2010 Annual Data Update and New Data

ecls/ / Data Changes & Additions

On 31st August, the annual update available through Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection will take place. A number of data and service changes will take place.

The annual data update applies to the following datasets:
– MasterMap Topography and ITN Layers
– Meridian2
– 1:50 000 Colour Raster
– 1:25 000 Colour Raster
– 1:10 000 Raster
– Strategi
– 1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer
– Code-Point with Polygons
– Boundary Line

NB: Ordnance Survey do not provide regular annual updates to Land-Form PROFILE and do not update Land-Form PANORAMA)

Updated data will be available in all the Digimap OS Collection mapping and download services.

New dataset

During the annual data update, a new dataset will be added to Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection. OS VectorMap Local is a 5 x 5km tiled vector dataset, offering detailed national mapping. The data is derived from OS Landplan and is supplied in GML format. It is commonly used as a rich backdrop map to add context to user datasets. Features include roads, railways, vegetation, boundaries and buildings. Pre-defined stylesheets are available to apply to the data, or you can select and style different features in different ways to provide geographic context to your information. OS VectorMap Local will be available to download from the Data Download facility within Digimap’s OS Collection.

As OS VectorMap Local is provided in GML, it needs to be converted to proprietary data formats in order to be fully utilised. Rolta UK (www.rolta-europe.com/osvector.html) have developed a free-to-use data translator tool to convert OS VectorMap Local to ESRI Shapefile and MapInfo TAB formats. Rolta also supply styling which can be applied to Shapefiles using the Layerfiles provided with the software. Styling can be applied to TAB files during the translation process. Further information about OS VectorMap Local, translation and use can be found in the Digimap Help Pages.


Ancient Roam

The 31st August update will see Ancient Roam move from its Beta phase to become a full service. Ancient Roam has proved very popular since its release in April generating in excess of 300,000 screen maps in four months. On 31st August, the ability to view two maps side by side to compare changes over time will be added. The 2up View provides a quick and easy way to view two maps from different decades at the same time.

A new drag to zoom tool will also be added to make it even quicker and easier to zoom quickly into your area of interest.

There are more features planned for Ancient Roam over the coming year, so please send us your comments and suggestions if you would like to see anything particular added. Although Ancient Roam is becoming a full service, the exiting Historic Mapper will remain until the end of 2010.

OS OpenData in Digimap

Some data products offered through Digimap have been released by Ordnance Survey under the OS OpenData scheme. Many of these were already available through Digimap and continue to be provided as before. Three of the OS OpenData products have not previously been available through Digimap. These are:
– OS Street View,
– OS VectorMap District
– OS VectorMap District Raster

All the Ordnance Survey products are available to download from the Data Download facility in Digimap’s OS Collection.

Digimap continues to offer full flexibility in identifying and downloading the data you want. Although the OS OpenData products are available from Ordnance Survey’s website directly, search and select options are limited.

If you have any questions about these changes or about Digimap in general, please do not hesitate to contact the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk

Data Usability – request for help

ecls/ / Consultations

EDINA has been asked to post the following request for assistance regarding the usability of geographic information. Please follow the links below if you can help.

Hey Everyone,

My name is Michael Brown; I’m working with the University of Nottingham in conjunction with Ordnance Survey to develop a set of User Centred Design Tools for use with Geographic Information.

As part of this I am currently working on a questionnaire for the measurement of the Usability of Geographic Information. The next stage of this process is to validate the questionnaire by getting people to complete it, focusing on a few specific products. This will allow me to calculate how well it differentiates between different GI data sets as well as providing useful information about the products that will be fed back to Ordnance Survey.

I’m focusing this validation on 3 products.

  1. OS MasterMap- Topography: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSMMtopo
  2. OS MasterMap- Imagery: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSMMimagery
  3. OS 1:50,000 Scale Colour Raster: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/50kRaster

If you have any experience with any of these products, I’d appreciate your help. Please follow the relevant link(s) and complete the questionnaire(s). This version is fairly short and should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

Feel free to complete more than one of them and please forward this on to anyone you think might be able to help me collect responses. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at: michael.brown@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Thank you for the help

Michael

Geology Roam – new mapping tool

ecls/ / Digimap News, New Features

EDINA has released Geology Roam; a new mapping facility within the Geology Digimap Collection. Geology Roam is based upon the Roam mapping facility from Digimap’s OS Collection and includes standard features such as fixed scale map views, ‘slippy maps’, map content customisation, searching by place name, postcode and grid reference, bookmarking and comprehensive help.

