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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
On 3rd October 2017, we released a Beta version of a new Roam mapping client for Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection. OS Roam – Beta is available next to the existing version, simply log in to the Digimap service and select Ordnance Survey Collection to view the new beta version:
Whilst the functionality remains the same, we hope you agree that the look and feel of the interface is more modern. The majority of functions are available from a new menu panel down the left hand side, which is hidden by default, maximising the area available for the main map element.
There are some issues we are aware of in this version, which we are working on, for example, some elements can be slow using Internet Explorer and Edge.
New versions of the Roam applications in all other collections will be available in due course. Both new and old versions will run side by side for an extended period of time to give users the opportunity to get used to the new interface.
We would encourage you to try the beta version and we welcome any feedback you have.
We are pleased to announce a new webinar series for Digimap over the coming months. These short sessions are free to attend and are available to any Digimap user, whether staff, student or researcher. You will need to register to attend each webinar. Bookings will open a couple of weeks before each webinar is scheduled. The majority of the webinars will be recorded and made available via our Digimap YouTube channel for those who were unable to attend.
We recently helped out the very talented Alasdair Rae from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield with some research on the buildings of Great Britain. Here is his blog post which is a great work of GIS sleuthery: Buildings of Great Britain
As mentioned in his post we assisted Alasdair by backing up the figures he created using Ordnance Survey’s OpenMap – Local dataset with information from the more authoritative OS MasterMap data.
So what did we find out? First of all, we had to measure how big OS MasterMap says Great Britain is and instantly we hit an issue, tides. It was quite tricky trying to unpick what is and isn’t covered when the tide comes in from the OS MasterMap classifications. After a bit of data wrangling we came up with the fascinating factoid that Britain shrinks and grows by 3454 Km2 twice a day!
With this settled, we could then move on to figuring out how much of each of the home nations was covered by buildings (at high tide!). We found 42.5 million objects in OS MasterMap classified as buildings, which we then had to measure and divide up into England, Scotland and Wales. Note that we were just working out the area covered by buildings, not paved areas or roads etc. EDINA has the OS MasterMap data held in a PostgreSQL database with PostGIS installed for spatial analysis like this. Despite the database’s very large size the queries came back relatively quickly from our server, and showed that Alasdair’s figures were very close. The figures based on OS MasterMap were slightly higher and we think that although generalisation tends to enlarge the building polygons, the inclusion of thousands of smaller buildings omitted from OpenMap – Local accounted for a larger amount.
England – 2635.87 Km2
Scotland – 316.15 Km2
Wales – 195.67 Km2
To give some sense of what these values look like we put them into another infographic for you:
Thanks again to Alasdair Rae for letting us collaborate on his research and for raising such interesting questions we can ask of the data. Thanks also to Ordnance Survey for creating all this data in the first place so we can find these things out!
One last interesting fact that came out of the research was that Great Britain has 22.75 Km2 of glass houses, that’s the same as 3155 football pitches!
As mentioned at Geoforum earlier this year, we’re currently working hard on a new version of Digimap Roam. The new-look application will bring Digimap Roam, the online mapping tool in the Digimap family, bang up to date with the latest web technologies available. Whilst the functionality will remain the same, the look and feel of the interface will be more modern. The majority of functions will be available from a new menu panel down the left hand side which is hidden by default maximising the area available for the main map element. By utilising the latest technologies we will be able to add new functionality and make further enhancements to the application in the future.
The new interface makes further improvements to the experience on mobile devices, an area where we’re seeing an increase in usage across the service. A mock up of how the new Geology Roam interface might look is included below to give you an idea of the proposed layout and styling:
Mockup of the new Geology Roam interface
Currently we are on target to launch the new interface early in the first semester of the 2017-2018 academic year, but we will post progress updates on this blog as the new interface approaches completion. There will be a phased release with the new Roam applications with the Ordnance Survey Collection being first in line.
