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.