Live Webinar: Productivity Suite

ESRI (UK) is running a LIVE WEBINAR entitled:

Productivity Suite 2.0 - Unlocking the Full Potential of Ordnance Survey Data

It is being held on Wednesday 4 November 2009, 10:00 – 11:00 am

If you are using Ordnance Survey data from Digimap and your institution has a licence to use ArcGIS, you might find this a useful event to attend. Licensing ArcGIS via Chest includes the Productivity Suite, an additional software application providing data conversion tools. Productivity Suite does not cost extra, but should be requested specifically when the Chest licence is purchased.

Further details of the Webinar can be found on the ESRI (UK) website at: http://www.esriuk.com/trainingevents/events/productivitysuite041109/

A further note on creating EPS files...

You can create EPS files directly from Adobe Acrobat by using an appropriate Printer Driver e.g. CutePDF or one downloaded from Adobe's website. For example: http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=1500 and follow the instructions at: http://www.ep.ph.bham.ac.uk/general/printing/winsetup.html

Note: you will need the Generic Colour Postscript PPD file linked in the document if you want to print A3 or larger. You can download the PDD file from the above website.

Load the PDF into Acrobat and then go to File ->Print. Select CutePDF Writer (or another Postscript printer you have installed). Click on Properties and then the Advanced... button.

There is a section called Postscript Options; expand this to find the PostScript Output Option and change this from 'Optimize for Speed' to 'Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)'.

When you print you will now be asked to save a file which you should add the extension .eps to your file. You should be able to open this file in Ghostview as a vector EPS.

In lieu of EPS files...

Since Digimap ceased to generate EPS files we have had a number of enquiries about suitable alternatives. Currently, Digimap's mapping facilities will only produce PDF files. However, there are a number of options for those who prefer to use other formats. The following notes may help.

Note that EDINA does not endorse or recommend any of the products or services detailed here or guarantee their quality or performance.

PDF files generated from Digimap can be converted to various other formats including PNG, SVG, and PS/EPS using free software called Inkscape (http://www.inkscape.org/). The only down side to this that we have found is that it seems to blur the PS/EPS because of the 'Digimap' watermark.

You can also edit the vectors in Inkscape. If you want to put the map (or a bit of it) into a Word document there is a nifty little command in Acrobat under Tools --> Select & Zoom--> Snapshot Tool which allows you to define an area and then paste it into Word (or another programme) - note this is lower resolution than you can create with Inkscape.

The PDFs themselves can be opened in CS3 Adobe Illustrator as editable vector graphics and then exported to various formats. The PDFs can also be opened and converted to EPS in GhostView but this seems to treat them as images rather than vectors.

There are various software packages that will convert from vector PDF to DXF (e.g. http://www.trixsystems.com/pdfFLY.html) but we have not found any which are free of charge.

If DXF/DWG is required for OS MasterMap, the best option is to download GML and use Dotted Eyes' InterpOSe software to convert from GML to DXF/DWG.

Roam - new mapping tool available

Today, Monday 5 October, a new mapping tool is available to all registered users, through Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection.

Roam, the new mapping facility, is available as a BETA service and will therefore be subject to various improvements over the next few months. Planned changes include:
- additional print formats as alternatives to PDF
- inclusion of scalebar on printed maps
- provision of scale and extent indication on screen maps
- adding a "My Maps" function for bookmarking maps

Roam offers "click and drag" functions to locate your map, 12 map views at different scales, printing in PDF at both A3 and A4 sizes, search by place name, postcode or grid reference, seamless scrolling through the fixed scale maps and 5 customisable map views. You can access Roam from the icon above Classic in Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection home page.

We hope you will use the new facility and let us know what you think of it. There is a link within Roam for you to report any feedback you have (positive and negative). You can also email us on edina@ed.ac.uk or telephone us on 0131 650 3302.

Roam will replace the current Classic facility in January 2010.