Thursday 18 December 2008

Essential Maintenance: 8 January

On Thursday 8 January 2009, EDINA will be undertaking some essential maintenance on the servers which run Digimap.

This means that all Digimap Collections should be regarded as unavailable between 08.00 hours and 17.30 hours on this day. We will endeavour to restore full access to all services as soon as possible, but given that it is not possible to predict exactly how long the task in hand will take, you should anticipate that the service will be unavailable for the full period.

Notices to this effect will be posted on the Digimap login page and a reminder will be sent to site representatives nearer the time.

Monday 15 December 2008

Carto Bookmarks

On Wednesday 17 December, EDINA will be removing all bookmarks from Carto which contain references to Land-Line maps.

The data which underpins these bookmarks has been withdrawn and consequently, any bookmarks which reference Land-Line data will not draw maps. Therefore, to avoid any confusion created by maps which do not draw as expected, EDINA is removing the appropriate bookmarks from all users accounts.

As a result, you may notice that some of the bookmarks in Carto no longer appear in the Bookmarks tab.

Friday 12 December 2008

Changes to Digimap Registration

On Friday 12 December, EDINA will make a small change to the Digimap registration pages. Currently, users logging in to Digimap with new (un-registered) login credentials are given the option to link their new details with an existing registration that they may have with Digimap. This option was implemented to aid the transition between Athens and the UK Federation in August 2008.

EDINA has discovered that many users are not logging out of the UK Federation properly, and are inadvertently allowing other individuals to access services using their login details. This is because the only way to log out of the UK Federation is to close *all* browser windows.

As a result of this, some Digimap users are linking their Digimap registration with the UK Federation login details of other users who are not registered with Digimap. This allows both users access to the service, when only one individual has agreed to the terms of the licence.

In order to avoid this problem, EDINA is removing the option to link a new registration with an existing registration. This change will take effect from the evening of Friday 12 December 2008. Users registering for Digimap with a new set of login details will be automatically requested to submit these details as a new registration. This simplifies the registration process and ensures that users cannot link accounts inappropriately.

If you have questions about this change, or would like to discuss it further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Hardware failure update

The hardware which failed has now been replaced and normal service resumed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

9 December: Hardware failure

Users are currently unable to access any Digimap Collection. At 17.40 on Monday 8 December, one of Digimap's service machines suffered a disk failure. In order to fix the problem it has been necessary to order replacement parts for the machine. Our current estimate for restoring full access to Digimap is late this afternoon at the earliest.

When we have a more definite timescale for resolving the problem, we will post the information here, and on the Digimap login page.

Monday 8 December 2008

Win a prize worth £1750!!

Are you using Ordnance Survey data in an innovative way? If so, enter the competition and you could win a prize!

EDINA and Ordnance Survey are pleased to announce a competition to find the most innovative use of Ordnance Survey data. To enter the competition you need to submit a summary of your work which describes what you were trying to achieve, what Ordnance Survey data you used (and how), what makes the work and the use of the data innovative, and how the data could be improved to make the work easier, or to have made more possible.

Full competition details
Full details of the competition can be found here. Please ensure you read this document carefully before submitting your application.

Grand Prize
The winner will receive £250 of Amazon vouchers to distribute amongst project colleagues plus travel, accommodation and conference fees for one or more researchers, up to a total value of £1,500, to a conference of your choice. There are second and third prizes of £250 and £100 in Amazon vouchers.

Closing date
The closing date for entries is midnight on Saturday 31st January 2009. Entries may be submitted by email or on paper.

Questions
All questions regarding the competition should be addressed to Ordnance Survey directly, on universityenquiries@ordnancesurvey.co.uk


Good luck!

Friday 28 November 2008

Usage Figures for Site Representatives

Site Representatives for Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection may have noticed that the usage statistics for October 2008 are not yet available via the Site Representative's Support Area.

We are in the process of re-engineering the way we calculate and present usage statistics. Since this process is not yet complete, figures for October 2008 onwards are not yet available. The facility for extracting usage statistics remains available so that site representatives can continue to download figures for previous months.

