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
TWO WEEK REMINDER – SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS deadline extended until Monday 15th February 2021
We are pleased to invite you to submit a 1500 word extended abstract for the 29th Annual GIS Research UK (GISRUK) Conference, which will take place as a fully online event from Tuesday 13th April to Friday 16th April 2021. The whole conference will be fully open and free (£0) and is hosted by Cardiff University. Please see conference website for details:
All Digimap users currently have free access to Global Digimap until 31st July 2019 as a trial. We hope you like this new service. If you would like to learn more about the OpenStreetMap data, it’s origins and history, from someone who is more than qualified to tell the story, Steve Chilton is giving a talk at #geomob in London on 19th June 2019 about this very subject.
We are delighted to announce that Environment Digimap now offers the CEH Land Cover® Plus: Crops dataset. CEH Land Cover® Plus: Crops has been produced by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in partnership with Remote Sensing Applications Consultants and provides annually updated arable crop information for the whole of Great Britain.
Environment Digimap is the only platform dedicated to the academic sector offering this data. CEH Land Cover® Plus: Crops data is available for both 2016 and 2017. Environment Digimap’s Roam application has the new datasets displayed as alternative basemaps, allowing you to compare the two years side by side using the “2-up” map function. The opacity slider also enables the underlying context map to be viewed easily.
The Info Tool also enables you to query the Crops data, giving information about the crop name, code, the polygon identifier and the coordinates of the point chosen. All other functions in Roam operate as usual, including the ability to annotate measure and print. The Map Content is also available in the left hand panel to help you identify crop types.
The CEH Land Cover® Plus: Crops data is also available to download from Environment Download. Select your area of interest as usual, add the Crop data to your basket and select from File Geodatabase or GeoPackage as optional formats. You can also choose to select individual crop layers rather than the full suite if you wish.
If your institution has a subscription to Environment Digimap, this dataset is available at no additional charge. If your institution does not have a subscription to Environment Digimap, prices and details of the subscription process can be found on our website.*
*Please note that in order to place a subscription order you must be a suitably authorised member of staff. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We are very pleased to announce that we we recently added WMS (Web Map Service) functionality to all Digimap Roam applications. This new facility allows you to pull in map data from a whole host of publicly accessible services allowing you to visualise a wealth of data in the familiar Digimap Roam interface. This is beta functionality, and there are a few areas that need further improvement but we were keen to get it out there as quickly as possible so that you could start making use of it. Whilst we continue to work on the functionality, we welcome any feedback you may have. Our contact details can be found at the bottom of this post.
The WMS functionality can be found in the Overlays menu panel on the left hand side:
To add a WMS feed to your map you need to press the Add WMS Feed button, which will bring up the following window:
You will need to paste the getCapabilities URL in to the ‘3rd Party WMS URL’ field at the top of the popup. This URL is usually in the following format, but may be different depending on the service:
Having entered the URL the Get Layers button should become active, press this to retrieve all the layers available via the entered WMS URL. Finally add the layers to your map using the Add Layers to Map button to add them to your current map window. You can then control the opacity of each layer using the appropriate opacity slider and the order they are displayed by clicking and dragging. It’s possible to edit the names displayed e.g. to choose shorter names that are easier to see by pressing the edit button next to each entry:
There are numerous WMS available for the UK, many of which are listed on data.gov.uk. The image below shows listed buildings (boundaries and category) published by Historic Environment Scotland on top of the 1st Edition 1:2500 County Series map published in 1896 in Ancient Roam:
Listed buildings pulled via WMS on top of historic map from 1896 in Historic Roam
There are also lots of WMS available that serve up global data and can be viewed using the latest Global Digimap collection. One example of this is the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO), shown below in Global Roam centred on the Gulf of Mexico:
Bathymetric data via WMS on top of OpenStreetMap data in Global Roam
We have put together a help page which lists examples of a variety of WMS from different sources. Whilst we can’t guarantee that they will all work all of the time if you do come across a WMS that you think should work and have tested that it works in other software, such as QGIS or ArcGIS Online, please let us know so we can improve the service.
Known issues
As mentioned above, this is new betafunctionality and as such there are a number of known issues and things to bear in mind:
Currently no warning messages are displayed if a WMS fails to load. If the data has not appeared after a reasonable period of time please try to access the data via the same URL in QGIS or ArcGIS Online. If the data does load in QGIS or ArcGIS Online please send the URL to us so we can investigate.