Geology Roam contains BGS DiGMap-625, DiGMap-250 and DiGMap-50 geology datasets and Ordnance Survey backdrop mapping. The geological data includes bedrock, superficial deposits, mass movement and faults.

Key features of Geology Roam include the ability to decrease/increase the opacity of the geology data over the Ordnance Survey back-drop map. A single click on the map will query the geology data and display details about the bedrock and any superficial deposits found at that point.

Geology Roam features a new printing interface that will become standard in all the Roam mapping facilities across Digimap. The new printing interface enables you to resize and reposition the map, and to add a map title and National Grid lines.

Beta Service
Currently available as a BETA service, we encourage you to give us feedback on the usability of Geology Roam so that issues you raise can be factored into ongoing development over the coming months. As well as responding to any issues you report, the following additional functions will be introduced:

  • Geological area (polygon) highlighting when clicking to obtain feature information, to make it easier to identify the extent of any geological feature to which the reported information corresponds.
  • Map based links to a Geology Photography Collection (JIDI Images). Icons will appear over the geology maps to indicate the availability of geological feature photographs for that location. Click on the icon to view these photographic images within the Geology Roam application.
  • Introduction of the BGS Rock Lexicon as an Independent application Geology Roam will run in parallel with the existing Geology Mapper during the Beta phase, after which Geology Mapper will be withdrawn (Dec 2010).

The existing mapping application will be withdrawn in December 2010 and will be wholly replaced by Geology Roam.

EDINA would welcome feedback on the service and on these proposed developments. Please contact us on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.

Land-Form PROFILE tiles updated

ecls/ / Data Changes & Additions

Over the years some problems have been reported with a few Land-Form PROFILE data tiles. Ordnance Survey have now provided us with updated versions of these tiles for which the problems have been fixed. The following tiles have been updated for both DTM and contour data:

hp50sw nm80nw nm80sw nm87ne nm87nw
nt87sw ny47se ny57sw ny87sw sd61ne
ss30ne ss30nw ss30se ss30sw ss31se
ss31sw ss40sw st20nw st30se st40ne
st40se st50ne st50nw st50se st57se
st76se st85nw st86nw st86sw sx39nw
sx49nw sx57ne sx57se sy49ne sy59nw

Thanks to those who have reported the errors in the data.

Historic Download – new service

ecls/ / Digimap News, New Features

Launched as a BETA service on 20 April 2010, Historic Download is an entirely new facility allowing users to select and download larger quantities of historical map data.


The facility offers the capability to browse contemporary maps of the UK which have been shaded blue to indicate the coverage of historical maps of each series and edition. Areas of historical maps can be selected for download by clicking on the appropriate shaded polygons or by dragging a box to select multiple map sheets.

The interface has been designed to improve selection and retrieval of larger quantities of data for research projects. Build up a list of the data you need, choosing maps from different editions of a given product and take up to 200 maps in a single download.

EDINA welcomes feedback on this BETA service. You can contact us on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.

Launching Ancient Roam

ecls/ / Digimap News, New Features

Ancient Roam is a new mapping facility within Historic Digimap. It is based upon the Roam mapping client available from Digimap’s OS Collection and includes the standard features such as fixed scale map views, ‘slippy maps’, searching by place name, postcode and grid reference, easy to use zooming and comprehensive help.


Key features specific to Ancient Roam include the ability to select historical maps from any decade (depending on map coverage and availability) using the Timeline along the top of the map window. Ancient Roam also offers an easier means of identifying and selecting maps in areas where County Series overlap at County boundaries. A single click on the map will also query maps to display the year the map shown was published along with other information about the map.

New Town Plan Maps
The large scale Town Plans are now available to view in Ancient Roam and download from Historic Download. The Town Plans are the largest scale historical maps available from Digimap offering great detail at 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1056 scales. The coverage of these maps is limited in that only settlements with a population greater than 4000 at the time of surveying were mapped. It is interesting to see what were regarded, then, as “urban” areas. The detail captured is enlightening; individual trees are marked in parkland and many industrial and commercial uses of land and buildings are noted.