We hope to have complete usage statistics available in time for the new year. We intend this to include data for all the Digimap Collections. Currently, data is available only for the Ordnance Survey Collection. Please note that information available for some Collections will be more limited than for others, particularly Historic Digimap.

Progress updates will be posted here when available.

Confused?
If you are registered with EDINA as a Digimap Site Representative, you will have access to a specific section of Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection called the Site Representative's Support Area. This will provide you with your institution's usage data for Digimap. It is only available to site representatives.

Thursday 23 October 2008

23 Oct: MasterMap Download Update

The MasterMap Download facility was restored at 12.30pm today. This facility is now fully functional.

If you were waiting to retrieve data which was ordered prior to the service outage, please collect it using the usual emailed link or code as soon as possible.

Wednesday 22 October 2008

22 Oct: MasterMap Download

MasterMap Download has today fallen foul of a hardware problem. This facility was temporarily unavailable and restored by late morning. Around 4pm the problem recurred and the MasterMap Download facility is again unavailable.

EDINA staff are working to rectify the problem. Further updates will be posted here and within the Digimap service when available. Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Digimap Performance

If you have logged in to Digimap recently you will be aware that the service, particularly the Ordnance Survey Collection, is suffering from performance issues. The biggest factor in this is the sheer number of users accessing the service during core hours.

The beginning of the autumn term is the busiest period for Digimap, while new users register and new courses get underway. This year the number of users registering for Digimap is exceptionally high, in the light of the changes to access and authentication systems which occurred in August. This means that a significant proportion of returning users are required to re-register using their new login credentials.

While siginificant work is underway to improve the performance of Digimap, there is no immediate solution. If you are having trouble using Digimap, please try again at a time when the service is less busy. Quieter periods are early in the mornings and later in the evenings. The busiest time is usually during weekday afternoons.

How globes are made

Did you ever wonder how globes are made? If so, here is a YouTube film to enlighten you! Fascinating stuff...

Tuesday 21 October 2008

New Training Dates

EDINA are pleased to announce the following schedule of Digimap training courses, to take place in 2008-9. Courses are open to staff members (and postgraduates for the OS MasterMap courses) in UK higher and further education institutions, and cover the Ordnance Survey Collection, Historic Digimap, Marine Digimap and Geology Digimap.

Digimap Collections Training:


OS MasterMap for Users Training:
More details regarding course content and learning outcomes can be found with each course listing. You will find listings and booking forms (where booking is open) for these and all other EDINA training here.

We strongly encourage site representatives to attend an OS MasterMap course if they have not done so already. Other members of staff and postgraduate students from subscribing institutions are also welcome. However it is essential that all attendees be registered users of Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection in order to participate in the OS MasterMap training.

All courses are subject to a sufficient level of interest. If you are uncertain about the relevance of a course for your needs, please contact EDINA for advice at edina-training@ed.ac.uk. All EDINA training courses are FREE OF CHARGE. Regretfully, however, owing to the rise in non-attendance, EDINA will make a charge of £25.00 for each day of absence from a course for which EDINA is not notified in advance. Lunch will be provided for all full-day attendees and refreshments will be available throughout the day.

Friday 17 October 2008

Logging Out

EDINA has identified a number of cases where one user has inadvertently registered with Digimap using another individual's login details. We believe that this may have occurred because the first user has finished using a public access machine but has left their web browser open. This means that the browser is still logged in to the UK Federation with that user's login credentials.

In order to log out of the UK Federation it is necessary to close ALL web browser windows. This is particularly important if the user is not required to log out of the machine they are using.

Site representatives and local support staff may wish to remind their local users of any local protocols for logging out of electronic systems.

Friday 12 September 2008

2008 Data Update

Data Updates
The annual update to the contemporary Ordnance Survey data took place on Tuesday 2 September 2008. You can view the update dates of the new data in the Digimap Help pages and on the EDINA website here.

As per previous announcements on this blog and elsewhere, Land-Line.Plus is no longer available through the Digimap OS Collection. Ordnance Survey are withdrawing all licences and support for this product and therefore Digimap has ceased to deliver it also. This forms part of the transition to the OS MasterMap framework. If you require large-scale detailed data, please use the OS MasterMap Topography Layer, available through MasterMap Download.

