cartography team will be telling us about how they go about creating cartographic representations of the map data. We’ll also be showcasing the work of students of architecture and urban design, highlighting how data from Digimap is crucial to their studies.
The conference will be located in the historical Queen Anne Court at the University of Greenwich, part of the Old Royal Naval College. In such surroundings we hope the weather will allow us to go outside for an afternoon excursion where we can show you the enhancements to our Fieldtrip mobile app while exploring the area. We will also be highlighting the many new datasets that have been added to Digimap over the recent months and giving you a sneak preview of what we will be doing over the summer to improve all the geoservices offered by EDINA.
The conference is free to attend and runs from 10:00 till 16:15, for all the details and to book your place please visit the conference website: GeoForum 2015
Please contact us if you have any questions:
Email: edina@ed.ac.uk
Phone: 0131 650 3302
Find out what happened at last year’s event: GeoForum 2014
We have moved the Dudley Stamp Land Use Survey maps from the Historic Digimap Collection to their more natural home in Environment Roam. In doing so we have increased their usability. You can now pan and zoom much more easily and can print and annotate the maps, something that was not available in the previous Land Use Map Viewer.
Two scales of map are available for all of England, Scotland and Wales: 1:625,000 and 1:63,360.
Environment Roam automatically switches between these at the appropriate point when zooming in or out of the map.
To view the 1930s maps go to the Basemaps selector on the right hand side of Environment Roam and choose Dudley Stamp 1930s from the drop down window.
Author: 