Beta Service
Currently available as a BETA service, Ancient Roam will continue to undergo development over the coming weeks. Proposed additional functions include:

  • PDF map creation for printing
  • My Maps, to enable bookmarking screen maps for future reference
  • Multiple historical map views, to enable comparison of maps of different dates
  • Map fade slider, to show transition between maps of different dates
  • The ability to download the original Map sheet data which makes up your current on-screen map view

 

EDINA would welcome feedback on the service and on these proposed developments. Please contact us on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302

New Webinar Dates – online training

ecls/ / Training & Events

Some new webinars about Digimap have been posted on the EDINA events page:

http://edina.ac.uk/events/

These short sessions are available to any Digimap user, whether staff,
student or researcher.

Should the session times or content not be quite right for you, we will
happily set-up some alternative sessions.

You can contact us to discuss your training needs via the EDINA Helpdesk or you can call our Training Officer, Vivienne Carr, on 0131 651 1852.

OS OpenData

ecls/ / Data Changes & Additions, New Features

EDINA welcomes the release of Ordnance Survey datasets for free use and re-use. We are actively working to realise to the full the opportunities offered by this new policy for the enhancement and development of new and existing services for research and education.
As many will already know the Government published details on 31 March 2010 of the package of datasets and products from Ordnance Survey that are now available under OS OpenData – see http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/opendata/. The list coincides partially with the datasets currently available through EDINA Digimap – see below. Note especially that OS MasterMap, the large-scale vector data, is only available through registration with EDINA Digimap.
The key task for EDINA Digimap is to provide ease and continuity of access to a whole range of geo-spatial datasets, including re-use in materials that are shared in research and teaching. We are therefore seeking clarification from Ordnance Survey regarding the licence terms that can now apply to the data available through Digimap which are now covered under OS OpenData.

The release of many Ordnance Survey datasets as open data is also good news for Unlock, the EDINA service which is there to help you geo-enable research data and other Internet-accessible documents and images. Unlock, and its predecessor GeoCrossWalk, were previously limited by license to academic use only. Relevant datasets now regarded as open data, including Boundary-Line, Code-Point® Open and the 1:50 000 gazetteer of place names, can now be used by Unlock Places, Unlock Text and Unlock Geocodes.
We are keen to learn from users of Digimap how you wish us to take best advantage of these changes in availability and licensing. Contact us by email on edina@ed.ac.uk or leave a comment on this blog.

Product Name EDINA Digimap OS OpenData
OS MasterMap Topography Yes No
OS MasterMap ITN Yes No
1:10 000 Scale Raster Yes No
nearest equivalent is OS StreetView
1:25 000 Scale Colour Raster Yes No
1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster Yes No
1:250 000 Scale Colour Raster Yes Yes
MiniScale® Yes Yes
Meridian™2 Yes Yes
Strategi® Yes Yes
Land-Form PANORAMA® Contours Yes Yes
Land-Form PANORAMA® DTM Yes No
Land-Form PROFILE® Yes No
Boundary-Line® Yes Yes
Code-Point® Yes No
CodePoint® with Polygons Yes No
Code-Point® Open
(point data only; subset of Code-Point®)		 No Yes
1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer Yes Yes
OS StreetView No
nearest equivalent is 1:10 000 Scale Raster		 Yes
OS Locator No Yes
OS VectorMap District
(from 1 May 2010)		 No Yes

New Products added to Data Download

ecls/ / Data Changes & Additions, Digimap News, New Features

MiniScale and 1:250 000 Raster data are now available in Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection Data Download facility.

The datasets have been available from the ShareGeo service for some time, but are now also available from within Digimap. In addition to the new products you can now also:

  • download the OS Land-Form PROFILE, 1:10 000 Contour data in DXF format
  • download Shapefile and MID/MIF versions of Meridian2 data

The new Meridian2 formats have their own entry on the Product & Format page of Data Download. These formats are available as national coverage, with a single download covering the whole of Great Britain. The NTF and DXF formats are still available as individual tiles.

Land-Line style maps available in Carto

Maps of OS MasterMap data in Carto can now be styled to look like previous Land-Line.Plus maps. This is particularly useful for black and white printing or to recreate Land-Line.Plus data for comparison with older printed maps.