Within Geology Digimap, the 1:50,000 scale data has been updated from version 3 to version 4. We have also made it possible to produce PDF maps from the Geology Mapper service. In order to do this, make sure you add your chosen map to the Map Chest, and then click the link to "Generate PDF" from there.

Within Marine Digimap, the Hydrospatial data available has been updated to the June 2008 version. There are no updates to the Charted Raster data.

Tell us what else you would like!
Negotiations for the new Ordnance Survey licence agreement (covering August 2009 onwards) will begin very shortly. If there are issues you would like addressed in the new licence, or additional datasets you would like to see included, we need to hear about these AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Please email edina@ed.ac.uk with details. Proven demand from service users carries far greater weight than EDINA's voice in effecting change to both licence agreements and in the acquisition of additional data. We need to hear from you!

Friday 5 September 2008

GML data translation from Dotted Eyes

Dotted Eyes, a well established digital mapping solution provider, has produced an edition of their InterpOSe GML translator specifically for EDINA Digimap users.

The Digimap Edition of InterpOSe will translate OS MasterMap GML data from Digimap's MasterMap Download facility and convert it to various file formats, including Shape, TAB, mid/mif and DWG/DXF. InterpOSe deals with both Topography and ITN layers, and is tailored specifically for data from Digimap.

InterpOSe (the Digimap Edition) is free for Digimap users upon registration with Dotted Eyes. Please visit their website for more information and to download a copy of InterpOSe:

http://www.dottedeyes.co.uk/spatial_data_loading/interpose/digimap.php

Thursday 4 September 2008

Publication dates for historic maps

Question: How do I find out what 'Publish Year Start' and 'Publish Year End' dates means for the maps in Historic Digimap?


Answer: The publishing date range of a map in the Map Details tab from the Main Map View in Historic Digimap. This is achieved by using the View Map Details tool (an i symbol) and clicking on the historic map at the point of interest.

The maps shown on the screen are created from the National Grid "cookie cut" files - images which have been rectified and clipped to create a national grid based "tiled" dataset akin to those available for the contemporary Ordnance Survey data. However, the National Grid does not match up with the County Series maps, because the County Series were created on a per County, rather than a national, basis. It is therefore likely that one "cookie cut" National Grid tile comprises parts of more than one County Series map sheet, each of which could have a different publishing date.

The metadata for the National Grid "cookie cuts" often does not contain one publishing date but the range (from, to) of publishing dates of the Orginal mapsheets which make up that national grid cookie cut tile. It is this range which is reported under the Map Details tab.

Unfortunately, EDINA does not have any survey dates for the maps in the Historic Digimap. Landmark Information Group who provided the maps did not capture the survey dates when the maps were digitised (scanned). This is because the maps were originally digitsed for a specific purpose which did not require the information held in the marginalia of each map sheet. During the digitisation process the marginalia was trimmed from the resultant files, meaning that it was never captured in digital form.

A solution to this is to visit a library which holds historic maps; many university libraries have historic map collections with specialised cartographers and support staff. The map details taken from Historic Digimap can be used to search for and locate the map(s) corresponding to your area of interest. Once found, it is in a map's marginalia where you can find the recorded survey dates.

More detailed information about historic maps and Historic Digimap can be found in the Help pages.

Friday 29 August 2008

Britain from Above - Land Use Maps

You may have seen a recent episode of Andrew Marr's BBC programme Britain from Above which featured the Land Utilisation maps created by Dudley Stamp in the 1930s. You can watch the relevant section again on the BBC website here.

Land Use Viewer interface


These maps are available through Historic Digimap under the Land Use Viewer. You need to have a subscription to Historic Digimap in order to gain access, but there is no individual user registration.

Sample of Dudley Stamp's land use maps

Thursday 28 August 2008

ESRI- CHEST Community Event

A significant number of Digimap users have access to GIS software from ESRI (e.g. ArcGIS, Productivity Suite, MapManager...). ESRI software is available at discounted rates for UK academics via Chest.