In some cases the Get Layers button will not return any layers. When this happens it is worth copying and pasting the text displayed if you visit the getCapabilities URL in a browser window in to the Advanced box.
WMS data is not included in print files.
It is not currently possible to edit the details of a WMS service or dataset names in IE11 as the wrapping in the edit window is not quite correct.
Some WMS URLs (including those published by the Environment Agency) are published with the HTTP prefix but in order for these to work in Digimap Roam you need to change the prefix to HTTPS instead.
The WMS must be able to supply data in the same projection of the current Roam application. All Roam applications use the British National Grid with the exception of Chart Roam and Global Roam which both use WGS84 Web Mercator. No warning is given if the WMS projection is not compatible with the current Roam application.
WMS entries in the Overlays panel are persistent between log-ins in the same browser, so if you add a WMS in Chrome, the same WMS entries will be available the following day in Chrome providing the browser cache/temporary storage has not been cleared overnight.
WMS entries added in one Roam application are also automatically available in all other Roam applications e.g. if you add a WMS in OS Roam it will also be available in Historic Roam etc.
There is no Get Feature information displayed for a WMS layer so you cannot click on a feature and get its attribute information. However the Legend for the layer is displayed in the WMS panel if you expand the layer.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about the new functionality please do not hesitate to get in touch; our contact details are below:
We are very pleased to announce the release of Global Roam. This builds on the release of Global Download last week and allows users to browse global data in the familiar, user friendly, Roam online mapping interface. Global Roam is very much a work in progress and you will find that some of the standard functions are not yet available, but we were keen to get something out to users as soon as possible and we’d love to know what you think of it and where you think it can be improved.
Global Roam showing Central Park in Manhattan
As mentioned in our previous blog post, Global Digimap is available as a beta service as we look to build a suite of datasets, themes and formats that best meets the needs of our users. We will continue to develop the Global Digimap service over the coming months, shaped by the feedback that you give.
Global Roam delivers the familiar Roam interface with detailed global data sourced from Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap. The application includes the usual annotation tools (recently renamed ‘drawing tools’) along with global search functionality. The most zoomed out maps use Natural Earth data which changes to OpenStreetMap as you zoom in. Future plans include:
adding additional data from the rich OpenStreetMap dataset including point features
integrating the print interface to allow high quality printed maps up to A0
addition of the feature information tool allowing users to view the attributes of selected features
creating alternative grey-scale and colour basemap styles
inclusion of the measurement tools [update: these were added 30/08/2018]
customisation of the map through the Map Content panel
It’s worth mentioning that maps saved in Global Roam are not compatible with other Roam clients and vice versa as they use a different projection system. [update: this was resolved 30/08/2018]
Access to Global Digimap
During this development phase, and in return for engagement with the development process, the service will be free of charge for institutions that subscribe to another Digimap Collection. We would like to know what you like and don’t like about it, what features and what new data you would like to see added. We can’t promise to include everything but the more we hear from you the better able we are to prioritise different requirements and create the best possible service.
If you would like access to Global Digimap please ask your local Digimap Site Representative to request access through the Digimap helpdesk and we will ensure your institution is switched on.
Get in touch
It is never too early to let us know what else you would like to see, we are very keen to hear your ideas of how we can make something really useful; our contact details are below:
It is the start of a new academic year and we have introduced few new things for you to see in Digimap:
A New Home Page
Digimap has a new home page! It may look a little different, but it works in exactly the same way as the previous version. Responding to feedback from the community we have provided more detail about each collection in the left hand panel, including preview images of the data. Roam and Data Download are easy to find under each Collection’s tab.
Global Digimap
We are very proud to announce the launch of our new Global Digimap collection. This is a new service, developed in response to requests for international data. Initially Global Digimap will offer OpenStreetMap data but our objective is to develop the collection in partnership with the user community, so user feedback will shape both the content and functionality. In return for this engagement, access to Global Digimap will be free of charge until July 2019.
