On Tuesday 2 September EDINA will be making the annual data update to various datasets offered through the Digimap Collections. This means that all the Collections will be unavailable between 17.30 and 20.00 hours.
Annual Data Update
////Reminder: Land-Line Withdrawal
//his is a further reminder that Land-Line.Plus data will no longer be available through Digimap’s Ordnance Survey Collection from 2 September 2008.
If you have existing holdings of Land-Line.Plus data, you may continue to use these until the end of the current licence period, that is, until 31 July 2009.
All Land-Line.Plus data must be deleted at the end of the current licence period. From 1 August 2009 Digimap users will no longer be licensed to use Land-Line.Plus data.
Free GIS courses from ESRI
//As of 4 August 2008, the following courses will be FREE. Previously they have only been available via a subscription to ESRI Virtual Campus.
1. Introduction to GIS Data ReViewer
2. Introduction to Map Production System-Atlas
3. Introduction to Map Production System-Atlas (for ArcGIS 9.0-9.1)
If you wish to take this training, visit the ESRI Training and Education website http://training.esri.com where you can enroll for free.
If you have previously accessed these courses through the ESRI Virtual Campus, you will continue to have access to the course. If you have any questions, please contact ESRI directly.
Access difficulties resolved: 1 August 13.00hrs
//Access difficulties via the OpenAthens gateway have now been resolved.
Access difficulties: 1 August, 12.20hrs
//There are currently difficulties connecting to electronic resources via the OpenAthens gateway. This includes access to Digimap for users at those institutions using OpenAthens. Trying to log in using this method may result in a message saying that your institution does not subscribe to this service.
Access to Digimap for those using their institution’s own Identity Provider is unaffected.
Further information will be posted here and on the Digimap login page when available.
Emergency Maintenance – 29 July
//Owing to a hardware failure over the weekend of 26/27 July, some emergency maintenance is required on Digimap’s service machine.
All Digimap Collections will be unavailable betwen 09.00 and 14.00 hours on Tuesday 29 July 2008. This will allow engineers to fix the problem. Full service will be restored as quickly as possible. Further updates will be posted here and on the Digimap login page as and when available.
Update: 23 July emergency maintenance
//Following a hardware failure yesterday evening, engineers have now identified the faulty machine part. This is scheduled for replacement tomorrow, Thursday 24 July.
As a consequence, all Digimap Collections will be unavailable between 10.00hrs and 13.00hrs.
While the faulty part remains in place, Digimap may become unavailable at short notice. EDINA staff are monitoring all services closely during office hours and will endeavour to maintain access as long as possible.
Thank you for your forebearance.
Emergency maintenance: 23 July
//On the evening of Tuesday 22 July, the service machine which runs all Digimap facilities suffered a serious hardware failure. This meant that all services became unavailable and engineers were unable to access the machine. This morning, Wednesday 23 July, engineers have managed to identify the problem, and have temporarily restored full service capability.
However, until the faulty hardware is replaced, all Digimap Collections will remain unstable and may become unavailable at any time. Engineers are monitoring the service closely, and further information will be posted when available.
Replacing faulty hardware
Later today, it will be necessary to withdraw access to Digimap in order to replace the faulty hardware. As much notice of this as possible will be given, both here and on the Digimap login page.
Hardware failure is an unfortunate and unpredictable hazard; EDINA is doing as much as possible to mitigate the impact of such events and apologises for any inconvenience caused.
Withdrawal of Land-Line
//Digimap will cease to deliver Land-Line.Plus data at the end of August 2008.
As a registered Digimap user you may continue to hold and use any Land-Line.Plus data you already have until 31 July 2009. Beyond this date, you will be required to delete any Land-Line.Plus data you hold, and will not be licensed to use it thereafter.
Land-Line map of urban area
Land-Line.Plus has been replaced by OS MasterMap Topography Layer. These data are available from Digimap’s MasterMap Download facility, within the Ordnance Survey Collection. The OS MasterMap Topography Layer is as detailed as Land-Line.Plus but contains a much richer attribute set. It is also available in GML format, rather than NTF.
Corresponding OS MasterMap Topography Layer map of urban area
More information about OS MasterMap can be found within the Digimap Help pages.
Are you fully “Shibbolised”?
//From 1 August 2008, access to Digimap will be via the UK federation only. If your institution has not made appropriate provision for this change, users at your institution will not be able to gain access to any Digimap Collection.
While there is a considerable volume of documentation about the transition between Athens and Shibboleth, there are one or two points relating to Digimap which may have been overlooked and which we would like to draw to your attention.
User Accountability
Regardless of which method your institution is employing to access Digimap, it will need to assert user accountability. Broadly speaking, this means that the institution must able to trace activity in any given session to an individual. User identifiers must not be reused or recycled according to a specific policy, and access to resources must be withdrawn in a timely fashion, when appropriate. You can read more about asserting user accountability in the UK federation’s Rules of Membership (section 6, here: http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/library/uploads/Documents/rules-of-membership.pdf
and on the UK federation website, point 9, here: http://www.ukfederation.org.uk/content/Documents/AttributeUsageNotes.
If your institution is not asserting user accountability, all users will be denied access to all Digimap Collections, except Historic Digimap.
Open Athens
If your institution is using OpenAthens, it will be necessary to have a virtual Identity Provider with Eduserv in order for your institution to be able to assert user accountability. Accessing Digimap using the “Eduserv Athens” option in the WAYF will not give your users access to Digimap, since it is not possible to assert user accountability by this method.
Error Messages
If your institution does not yet assert user accountability, you will see a message to this effect when you try to log in to Digimap. If you see this message, please contact someone in your institution who deals with your UK federation implementation. EDINA cannot change this for you.
Using a local Identity Provider
If your institution is running its own Identity Provider, you may find the list of technical requirements on the EDINA website useful. If you are having trouble accessing Digimap while testing your Shibboleth implementation, please check that your Identity Provider is releasing the appropriate attributes, as given in the above list.
No UK federation?
If your institution has not registered with the UK federation, does not have an in-house Identity Provider or has not registered with OpenAthens, action is required as soon as possible. Setting up access to online resources via the UK federation is not an instant process.
EDINA has identified from publicly available lists, that there are some institutions subscribing to Digimap which appear not to be registered either with the UK federation or with OpenAthens. Users at these institutions will not be able to access Digimap at all from 1 August 2008.
If your institution is unable to set up access to online resources via the UK federation by 1 August, please contact the EDINA Helpdesk, where we will refer you to JISC Collections. You can telephone us on 0131 650 3302 or contact us by email: edina@ed.ac.uk