On 18th September 2008, ESRI and Chest are holding a joint community event at the University of Leeds. All users of ESRI software within the Chest licence agreement are invited and encouraged to attend.

The event is free, and more details including a programme can be found on the ESRI website. We look forward to seeing you there.

Monday 25 August 2008

Annual Data Update

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.

Wednesday 20 August 2008

Reminder: Land-Line Withdrawal

This 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.




Land-Line.Plus replaced by OS MasterMap Topography Layer

Tuesday 5 August 2008

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.

Friday 1 August 2008

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.

Monday 28 July 2008

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.

Wednesday 23 July 2008

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.

Thursday 17 July 2008

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.

Tuesday 15 July 2008

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

Re-registration - retaining personalisation

The imminent changes to authentication mechanisms across the UK tertiary education sector have implications for access to Digimap. A change of login credentials may mean that users are required to re-register with Digimap in order to continue accessing the service.

From 1 August 2008, access to Digimap will be via the UK federation only. This will mean that all subscribing institutions must offer their users access to Digimap through one of two methods:

1. using OpenAthens
2. via an in-house Shibboleth Identity Provider

Whichever method your institution chooses, one of the following re-registration consequences will apply:

  • Users who are already registered and continue to access Digimap through the OpenAthens service should not be required to re-register for Digimap.
  • Users who are already accessing Digimap using their institution's in-house Shibboleth Identity Provider (i.e. are already registered with their Shibboleth credentials) will also not be required to re-register

  • Institutions moving from classic Athens or Athens DA authentication to using their own in-house Shibboleth Identity Provider should be prepared for all their Digimap users having to re-register.
This applies to all those Digimap Collections which require a secondary registration (currently Marine Digimap, Geology Digimap and Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection). Any change to an institutional login account will result in a requirement for users to re-register their new account details with Digimap. Indeed, those who have already made the transition from Athens to Shibboleth will already have undertaken this re-registration.

When users are issued with UK federation login credentials, they will need to register these new credentials with Digimap. However, this means that any personalisation (including data download histories for MasterMap Download) associated with their previous (Athens) accounts will not be accessible through their new account. To ease the transition process, EDINA has implemented a linking mechanism between existing Athens registrations and new Shibboleth registrations. This is a two-stage process:

Stage 1
The first stage is to collect some additional information from each user, in the form of a question and answer, while they are still accessing Digimap with their Athens-based login credentials. For example, the user may be asked "what is your favourite place?", to which the reply might be "New York". From the date of implementation of this facility, all Digimap users have been asked to complete this process when they log in. This additional step is only required once, not once per Collection, but must be completed before access can be gained to the service.

Stage 2
The second stage of the linking mechanism occurs when a user logs in with a new set of (UK federation-based) credentials which have not yet been registered with Digimap, and will only occur if the user has completed the first stage of the process with their previous account details. With these new credentials the user is guided through an abbreviated form of the Digimap registration process. If the details submitted by the user (surname and email address) match an existing set of details, the user will be asked to confirm the answer to their chosen question (as per stage one). Assuming the question is answered correctly, the two registration records will then be linked and any personalisation within Digimap will be available to the user under their new login credentials.

This process is not able to catch all new account holders, since it relies on users submitting a surname and email address for their new login credentials which are identical to those they submitted using their previous (Athens) credentials. For example, an email address submitted with Athens credentials as user@student.institution.ac.uk will not match an email address submitted with the same individual's UK federation credentials as user@institution.ac.uk, even though both addresses may function, and may reach the same person. We also understand from our site representatives that some users don't always spell their surnames the same way!

Those users who do not log in with their Athens accounts and complete stage one of this process will not be able to link their existing account to any new account. Such users will need to register their new UK federation accounts in the usual way, and will not be able to retain any personalisation which existed with their previous account. Those users who already have both Athens and UK federation accounts registered with Digimap will not be able to link personalisation information between the two. However, logging in with a new Shibboleth account will allow users to link to a previous Shibboleth account.

