EDINA Digimap

The New Digimap Blog

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:46:00 +0000

All blog posts area now on the new Digimap Blog, please resubscribe here:

http://digimap.blogs.edina.ac.uk/feed/

Digimap for Schools wins Gold Award

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 10:16:00 +0000

Read all about it on our new blog:

EDINA Digimap Blog

Subscribe to the new blog:

EDINA Digimap Feed

http://digimap.blogs.edina.ac.uk/2011/04/14/digimap-for-schools-wins-gold-award/

Data Updates: OS MasterMap and VectorMap District

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:28:00 +0000

Read all about it on our new blog:

EDINA Digimap Blog

Subscribe to the new blog:

EDINA Digimap Feed

New Features in Digimap Roam

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:48:00 +0000

Read about them here in our new blog:

New Features in Digimap Roam.

Digimap has a new Blog

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:59:00 +0000

We are moving from our Blogger site to a new WordPress blog here:

http://digimap.blogs.edina.ac.uk/

All new posts will be on the new site from now on, if you have any links to the old blog on any websites you manage then please update them. If you spot any out of date links on other websites then please let the site administrators know or email the details to our helpdesk: edina@ed.ac.uk

You can subscribe to the new blog here:

http://digimap.blogs.edina.ac.uk/feed/

We look forward to seeing your comments and feedback on the new blog soon!

Firefox 4: compatability with Roam

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:38:00 +0000

Mozilla have just released their latest web browser: Firefox version 4.

EDINA is aware that while the majority of functionality within Digimap will work with Firefox 4, you may find that you need to restart the Roam mapping services, and sometimes their print facilities, to get them to work properly. The problem is due to the underlying software we use to make maps not yet being compatible with Firefox 4; usually after reloading everything works smoothly.

Please bear with us while we make the necessary updates to ensure that Digimap is fully compatible with Firefox 4. If you cannot get any aspect of the service working properly then please contact the help desk: edina@ed.ac.uk

VectorMap District - beta release

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:08:00 +0000

Ordnance Survey have recently release the next version (the beta version) of their VectorMap District product. This dataset is part of the OS OpenData package.

You can read more about the changes to VectorMap District on Ordnance Survey's blog.

EDINA will be updating the version of VectorMap District available through both Digimap's OS Collection and Digimap OpenStream. The current (alpha) version will be withdrawn completely.

There is some processing work to be done on VectorMap District before it can be available through EDINA's services. With this in mind, we aim to release the new version through Digimap's Data Download facility on Tuesday 5th April and through Digimap OpenStream by Thursday 31st March.

Facebook Poll - Which GIS?

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 10:00:00 +0000

We are running a poll on our Facebook page to see which GIS is the most widely used by Digimap users.

Go to this page to let us know which one you use the most: GIS Poll

OS MasterMap background maps

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:30:00 +0000

OS MasterMap data is now available to download in a rasterised (image) format from Digimap's Data Download facility. If you need an image of OS MasterMap data (for example, as a backdrop map) but don't need the complexity of the original vector data, this new stuff is for you.

OS MasterMap – detailed but complex

OS MasterMap is the most detailed product offered by Ordnance Survey. Maps made with with OS MasterMap have been available through Digimap's mapping facilities since 2007, but if you wanted to use OS MasterMap as background for a customised map by overlaying your own data in a GIS you needed to download and convert the raw GML data. If all you want is a detailed colour background image, this seems like a significant investment of time.

Rasterised OS MasterMap - images not data

Digimap now offers OS MasterMap as .tif images at two scales: 1:1000 and 1:2000 through the usual Data Download facility. This saves you having to download, convert and import the data using specialist GIS software.

Where do I get the OS MasterMap raster background maps?

Log in to Digimap's OS Collection, go to Data Download and select which scale of OS MasterMap image you want from the list of products. The images are tiled in 1km square tiles, so you can select your area of interest, and the tiles covering it, in the same way as other tiled datasets.

The scales are determined according to the distance on the ground represented by each pixel. The larger scale images are based on a measurement of 0.3125m per pixel. The smaller scale images are based on a measurement of 0.625m per pixel. These equate to approximate scales of 1:1000 and 1:2000 respectively, although these are dependent on the screen resolution of your monitor. You can easily display the maps at other scales, but some loss of image quality may occur if you do.

"How To" Videos on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:02:00 +0000

We have created some "How To" video clips and put them on YouTube for everyone to view. They show how to carry out various tasks with Digimap's online maps and downloaded data.

You can see all the videos on the EDINA Digimap YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/EDINADigimap

If there are any particular aspects of the service for which you would like us to make a video, you can add them to the discussion on our Facebook page or email us directly at edina@ed.ac.uk.

Ordnance Survey request help on data usability

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:44:00 +0000

EDINA has been asked to post the following request for assistance from Ordnance Survey regarding the usability of particular datasets. Please follow the links below if you can help.

You may remember a similar survey being conducted in June 2010. This latest survey refers to different datasets.

Hello,

My name is Michael Brown and I work for the Ordnance Survey research department. My work includes the development and application of methods to improve the usability of OS products. I am currently exploring the use of questionnaires to evaluate the usability of our products and guide their further development. If you have any experience of the following Ordnance Survey products please follow the links provided and complete the questionnaire. Each should only take a few minutes to complete, and I would appreciate it if you could complete as many as you can.

OS MasterMap® Integrated Transport Network Layer™
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSMM-ITN

OS MasterMap® Topography Layer
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSMM-Topo

OS OpenData™ Boundary-Line™
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSOD-BL

If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Thank you for your time.

Dr. Michael Brown
Usability Specialist
Research, L1F2, Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive, SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, SO16 0AS
michael.brown@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Digimap is now on Facebook and Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:09:00 +0000

You can now follow the EDINA Digimap service on Facebook and Twitter, as well as keeping up to date here on our blog. Our Twitter feed can be found on @EDINA_Digimap and our Facebook page is at: http://www.facebook.com/edinadigimap

We will be posting news about the Digimap service, forthcoming events, service maintenance operations and new features and functions, all of which may be of interest to Digimap users. Don't forget you can also start your own discussions about Digimap on the Facebook page and you can leave comments or queries on the blog.

If you click Like at the bottom of the left hand column on the Facebook page or follow us on Twitter you will be kept up-to-date with all the latest news.

Updates to historical maps in Historic Digmap

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:12:00 +0000

On Tuesday 1st March, EDINA will be updating the metadata for the historical maps in Historic Digimap. The metadata changes will affect only the Scottish County Series maps and will mean that some maps will appear to “move decade”. More details of the implications of these changes are given below.

Accuracy of publication dates

When the maps were originally scanned, the detailed marginalia on the original paper map sheets was not captured at the same time. The marginalia contained information such as the survey year, publication year, re-publication year (if applicable) and surveyor name. During the digitisation process only one year from the marginalia was recorded; it is assumed this was the publication year but there was always some uncertainty around this.

A joint project between EDINA and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) was undertaken to digitise the marginalia of the original paper copies of the historical maps held by NLS. The metadata captured included the Survey Year and Publication Year. Until now, the survey year of all maps in Historic Digimap was unknown. We now have the survey year for a significant number (but not all) of the County Series maps for Scotland at both 1:2500 and 1:10 560 scales.

The significance of this project to Historic Digimap is that we can now use the more accurate and reliable publication dates for many of the County Series maps to improve the mapping and download facilities offered. In order to make use of the new NLS publication dates, these were matched with the original metadata using a series of rigorous database queries and manual processing.

How many maps have changed?

Consequently, around 35,000 County Series map tiles* (18%) now have survey years. Of these, around 28,000 tiles also have a more accurate publication date. In the majority of cases (over 70%) the publication date has only changed by a year or two. For nearly 2,000 tiles the change in publication date is more than 10 years, with the largest single change being 39 years. For those tiles which have not had updates to the survey year, the Landmark publication year used remains unchanged.

So what does this mean for Ancient Roam and Historic Download?

Nothing has changed in Historic Download in terms of how historical maps can be found and downloaded, but the updated publication dates will be reflected in dates provided on the order summary page in the downloader. These will be more accurate and reliable than previously.

For Ancient Roam, there are some more significant effects. The publication date is used to determine which maps are visible in each decade given in the timeline along the top of the map screen.

Many of the maps for which the publication date has changed by one or two years will remain within the same decade and therefore will not be affected. However, for some maps a change of a year or two in the publication date may be enough to shift the map from one decade to another. For example, a map previously thought to have been published in 1889 but now known to have been published in 1901, originally appeared in the 1890s decade but now appears in the 1900s decade.

Where there have been more significant changes in the publication date some have resulted in entirely new decades being available in the timeline for particular areas. For example, in Forfarshire there were two County Series editions in the 1890s. This was because maps originally published in the 1860s and 1870s were re-published in the 1890s. So where no maps appeared for Forfarshire in 1860/70s, they do now!

Other maps with significant publication date changes tend to be odd outlying tiles that for some reason had a significantly different date from neighbouring tiles. This means that some odd ‘holes’ have been filled.

How do I find out the map date source?

In addition to the new survey and publication data information, the Map Details information box will also be updated. A new icon has been added to the tool bar to access the map information and the information box styling has been updated in keeping with the other Digimap Roam clients. Three new attributes have been added to the Map Details information: Year Surveyed (where applicable), Sheet Title (where applicable) and Date Source. The Date Source information will tell you whether the publication year came from the original Landmark data or the NLS metadata.

While these changes to Scottish County Series maps means that the per decade classification is now different, the changes mean that the dates are now more accurate. Our thanks go to the National Library of Scotland for their hard work on this project.

The updates to Historic Digimap will take effect on the evening of 1 March 2011.

*Map tiles refers to the ‘cookie-cut’ National Grid versions of the maps, not the original County Sheets

Digimap Training in Leeds 23 February

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:29:00 +0000

EDINA is running Digimap training at Leeds Metropolitan University on Wednesday 23 February 2011. Training is free and available to support staff, teaching staff and site representatives. This course will cover an introduction to Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection, including mapping facilities and downloading data.

For further information on the course and to book online, please read the EDINA website here:
http://edina.ac.uk/events/courses/geo/2011-02-23-digimap_collections_training.html

Digimap OpenStream Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 11:01:00 +0000

Digimap OpenStream, EDINA's new open WMS service, was been updated with the latest version of MiniScale from the OS OpenData collection on 25 January 2011. The most significant changes to this dataset include improved ferry route labelling and a different representation of urban areas.

EDINA aims to provide the latest version of OS OpenData via the OpenStream service. This means that datasets may be updated part way through an academic year.

MasterMap Download: 4-7 February 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Work being undertaken by the University of Edinburgh will affect the availability of Digimap's MasterMap Download facility from Friday 4th to Monday 7th February 2011.

MasterMap Download will be unavailable from 4pm on Friday 4 February until 12 noon on Monday 7 February and will continue to be at risk for the remainder of Monday 7th. We would encourage anyone wishing to take data for use the following week to take it prior to Friday 4th February.

While the maintenance work may be completed over the weekend, there is further software maintenance to be undertaken by EDINA following the University's works. Currently it is difficult to estimate the length of time this will take, which is why MasterMap Download should be regarded as "at risk" for the remainder of Monday 7th February.

Marine Roam Free Trial

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:41:00 +0000

We are currently offering free trial access to the new Marine Roam facility to institutions which do not yet subscribe to Marine Digimap.

Marine Roam provides the only available online mapping tool for Hydrospatial data, a comprehensive dataset of features found in the marine environment, including buoys, wrecks, windfarms, sandbanks, flora and fauna, as well as transportation and socio-economic use information. Marine Roam is currently available as a beta service.

Any staff member at a UK Higher or Further Education Institution can request a free trial. EDINA will issue one username and password per institution which may be shared with anyone at that institution wishing to try the facility. Passwords will be valid until 31 March 2011.

Please feel free to pass this message to others who may be interested or request your trial account.

Request a free trial now

Information regarding how to subscribe to the Marine Digimap resource can be found at - http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/access/ a subscription provides access to data download facilities as well as online mapping.

OpenStream and the GeoVation Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:40:00 +0000

Ordnance Survey is currently promoting the GeoVation Challenge with a particular emphasis on the use of OS OpenData. EDINA's Digimap OpenStream service, providing access to a Web Map Service (WMS) offering OS OpenData products, is available free of charge and can be used to enter the GeoVation Challenge! You just need a .ac.uk email address to register online. Read on for details of the innovation awards funding and prize money.
The current Challenge is "How can we improve transport in Britain?" Check the GeoVation Challenge website for further details. The challenge is open until 12.00 noon on 11 February 2011. If you have a great idea that uses geography to address the challenge, you could win a slice of £150,000 to help make it happen, funded by the Ideas in Transit project. There is also a share of £10,000 for the idea that demonstrates the best use of OS OpenData. The Challenge is open to UK residents 18 and over.

Revamp of Digimap Help pages

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:38:00 +0000

We have implemented a new Help system for the Marine and Geology Digimap collections (Marine Help and Geology Help ). The Help pages have been moved to a new production system which will make is easier for us to keep them more up to date and allow you to find the information you are looking for more easily and print better looking pages.

Visually there is not much change to the pages but over the coming months we will be updating and revising the content of the Help pages within Digimap to provide users with improved access to information about the Digimap facilities, the data available and how to use the data in different systems.

If you have any comments about the new Help pages or suggestions please let us know.