We appreciate that you may have teaching or lecture materials that may require updating as a result of this change in interface, so we will run all the existing Roam applications alongside the new versions so you can get up to speed with the new interface whilst the existing versions are still available. At the moment we anticipate running both versions in each Collection side by side until at least the end of the year. During this period we would welcome any comments and feedback that you may have.
As ever, if you have any questions about the new Roam, please do not hesitate to contact us.
This year’s GeoForum, held in the Geological Society of London on the 22nd of June, was a very successful event for all those who attended. Academics and support staff from subscribing institutions got to meet representatives from the Digimap team and experts from our data suppliers and the wider geospatial community.
In the morning session we heard from John Murray who explained some of the complexities involved in using Lidar data for extracting meaningful information to address real world scenarios. The Lidar data used by John is now available through the Digimap Lidar Collection, which is the latest collection to be added to the service. This collection makes data available from the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) easily downloadable through the easy to use Data Download application.
Following John was an informative and engaging presentation by Clare Rowland from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) who produce the Land-Cover Map datasets. Clare was heavily involved in the production of the latest version of the Land-Cover Map (LCM 2015) which is now available to view and print in Environment Roam and to download via Environment Download. Clare highlighted some interesting uses for the data including analysis of how land cover changes are affecting the numbers of bees.
The final presentation of the morning was a round up from EDINA’s Emma Diffley covering the achievements in the last 12 months and the plans for improvements to the service in the next 12 months. Of particular note were the introduction of two new collections: Aerial Digimap, launched in October 2016, and Lidar Digimap, launched in June 2017. The major work being undertaken by the team at the moment is a rewrite of all Roam clients to bring them up to date with the latest technology available, which will give them all a more modern look and feel whilst retaining all the existing functionality.
There was a great chance to network over lunch, when we also got to see William Smith’s pioneering Geological Map of Britain.
In the afternoon we held a feedback session where all the delegates had their chance to let us know how they feel Digimap is performing and what else they would like to see included in the service. This was then followed by a presentation and demonstration by EDINA’s Ian Holmes on how to use the Data from Digimap in various software packages to create 3D models. He showed us Ordnance Survey data GetMapping Aerial Imagery and some of the Environment Agency’s Lidar data in ArcGIS Pro, QGIS with the QGIS2Threejs plugin, and AutoDESK Infraworks.
The Presentations
John Murray: We have the Technology… We have the data… What next?
GeoForum included a workshop involving all participants on how EDINA runs the Digimap Service. We asked participants what they would like us to add or improve in terms of the data, service and support we provide.
Data
The main theme that came out of this discussion was that there is a great demand for overseas data, both global datasets and national data for other countries. Datasets such as OpenStreetMap and some of the global satellite data are now part of our long-term investment plans for Digimap.
There were also calls for Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase data. We have enquired about this particular dataset with Ordnance Survey before and the sticking point is the joint intellectual property rights with third party organisations. We will keep up the pressure and do our best to make this data available.
Service
The common theme running through most of the service enhancement requests was to be more joined up. Improvements would come by making maps, tools and data more interoperable between collections, improving the ability to analyse all the data that individual users are licensed to use. Other features highlighted come more under the banner of personalisation, allowing users to customise their experience more, or to share maps they have created with other Digimap users.
Support
There was broad consensus that the support we provide for Digimap is excellent, with the content and the broad range of support channels proving very useful. There was most appetite for more webinars and video tutorials which we are committed to expanding in the coming academic year. We also had requests for more marketing materials and detailed usage figures for Site Reps so that they could better support and promote Digimap.
Closing Remarks
Finally EDINA’s new director Janet Roberts closed the day with a strong message about improving the Digimap service for the academic community and the importance of feedback sessions to help guide this process. Janet also reiterated the University of Edinburgh’s commitment to the Digimap service and making further developments beyond the core offering to better meet the sector’s needs.