This information has previously been published in EDINA Newsline (June 2008). An email with this information was also sent to all users on 12 June 2008.

Monday 14 July 2008

Class access to Digimap

From 1 August 2008, when Digimap will be accessible via the UK federation only, it will no longer be possible to register a class to use Digimap under a single username. All access to Digimap will be by individual registration only.

UK federation rules do not permit more than one individual to access any resource under the same set of credentials. In addition, institutions subscribing to any Digimap Collection (except Historic Digimap) must assert "user accountability". This means that the institution is able to trace activity in any given session to an individual. Clearly this is not possible if user identifiers (which are used to authenticate sessions within online resources) are shared between a group such as a class.



If you are a student, and need to register individually rather than using a class account...

Online registration is straightforward. Go to http://edina.ac.uk/digimap and click the Login (UK federation) button. If there is only one login button visible, click on it. Choose your institution from the drop-down list and enter your username and password if requested. If you are already registered for a Digimap Collection you will gain access to it when you click on the Collection banner. If you are not already registered for your chosen Collection, you will be asked to complete the online registration form. Please fill this in carefully, making sure your email address is correct. When your application has been processed you will receive an email to this effect.



If you are a member of staff wishing to give your class an exercise to do with Digimap...

You will need to make sure that all members of your class are registered individually with the Digimap Collection they need to use. This means they will each need their own username and password, and will need to register online as above.

Please note that it can take 2 working days to process applications. At busy times of year (September, October, November), and if an application needs to be queried, it may take longer than this. The processing time will also depend on the response time from the user. If you need to ask members of a class to register as individuals, please bear this timescale in mind.

Friday 11 July 2008

Training Needs Survey

EDINA strives to provide face-to-face training for Digimap which is appropriate, comprehensive and meets the needs of site representatives in supporting Digimap. To this end, we are conducting a training needs survey, in order to establish how to improve the training we offer for Digimap. The results of the survey will inform a review of current training and will assist us in improving what we offer.

The survey is online and should not take more than two or three minutes to complete. Please click the link below. We welcome your views.

Click here for the Digimap Training Survey

If you have comments you would like to make but can't find an appropriate place in the survey to do so, please phone us, or email the EDINA Training Officer on edina-training@ed.ac.uk

Friday 4 July 2008

New cartography for geology maps

The Geology Maps facility in Geology Digimap has been greatly enhanced by upgrading the technology. The maps now use a transparency technique to represent rock types in colour, rather than hatching. The result has been much clearer maps, more closely matching their paper counterparts printed by the British Geological Survey. It also makes it easier to see the underlying context mapping, as well as identifying which rock types overlay which. Below are some examples of the new colour scheme.

Old and new versions, clearly labelled

The previous version of Geology Maps is still available for those who have become accustomed to it or have created training courses based upon it. This version is clearly labelled "old". It will be withdrawn at the start of the next academic year (2008/9) when we hope everyone will be enjoying the benefits of the new maps.

New style cartography, using transparency

Old style cartography, using traditional hatching methods


Thursday 26 June 2008

Historic Digimap: licence and consultation

Reminder of new licence agreement
A new, three-year sub-licence is now available for Historic Digimap, the service offering historic Ordnance Survey maps and data from the Landmark Information Group. Current subscribing institutions will be contacted directly to ensure continued access from 1 August 2008 onwards. The new licence will run from 1 August 2008 until 31 July 2011. Full details, including subscription forms and costs, can be found on the JISC Collections website at: http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/catalogue/coll_digimap_historic.aspx

Trials
In addition, 30-day trials are offered to those from institutions wishing to assess the service prior to subscription. Please contact the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk to request such a trial. You can read more about Historic Digimap on the EDINA website at: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/historic_overview.shtml

Consultation on additional datasets
JISC Collections are currently running a consultation for the purchase of additional datasets for Historic Digimap. Among the suggested purchases are the GOAD Fire Insurance plans and historical town plans.

Representatives from existing institutions and others interested in the Collection are invited to complete the short survey at their earliest convenience. This can be done online, and should take only a few minutes to complete:

http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/consultations/new_agreements/historicdigi_cons

Click the link to the "online response form" in the Introduction.