We have asked all the Digimap Site Reps if they would like access to the service, if you can’t access Global Download then speak to your site rep about getting your institution switched on: List of Digimap Site Reps
Following a lengthy beta phase, we have promoted the beta version of Data Download to a production service and this is now the default Data Download application for all Collections. Ever mindful that work flows, and teaching and promotion materials may need updating as a result, we will continue to run the previous versions of both Roam and Data Download until the end of the year. All saved maps and data download histories are available in both new and old versions.
New Licences
Digimap is now operating under new licences for 2018/19 so all registered users are required to accept the new terms. This is a simple process which happens when you first log in. No re-registration is required and all saved maps and data download histories remain available as before.
Digimap is launching a fresh, new-look home page on 1st August 2018. All the functionality of the current page will still be available and easy to find, but the new page will look like this:
Links to each Digimap Collection run horizontally across the top of the page, rather than vertically down the left hand side, leaving room for future developments.
As with the current homepage, login is possible either using the login button in the top right corner or by accessing each Roam or Data Download application directly.
There is also now a bold image illustrating the maps and data in each collection, making it clear what to expect when you access the service.
“Access maps and data in just two clicks: select the collection first, then the application you need.”
The left hand column has expanded to include more information about the maps and data in each collection. It also provides more detail on how to access the maps and data and easier links to help information. Our objective was to provide a better insight into the content of each Collection, inspiring ideas and showcasing some of the data available.
Access to Roam and Data Download will continue to be easy using the big buttons on the right hand side. You will also be able to access previous versions of applications, as you can now, below the current versions, and the existing user registration system remains unchanged. We have endeavoured to make better use of the space on each page, offering a fresh new look while maintaining a clear and easy route to access all facilities.
We are delighted to announce that a new version of Digimap’s Data Download is now available. This is a “beta” version so we will keep the current interface running while you explore the new improved service. We know that teaching and support materials may need to be updated so we hope that a transition period will help.
Data Download takes it’s new fresh-faced look from the recent updates to Roam, Digimap’s mapping facility. The search bar is now at the top left hand side and all the action happens in the variable width side panel below it. A big improvement is that you now have more ways to specify the area of data you need. In addition to defining a rectangle, you can now create an irregular polygon as your area of interest or a buffer zone from a point or line that you define. We’ve also added a “Locate Me” button* to help you easily find data for the area local to you.
The panel on the left now shows a straightforward and easy-to-use list of all available data and shows more clearly how much data can be selected in a single request, along with the availability grids for each product.
As ever, you can add multiple products to any data order, selecting the format, version and date from the basket prior to submitting your order. As a new feature, you can now request your data to be sent to you as a single download, or for each dataset to be sent as soon as it’s ready.
Remember Digimap has a lot of previous versions of several datasets, dating back to 1999 in some cases. If you are interested in data for a specific date, use the Version drop down menu in the basket to access the archives.
We welcome any feedback you may have on the new interface; please get in touch:
You can now search and download the imagery data from Aerial Digimap by the year it was flown.
This allows you to be sure that you are downloading only the latest data, but it also allows you to download multiple images for the same location taken on different dates. We currently have data from 1998 through to 2016, with more English and Welsh images coming for 2016. When you are in Aerial Download you can see the extents of each year using the Show Availability Grid tool on the right side of the map as shown in the image above.
There is a table below detailing how many 1x1km images there are for each year, with the majority coming from 2013 to 2016, but some of the older images will be very useful to compare to the newer ones where they overlap:
Year
Number of Images
1998
165
2000
855
2001
891
2002
75
2003
11
2005
423
2006
4,620
2007
7,799
2008
5,757
2009
25,066
2010
35,607
2011
18,642
2012
16,619
2013
54,534
2014
71,404
2015
81,378
2016
18,769
Here are two images of Lerwick taken 8 years apart:
Lerwick 2008 from Aerial Digimap.Lerwick 2016 from Aerial Digimap.
As you can see there has been construction in the West of the area with new buildings and car parks added.
We hope that you find the ability to make this sort of comparison useful for your research. If you have any questions about this or any other aspects of the Digimap service then please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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
We are pleased to invite you to submit a 1500 word extended abstract for the 29th Annual GIS Research UK (GISRUK) Conference, which will take place as a fully online event from Tuesday 13th April to Friday 16th April 2021. The whole conference will be fully open and free (£0) and is hosted by Cardiff University. Please see conference website for details:
