Lovell Johns

Yesterday Gordon Brown announced that more non-personal government data is to be made available for free use, including a large amount of Ordnance Survey data.

From British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s speech 23rd March 2010 on “Building Britain’s Digital Future”:

“And following the strong support in our recent consultation, I can confirm that from 1st April, we will be making a substantial package of information held by Ordnance Survey freely available to the public, without restrictions on re-use. Further details on the package and government’s response to the consultation will be published by the end of March.”

No information has been officially released as yet from the Ordnance Survey to confirm which datasets will be included but the consultation document released recently suggested it would be the following. The main omission will of course be MasterMap.

Proposed datasets under consideration for release:

Raster

OS Street View® (1:10 000 scale street level map data)
1:25 000 Scale Colour Raster
1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster
1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster
1:250 000 Scale Colour Raster
MiniScale® (1:1 million nominal scale)
Note: MiniScale currently also available as a vector Illustrator file.

Vector

1:50 000 gazetteer
o All text on 1:50 000 categorised and located to nearest 1km.
Code-Point®
o Postcode units located to postcode unit or nearest 100m.
Boundary-Line™
o Counties
o Unitary Authorities
o London Boroughs
o Greater London Authority
o Districts
o Metropolitan Districts
o Parishes
o Wards
o Westminster Constituencies
o Electoral Regions (Scottish & Welsh Assemblies)
o European Consistencies

The release of Boundary-Line data would also indirectly release boundaries for:

Police
Fire
Health
Education
Census Output Areas/Wards
Urban Areas

NUTS

Meridian™ 2
Small scale vector dataset. Scale suitability depends on feature type, but ranges from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.
o Roads (generalised). Main roads named/numbered, some minor roads named.
o County/District boundaries
o Coastline
o Urban Areas (1:250,000)
o Railways and rail stations (1:50,000)
o Drainage Lakes (1:250,000)
o Woodland (1:250,000)
o Height points

The release of Meridian data would also indirectly release LJ London underground and DLR data, partly based on Meridian.
Strategi®

Vector version of 1:250 000 raster product.
Content similar to GB road atlas.
o 1:250,000 Roads, Urban, Coast, Drainage etc.
plus..
o Points of Interest (e.g. campsites, golf courses, zoos etc.)
o Landmarks (e.g. masts, windmills etc.)
o Antiquities (roman roads, ruined castles etc.)
o Emergency roadside telephones
o National Park Boundaries
o Heights
o Road distance markers

For more information on how you can use these OS datasets effectively within your business contact us on 01993 883161 or enquiries@lovelljohns.com

Great Britain under snow

This is an amazing NASA satellite map of Great Britain covered in snow after the big snow storms of the last couple of weeks (January 2010). It’s quite amazing to see and compare to what Great Britain normally looks like from space (shown below).

Great Britain not under snow

At a seminar on Smarter Government the Prime Minister and Communities Secretary John Denham announced that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from next year, as part of a Government drive to open up data to improve transparency.

There seemed to be quite a bit of emphasis on data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries and postcode areas as a first step with some side mention to making mid scale mapping available.

There was also mention of making this data more freely available with the hope this will encourage more effective exploitation of public data by businesses, individuals and community organisations.

In the new year Brown intends to publish 2,000 sets of data, possibly including all legislation, as well as road-traffic counts over the past eight years, property prices listed with the stamp-duty yield, motoring offences with types of offence and the numbers, by county, for the top six offences.

It was quoted in the press that the Prime Minister said “by April he hoped a consultation would be completed on the free provision of Ordnance Survey maps down to a scale of 1:10,000, (not the scale of a typical Landranger map set at 1:50,000) … The online maps would be free to all, including commercial users…”

Following this announcement Liam Byrne, Chief Secretary to the Treasury presented a paper called Putting the Frontline First: smarter government, in which he states:

We will release valuable public datasets and make them free for reuse. this will include:

• Releasing health data such as the NHS Choices data
• Consulting on making Ordnance Survey mapping and postcode datasets available for free reuse from April 2010
• Increasing access to and reuse of public transport data29 including the national Public transport Access node database, with information available to the development community by April 2010, providing live incident warnings and traffic camera images to googleMaps™ and increasing the number of gps-enabled buses to cover 80% of journeys by 2015
• Opening Met Office Public Weather Service data to include: releasing significant underlying data for weather forecasts for free download and reuse by April 2010, and working to further expand the release of weather data, while recognising all public safety considerations; releasing a free iPhone application to access weather data by April 2010; releasing a widget that enables other websites to deploy Met office supplied weather information by April 2010; and making available more information on Met office scientists, their work and scientific papers, free of charge.

On the other side, this seems to have caught the OS somewhat by surprise, in fact no-one from the OS was even at the announcement which is bizarre since this could be the biggest single change to the way OS licensing and pricing works.

In response the OS said “The detail of this is still being worked through and a formal consultation period will begin in December to look at how these changes will be implemented. Ordnance Survey is committed to working with colleagues across government on developing these proposals … Since May 2009 we have been in the process of implementing our new business strategy and we believe that much of this is still very relevant as we move forward.”

Also, in what seemed to almost be a parry to the announcement, Ordnance Survey Chairman Sir Rob Margetts says: “I am delighted that the Prime Minister and John Denham have today made these proposals about releasing for free some of Ordnance Survey’s data to support innovation, accountability and growth. I also very much welcome the commitment made by Government to contribute to the cost of this. This on-going commitment is fundamental to maintaining the sustained quality of Ordnance Survey’s data that has made the organisation a world leader in its field. The Board of Ordnance Survey will work very closely with Government, as well as our customers, partners and others to ensure that the proposals are fully developed for consultation and implementation next year.”