We feel that the day was a complete success and we learned a lot from the delegates, particularly in the feedback session. With the great presentations we know that the delegates got something from the day too. We see the feedback session as good start in a process whereby we can engage as many users of Digimap to help us continually improve the service specifically for Higher Education.
We have now reached the end of the Lidar Digimap Preview. We hope that everyone who has used the service has found it a great way to access the Lidar data available. From now on the service will continue to be available to Digimap Users whose institution subscribes to the Aerial Digimap service.
Lidar Point Cloud Forth Rail Bridge. Crown copyright Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water (2012).
Despite the addition of Lidar Digimap, Aerial Digimap subscription prices will not be increased for the 17/18 academic year. We will also be looking to add further datasets to Lidar Digimap over the next 12 months, these include:
Additional Point Cloud datasets ideal for use in CAD software for creating 3D models like this one of the Forth Rail Bridge
Photography; aerial images captured at the same time as the Lidar data
We’d also like to thank the hundreds of people who took the time to fill in our user feedback survey on Lidar Digimap, we have seen a huge range of uses for the data across a very broad range of disciplines. This feedback exercise has been very successful and we will be making the draw to see who has won the Amazon vouchers very soon. Keep watching the blog for the announcement in the coming weeks.
If you would like any more information about the Lidar or Aerial Digimap collections or details on how to subscribe then please do not hesitate to contact us:
Today we have made a huge amount of archived Land-Line data available to download from Digimap. You access the data through the Data Download application in the Digimap: Ordnance Survey Collection. Land-Line was the pre-cursor to the OS MasterMap Topography Layer, and was the most detailed topographic mapping available from Ordnance Survey at the time. The archive released consists of annual snapshots of the whole of Great Britain from 1999 to 2006. This data will be vital for researchers who are undertaking longitudinal studies, examining how areas have changed over time.
Land-Line.Plus showing Edinburgh’s Quartermile area from 1999OS MasterMap showing Edinburgh’s Quartermile area from 2017
The data can be found in the Withdrawn Datasets category in the Data Download interface and is currently available in its original tiles and format.
Land-Line comes on 500m, 1km and 5km tiles depending on whether the area is Urban, Rural or Moorland. It is supplied in National Transfer Format (NTF) which was the standard format of the time. We have put together a short help page that explains how to import this data in to common GIS and CAD applications which may be of use for anyone unfamiliar with this format of data.
IMPORTANT: Between 2001 and 2006 Ordnance Survey carried it’s Positional Accuracy Improvement (PAI) programme. This means that there will be discrepancies in the positions of features on these maps and the OS MasterMap data: Read more on PAI
The Land-Line data that we have made available significantly bolsters the amount of detailed topographic data that is available for download from Digimap. The most detailed topographic mapping currently available from Digimap, OS MasterMap Topography Layer, is available for download going back to 2007. The addition of Land-Line data to Digimap means that users now have access to download the most detailed topographic mapping data for Great Britain going back a further eight years to 1999.
We hope you find this new addition of recent historic data useful, if you have any questions about the data please contact us:
Today we have launched our new Lidar Digimap Collection. The new Collection is available to preview for all Digmap users until the 31st of July 2017. Lidar data can be downloaded through the Lidar Download for use in GIS and CAD applications; there is no Lidar Roam application for viewing the data.
Lidar Point Cloud Forth Rail Bridge. Crown copyright Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water (2014).
The service allows you to download current and past Lidar data from the Environment Agency (EA), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).
There is already a large amount of data available in the service but we are still processing some of the datasets. Once it has all been processed the service aims to have complete coverage of all the data available from these agencies, including the raw LAS point cloud data and Orthophotography captured during the flights (where available).