Friday 6 June 2008

Access to Digimap from 1 August

Access to all EDINA services, including the Digimap Collections, will be via UK Federation authentication only from 1 August 2008. This can be done either directly through the UK Federation or by using the OpenAthens gateway services.

EDINA has established from publicly available lists that there are some institutions which have not yet indicated which authentication system they will be using from 1 August 2008.

If your institution is not able to authenticate users with one of these methods by 1 August 2008, users at those institutions will lose access to the Digimap Collections. EDINA is not able to provide any alternative means of access, therefore we would urge you to consider which authentication system is most suitable for your institution's needs.

Further Information
You may find the following links helpful:
UK Federation support information
More about OpenAthens
JISC news on UK Federation
Options for access to EDINA services

If you have any questions about access to Digimap, or would like to discuss the implications of this change further, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can reach us by email on edina@ed.ac.uk or by telephone on 0131 650 3302.

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Asking for help

The EDINA Helpdesk endeavours to provide a quick reply to all enquiries. An initial response time of one working day is our goal, with an aim to resolve queries completely within 5 working days. However, every effort is made to answer user questions more expeditiously.

Digimap service users can significantly improve the speed with which their queries are resolved by providing detailed information about their problem. The more you tell us, the quicker we can help you find a solution.

What information to include
You should consider submitting as much information as possible, including the following:

  • your full name and your institution

  • which Digimap facilities you are using (e.g. Classic, Hydrospatial Download or Geology Maps)

  • which data you are using (e.g. Land-Form PROFILE or 1:625,000 BGS data)

  • which location (coverage) for the data in question (e.g. place names, tiles, co-ordinates)

  • which web browser you are using (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera)

  • the full text and URL of an error message, if appropriate and possible

  • perhaps a screenshot, especially for webpages displaying error messages

  • a detailed description of the problem, and the steps taken which led to it

Submission of these details with your query will make it easier for EDINA to identify and respond to the problem quickly and have you back on track.

Contact Us
The EDINA Helpdesk is staffed between 0900 and 1700 hours, Monday to Friday. You can contact the Helpdesk by email on edina@ed.ac.uk or by telephone on 0131 650 3302.

Thursday 29 May 2008

Further Emergency Maintenance: 30 May

All Digimap services will be unavailable between 0900 and 1100 hours on FRIDAY 30 May 2008. This is to enable EDINA to fix a further critical problem with the machine which hosts Digimap. Full service will be restored as quickly as possible and updates will be posted on this site, and on the Digimap login page as and when they are appropriate and available.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Emergency Maintenance - 29 May

All Digimap services will be unavailable between 0900 and 1100 hours on THURSDAY 29 May 2008. This is to enable EDINA to fix a critical problem with the machine which hosts Digimap. Full service will be restored as quickly as possible and updates will be posted on this site, and on the Digimap login page as and when they are appropriate and available.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Tuesday 27 May 2008

OS MasterMap replaces Land-Line

Land-Line data is being withdrawn in August 2008. After 1 August 2008 you will need to use OS MasterMap Topography layer instead of Land-Line data. Land-Line is the most detailed data available through the Data Download facility within Digimap's OS Collection. It has been replaced by OS MasterMap Topography layer, which is equally detailed and available through the MasterMap Download facility.

Two OS MasterMap Layers, Topography and Integrated Transport Network, have been available from Digimap's OS Collection since September 2007. These layers are available through the MasterMap Download facility. You can read more about OS MasterMap data on our OS MasterMap website and within the Digimap Help pages. Look in the sections under MasterMap Download and Data Information.

There are several software packages available which make the process of loading and viewing the OS MasterMap in GIS applications quite simple, more simple than using Land-Line data, in fact. These are in addition to 'built-in' converters supplied with the most recent versions of ArcGIS (Productivity Suite), MapInfo and AutoCAD software.

Viewing data

If you wish to simply view the OS MasterMap data (rather than undertake any spatial analysis, querying or manipulation), there is a simple viewer produced by Snowflake Software. It is called the OS MasterMap Viewer and can be downloaded for free (upon registration) from the Snowflake website.