The union representing staff at the OS stated that Brown’s pledge was in “complete contradiction with the OS’s own plans to explore commercial opportunities and find new ways of raising revenue”.

On the face of it, it all sounds very promising, however, there is lots of talk and no clear statement of what is actually proposed, which datasets and for what purpose.

The bottom line is that the government is talking about “consulting” with the OS on making data available so there is plenty of wiggle room and space for manoeuvering by either side yet.

Whatever happens, it seems fairly clear that there is some way to go in finalising what data will be free to use, it also seems clear that this will not cover the Mastermap dataset.

It looks like Microsoft and Apple will be going head to head in the tablet computer media centre space. Microsoft are planning to launch their new twin folding touch screen device in the next few months.

Microsoft tablet

It looks very swish but assuming pricing will be similar, my bet is still on Apple to win out on style and usability.

Apple 'touch' tablet

It will be interesting to see how the devices compare on:

• Weight
• Battery life, both have large colour screens and the i-phone battery life was pretty limited
• Connectivity, WIFI and GSM etc
• Applications available and links to media formats for music, film, magazine, newspapers and books. I guess the business users may tend towards the Microsoft device but the home users would prefer the Apple device.

When these devices become cheaper, easier to use and more functional, there is no doubt that users will begin to access a whole lot more content through them. Additionally with the increase of free WIFI spots around cities, the availability to access data over the web on the move will become a whole lot easier. Users will begin to look for interactive and readily available content online, and this no doubt will start to affect the publishing market more.

Have you started thinking about making your products available digitally and in more interactive formats? We’ve been working with publishers to create interactive applications and products from their content. For more information visit www.ljinteractive.com or contact us on 01993 883 161.

The first GIS application for the iPhone platform has been released. As its name suggests, ‘Geology CA’ is focused on geological data in California and includes 19 data layers including terrain, faults, plate boundaries and hydrology. The application includes basic GIS functionality such map navigation, being able to turn on and off layers, attribution query and measuring distances. It can also take advantage of the GPS functionality built into the iPhone.

Although only USA based, the makers of the software state:

“We have a lot more in the works! More data, more states, more features. This application is rapidly evolving and we expect it to grow to encompass the entire USA, including physical and human geography data.”

For more information see:
http://www.integrity-logic.com/GeologyCA/

The Times Higher Education website has reported that an historic collection assistant at Queen’s College, Oxford, has discovered two rare atlases which have lain unknown among it’s manuscript collection for over 200 years. The first: “Description of the maritime ports of the Kingdom of Portugal” dates from 1648. The other, “Plans of the cities and fortresses of the conquest of Oriental India” dates from the same period. Very few copies exist of either atlas.

“Many Oxbridge college libraries have major, sometimes world-class historic collections – Queen’s alone has about 100,000 volumes published before 1850. Such vast quantities of material are overseen by small teams of librarians who have many other demands on their time and inevitable gaps in their knowledge. They seldom convince their colleges that their needs are a priority. As a result, extraordinary artefacts sometimes languish unnoticed, with no one able to appreciate their true significance or value.”

Full Story:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407828&c=1

Lovell Johns have worked on a number of projects to capture historcal mapping for use in GIS, and have close links with the Bodleian Library.

Rightmove has launched a new iPhone app that will send you images and the map location of available properties for sale or rent dependent on where you are geographically. This launches a whole new way to look for property, get out and about, find an area you like and then have a look to see what’s available in your area. Or you can just surf your chosen area at home and see what’s available You can then contact the agent by e-mail or phone to enquire about your preferred properties.

Miles Shipside, the commercial director of Rightmove said  “The iPhone app will add a new dimension to the way people can search for property and means users can now have instant, location-targeted access to the UK’s number one property website.”

Rightmove’s iPhone application, is just one example of how businesses are embracing users who wish to use mobile technology. Is it time to get your company mobile? Talk to us about your mobile mapping project.

Following on from our previous blog covering the release of the first GIS application for the iPhone, last weeks ESRI International User Conference showed a sneak preview of ArcGIS Mobile 9.4 which will be available for the iPhone.  ArcGIS Mobile 9.4 will allow you to use ArcServer services. The Blackberry will also be supported as well as the previously supported Windows Mobile.

The combination of  iPhone’s slick interface and GPS functionality is really helping to support some exciting spatial applications. Watch this space!

On the 40^th anniversary of the first moon landing, Google have released Moon imagery in Google Earth. Landing sites are mapped and linked to pictures and video content.

“There are also immersive lunar surface panoramas, composed of photos taken by the astronauts themselves, presented for the first time in a 3D ‘Street View’ style interface”

Google Earth 5.0 is required, though if you already have it there is no need to upgrade. Simply click on the planet button to change from Earth to the Moon.

For more information see:

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/07/fly-yourself-to-moon.html

Let’s hope we go back soon!

It’s now a pretty well known fact that whatever your business having a presence on the web is a crucial thing. People will often visit a business’s website to do a little research to learn more about the company. Key information such as your business contact details are essential pieces of information to pass on to customers.

Many businesses are now including in their contact information a website map showing their business location, providing directions to their business for customers. Website maps can be fully customised to centre on the location of your business and can be styled to reflect your company’s branding incorporating your logo and web design. An interactive website map is a staple piece of information and something that customers will be looking for on a company website.

Website maps are available in variety of forms utilising different technologies offering different levels of customisation. Some of the technologies in use include flash and google maps api. We’re fully experienced in creating custom website maps to specification for a variety of companies including those with multiple locations. Speak to one of our specialists to discuss your website map requirements by calling 01993 883 161 alternatively you can click here to request a quick quote.