Lidar data is very useful when creating 3D terrains and models as can be seen from the images to the left and below. For creating 3D scenes such as the one below, it is very useful to use a Digital Surface Model (DSM) to create a surface and hillshading from which you can drape other data over, such as the imagery from Aerial Digimap in this example:
The following datasets are available through Lidar Digimap at present:
Dataset
Availability and publication date
Digital Terrain Model and Digital Surface Model (DTM and DSM)
England
25cm: 2009-2015
50cm: 2009-2015
1m: 2010-2016
2m: 2010-2015
Scotland
Phase 1 (1m): 2011-2012
Phase 2 (1m): 2013-2014
Wales
25cm: 2015
50cm: 2009-2016
1m: 2010-2016
2m: 2010-2016
Point Cloud
Scotland
Phase 1: 2011-2012
Phase 2: 2013-2014
We are currently processing the following datasets and hope to have them available in the service shortly:
Dataset
Availability and publication date
Digital Terrain Model and Digital Surface Model (DTM and DSM)
England
Historical data: 1998-2015
Scotland
50cm
2m
Point Cloud
England
2005-2016
Orthophotographs
England
2006-2015
The data was collected for flood risk analysis and modelling and primarily follows water courses and coastal habitats. The data covers approximately 72% of England, 20% of Scotland and 70% of Wales. The image below shows the 1m resolution DTM coverage in England:
1m DTM Lidar coverage in England [click to expand]We are also very keen to know what you have been doing with Lidar data in the past or what you plan to do with the Lidar data you are going to get from the new service. To find out this information from you we have put a survey in the interface and you have the chance to win a £20 Amazon just for filling it in!
May was one of the busiest in terms of dataset updates in the history of Digimap. Around 20 separate datasets have been updated bringing them bang up to date with the most recent data available from the data suppliers. All the updates are listed in the tables below, broken down by the Collection and service that they can be found in.
Withdrawn Datasets (OS Collection):
OS Download Withdrawn Datasets [click to expand]Along with the updated data, Ordnance Survey have recently withdrawn three datasets:
These withdrawn datasets are still available to download through the Ordnance Survey Data Download application in Digimap, but users should be aware that they are no longer updated by Ordnance Survey. Withdrawn datasets have their own separate category in the Select Data panel in OS Data Download, as shown by the image on the left hand side.
OS Roam:
Product Name
OS Publication Date
1:50,000 Colour Raster
March 2017
OS Open Map – Local (vector)
April 2017
VectorMap Local (vector)
April 2017
VectorMap District (vector)
March 2017
VectorMap Local Raster
April 2017
VectorMap District Raster
March 2017
OS Download:
Product Name
OS Publication Date
VectorMap Local Raster
April 2017
VectorMap District Raster
March 2017
VectorMap District (vector)
March 2017
OS Open Roads
October 2016 and April 2017
OS Open Map – Local (raster)
April 2017
OS Open Map – Local (vector)
April 2017
OS Terrain 5 DTM
April 2017
OS Terrain 5 Contours
April 2017
OS Open Names
April 2017
VectorMap Local (vector)
April 2017
Code-Point with Polygons
April 2017
OS Open Rivers
April 2017
Geology Download:
Product Name
BGS Publication Date
Borehole index
April 2017
The datset update pages are kept up to date with all dataset updates in the collections:
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 offer feedback on the services EDINA provides and discuss geospatial issues with the team.
This year we will be introducing some new features to the Digimap Collections and looking at future developments. Come along to have your say and find out more!
Full details of this years event will and the programme will appear on the GeoForum website when available; you can also find out what happened at last year’s event: GeoForum 2016.
Location: the Geological Society, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD
This year’s GeoForum, held in the Geological Society of London on the 22nd of June, was a very successful event for all those who attended. Academics and support staff from subscribing institutions got to meet representatives from the Digimap team and experts from our data suppliers and the wider geospatial community.
Today we have launched our new Lidar Digimap Collection. The new Collection is available to preview for all Digmap users until the 31st of July 2017. Lidar data can be downloaded through the Lidar Download for use in GIS and CAD applications; there is no Lidar Roam application for viewing the data.