MapInfo

The following applications are free and will load OS MasterMap, fully represented, into MapInfo:

  • OSM2MIF written by Nigel James at the Bodleian Library. This can be downloaded from the Bodleian Library Map Room website: http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps/translat.htm

  • InterpOSe (Digimap Edition) from Dotted Eyes. This is available free of charge on registration with Dotted Eyes. It includes full OS MasterMap styling, and will convert data to various file formats, including Shape, TAB, mid/mif and DWG/DXF.
ArcGIS

The following applications are freely available:

  • Productivity Suite 1.1. This is freely available to those licensed to use ArcGIS through Eduserv Chest. It contains MapManager and will convert OS MasterMap to Geodatabase format and comes complete with a number of layer files for representation (details can be found in the local installation folder of Productivity Suite). You will need a special Athens username and password to access the software download area. This should be available from your local Chest Representative or ESRI Technical Contact.

  • InterpOSe (Digimap Edition) from Dotted Eyes. This is available free of charge on registration with Dotted Eyes. It includes full OS MasterMap styling, and will convert data to various file formats, including Shape, TAB, mid/mif and DWG/DXF.
AutoCAD

  • InterpOSe (Digimap Edition) from Dotted Eyes. This will convert OS MasterMap to DXF and DWG and has a template file (.DWT) for representing the data using OS style. InterpOSe can be downloaded for free from Dotted Eyes website on registration there.


There are other packages and resources available which are detailed on our OS MasterMap website. Ordnance Survey also provide information about software which will read OS MasterMap data.

Instructions on using MapManager 9.1 and InterpOSe are included in the Digimap Help pages. Look in the section labelled "Using Data with GIS". If you have any questions about the information provided here, please contact the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk or 0131 650 3302.

Thursday 22 May 2008

Historic Digimap: Licence Renewal

If your institution subscribes to Historic Digimap, you should note that the current licence ends on 31 July 2008 and the new licence begins on 1 August 2008. Subscription costs for the next licence period are now available from JISC Collections website.

All subscription forms should be completed and sent to the JISC Collections Helpdesk. Details of the subscription process can be found on the JISC Collections "how to subscribe" page.

Please do not send subscription forms to EDINA.

Note also that from 1 August 2008 access to Historic Digimap will be via the UK Federation and OpenAthens.

Friday 16 May 2008

Are you leaving your current institution?

Are you coming to the end of your course? Are you changing jobs and moving to a different University or College? Are you retiring? If so, there are some issues relating to the use of Digimap which you should be aware of.

IF YOU ARE GRADUATING, OR YOUR COURSE IS COMING TO AN END...
...you will cease to be a member of a subscribing institution and therefore will no longer be a Digimap Authorised User. This means you must delete any data you hold from Digimap. You may keep paper maps (including those which form parts of reports, coursework and dissertations), but not digital data.

IF YOU ARE CHANGING JOBS OR MOVING TO A DIFFERENT COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY...
...you need to check whether your new institution subscribes to any of the Digimap Collections. If your new institution is NOT a subscriber to a particular Collection, you may not retain any digital data from that Collection in your new job. If you wish to use Digimap in your new job, and your new institution is also a subscribing institution, you will need to register with Digimap using login credentials from your new institution.

IF YOU ARE LEAVING AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION AND GOING TO WORK FOR A COMMERCIAL OR CHARITABLE ORGANISATION...
...you will cease to be a Digimap Authorised User. This means you must delete any data you hold from Digimap. You may keep paper copies of maps (including those which form part of reports or dissertations), but not digital data.

WHAT IFS...
There are some circumstances where you may continue to be an Authorised User, even if you are graduating, or leaving your current institution. If you are retiring, you may continue to have rights to access your institution's electronic resources. If you are graduating from your first degree and staying at the same institution to undertake a PhD, you will continue to be a member of your institution and therefore eligible for access to Digimap. If you believe you should continue to have access to your institution's resources, you should check with your Digimap site representative whether this applies to Digimap too.