Tip: if you want to search for a phrase put it in quotes e.g. "zoom to position"

AGI Awards - Digimap Highly Commended

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:10:00 +0000

EDINA has receive a Highly Commended mention at the annual Association for Geographic Information (AGI) Awards for Innovation and Best Practice. http://www.agi.org.uk/agi-awards/

EDINA was entered in the Innovation and Best Practice (Charitable Status) category based on the presentation given at GeoCommunity 2010 by Tim Riley. Tim presented a paper entitled Digimap: 10 Years Old and yet Brand New. The migration of an established service to new GIS infrastructure. This described how much of the infrastructure of Digimap had been updated to a mainly Open Source solution which significantly improved the quality of service offered by Digimap. You can download Tim’s paper here: http://assgeoinf.squarespace.com/storage/geocommunity/papers/TimRiley.pdf

and view his presentation here: http://prezi.com/vkvslwzxtkzr/digimap-10-years-old-and-yet-brand-new-migration-to-a-new-gis-platform/

The winner of this charitable status section went to MapAction for their work in response to the Haiti and Pakistan earthquakes.

Digimap for Schools launched

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:39:00 +0000

Baroness Joan Hanham CBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG) has launched a brand new service to help improve the teaching of geography in schools with Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, Director General and Chief Executive of national mapping agency Ordnance Survey. The launch took place at Graveney School in Wandsworth, London on Wednesday 10 November at 2pm.

Ordnance Survey is increasing its support for the teaching of geography at all levels by launching a brand new online mapping service for all schools across Great Britain. 'Digimap for Schools' provides schools with easy access to Ordnance Survey's most detailed digital mapping for the whole of Great Britain. For the first time, pupils will have access to maps showing individual building outlines as well as familiar scales of mapping used by outdoor enthusiasts and on websites.

[full story - Ordnance Survery News Release]

Tell us what you think:

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:41:00 +0000

Here at EDINA we are constantly evaluating our services and really value user feedback. Our funders are also keen to know what impact the services have. We are currently assessing how satisfied our users are with the Digimap Collections so we can gauge how well we are doing. Please could you fill in a quick user satisfaction survey for each of the Digimap Collections you use; you can pass on the links to anyone else you know who uses Digimap.

OS Collection
Historic Digimap
Geology Digimap
Marine Digimap

The survey is very short with only 5 questions after you have put in some details about yourself. All data collected will be held anonymously and securely. No cookies are used in the completion of the survey.

Go-Geo! for all things geo.

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:54:00 +0000

EDINA would like to take this opportunity to remind Digimap users that another of it’s JISC-funded services Go-Geo! (www.gogeo.ac.uk) can save time and effort when looking for geodata. Searches for data can be carried out against a number of catalogues held across government holdings, research data centres and data repositories. Increasingly Go-Geo! offers direct access to the data but if not, it offers the name and contact details of whom to contact to obtain the data. Go-Geo! also offers resource channels which can be browsed for up-to-date news and information on free software, online services, data providers, events and books. For those creating data as part of their studies there’s a wealth of information describing how best to document and describe geospatial data including access to geodoc, a tool for creating standards-compliant metadata. For all your geospatial data needs visit www.gogeo.ac.uk today.

Geological Photos in Geology Roam

noreply@blogger.com (EDINA Digimap Support) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:20:00 +0000

Geology Roam now allows you to view British Geological Survey images (of geological features, rocks, fossils and the BGS at work) from the JIDI Image Collection. The images area accessed via the map interface when you are zoomed in to the most detailed geology maps.

There are over 3000 images mainly found in geologically rich areas such as Cumbria, North and South Wales, the Dorset coast, Edinburgh etc. The images cover a wide range of features from details of bedding planes and large crystals in rock faces to aerial photographs of valleys showing glacial erosion features.

To access the photos go to one of the 5 most detailed zoom levels in Geology Roam and click on the camera icon in the tool bar or Geological Photos tab. You can then pan around the maps till you find an area with some photos.

The photos are marked on the map at the location they were taken from; click on the markers to see thumbnails of the image(s) for the location. You can view a full sized image with detail about what is shown by clicking on the thumbnail.

These photos are useful for geologists but there are also some spectacular landscape images that can be enjoyed by everyone.

NEW open service: Digimap OpenStream

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:15:00 +0000

EDINA is pleased to announce the release of Digimap OpenStream – a web service delivering OS OpenData to the UK academic sector using open standard WMS technology.

Digimap OpenStream is an EDINA Digimap value-added service freely available to the academic community. Access is not restricted to registered Digimap users, although a one-off online registration is required. The OS OpenData offered is accessible 24/7 and users are able to embed it into their own application software without the overheads of downloading and managing large quantities of data.

Digimap OpenStream provides access to the following OS OpenData products:

MiniScale®
1:250,000 Scale Colour Raster
OS Vector Map™ District (Raster)
OS Street View®

Details of the Application Programming Interface (API) are provided along with simple guides illustrating how to use the service within popular GIS software.

Full details of the Terms and Conditions of Use can be found now at http://openstream.edina.ac.uk/terms