The rules of eligibility apply to all Digimap Collections. These rules revolve around the definition of "Authorised User" as specified in the licence agreement for each Collection. You can find these on the EDINA website at: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/terms.shtml

A NOTE FOR SITE REPRESENTATIVES...
Access to any electronic resource relies on subscribing institutions maintaining authentication and authorisation systems effectively and efficiently. An example of good practice in this regard would be deactivating local user accounts when students graduate or leave your institution. You may wish to check what your local practice is.

Monday 12 May 2008

Reminder: Service Maintenance

This is a short reminder that all Digimap services and facilities will be unavailable from 09.00 hours until 17.30 hours tomorrow, Tuesday 13 May 2008. This is to allow for routine hardware and software maintenance.

Full service will be restored as soon as possible, but you should not rely on Digimap being available during the above hours.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Carto now works with Firefox

On Tuesday 6 May 2008, a new release of Carto was made available through Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection. This new release works with both Internet Explorer and Firefox, on Windows XP and using the latest version of the Java plugin.

Carto is available through Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection. You can read more about the requirements for using Carto in the Digimap Help pages.

Monday 5 May 2008

Forgotten your password?

If you cannot access Digimap because you have forgotten your password, you will need to talk to someone at your institution, maybe in your Library, Computing Services, Learning Resources Centre or Information Services, to be reminded of it or have it reset.
EDINA does not know your password, and cannot give you a new one. Try searching your institution's portal or website for information about access to electronic resources and what to do if you have forgotten your password.

Thursday 1 May 2008

Training: 10-12 June 2008

Places are now available for all 3 days of the following free Digimap training course, open to staff members in UK higher and further education institutions.

Venue: University of Sussex, Brighton
Date: 10-12 June 2008 (Tuesday-Thursday)

Even if you have attended a previous Digimap course, you may wish to attend again since the courses are updated each academic year.

Full details of the training course are available from the Events and Training section of our website. You can also book a place via the online registration form, linked from the event page.

All EDINA training courses are FREE OF CHARGE. Regretfully, however, we will charge £25.00 for each day of unnotified absence from a course. This is due to the increasing number of no-shows at courses. Lunch will be provided for all full-day attendees and light refreshments will be available throughout the day.

Training courses are a great opportunity to learn more about Digimap Collections, and how to make best use of them at your institution. You can attend as many days of the Digimap course as you wish. We would be grateful if you would pass this invitation along to colleagues who may also be interested in this training.

Even if your institution does not subscribe to any Digimap Collection, please come along and see what the services offer. If you have any questions about Digimap training in general, or this course in particular, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0131 650 3302 or by email on edina@ed.ac.uk

Wednesday 30 April 2008

Service Maintenance - 13 May 2008

All Digimap services and facilities will be unavailable between 0900 hours and 1730 hours on Tuesday 13 May. The machine on which Digimap runs requires some maintenance work which cannot be done "out of hours" or within the duration of a normal "at risk" period. This is why we have scheduled a full day for the work to be done. Unfortunately, it is not possible to run the service while the work is being carried out.

This period of service maintenance has been advertised on the Digimap login page since Friday 11 April 2008. All Digimap site representatives will be notified by email.

Friday 18 April 2008

Welcome!

Following numerous discussions with members of the Digimap user community, we have decided to try a more up-to-date means of distributing information. We have started a blog!

The objective of this blog is to provide regular updates to Digimap users, relating to forthcoming service changes, service downtimes, changes to available data, frequently asked questions on how to do things and what's available. We also hope to bring you news of various events which might be of interest to Digimap users, and will also post here calls for asistance or feedback.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog, so that each new post is piped directly to you. You can do this by clicking on the "Atom" link at the bottom of this post and following the instructions. Alternatively, you can click on the Subscribe to RSS feed link on the right hand side of this page. Don't worry, this will not be the only place the information posted here is available. We will continue to post messages on the Digimap website (http://edina.ac.uk/digimap) and will continue to send email relating to important matters. We hope that this blog will be an easier way for some people to pick up information, rather than it being a replacement means of publishing information.