CHEST / ESRI Technical Event - 15 Sep 2009

The following event may be of interest to Digimap users.

Following the success of the ESRI Technical Event held at the University of Leeds in 2008, Eduserv and ESRI have arranged a second meeting, to be held at the University of Birmingham on 15th September 2009. The meeting is intended to bring together people from universities and colleges who are either using ArcGIS (or other ESRI software) or providing and supporting ESRI software in their institutions. In addition to an overview of the new facilities in the latest version of ArcGIS, other topics include a visit to Birmingham University's 3-D Visualisation Suite, a discussion of how to make the most of the ArcGIS licence management system and an introduction to ArcGIS in virtualised or server environments. There is also plenty of time to meet and talk with colleagues from other institutions and staff from ESRI UK.

Lunch will be provided and there is no charge for the event. However, you do need to register your interest in attending. You can do this online at MyESRIUK here:

• Registration Page (go to CHEST Seminar on 15th September)

Date: Tuesday 15 September 2009
Time: 10:00am tea and coffee for a 10:30am start
Location: University of Birmingham (specific details and map will be provided upon registration)

Timetable:

10:00am - tea and coffee

10:30am - ESRI Introduction: Angela Baker (ESRI UK)

10:50am - Virtualisation vs. ArcGIS Server: Peter Halls (University of York) and Alison Rumble (ESRI UK)

11.20am - User Experience Talk

12.00pm - 2.00pm - Lunch with time for networking as well as guided
tours of the Virtualisation Suite at University of Birmingham

2.00pm - Interoperable Landmap and EDINA data and services: Kamie Kitmitto (Mimas)

2:30pm - new features of ArcGIS 9.3.1 and extensions - demonstration by Alison
Rumble (ESRI UK)

3:00pm - Break for tea and coffee

3:30pm - Licensing Issues: Anna Clough (University of Leeds) and Peter
Halls (University of York). Topics include: how to find out how many
users you really have and who those users are (flex logfile analysis);
non-dongled support; use outside of the British Isles; licence servers.

4:00pm - Question and Answer

4:30pm - Tea / Coffee to close.

For full details of the Chest Agreement for ESRI please visit www.eduserv.org.uk/ESRI

If you have any questions, please see the Eduserv website or contact Eduserv Help at help@eduserv.org.uk

Ordnance Survey Licence Renewal

On 1 August 2009, the Ordnance Survey Data Sub-Licence Agreement was extended and amended by a Variation Agreement. If institutions wish to continue their subscription to Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection, the Variation Agreement must be signed and returned by Wednesday 30 September 2009. Institutions not submitting renewal forms by this date will have access to the service removed. There will be no exceptions to this. Details of how to re-subscribe are given on the JISC Collections website.

When an institution re-subscribes to Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection, it agrees to the terms of the Ordnance Survey Data Sub-Licence Agreement AND the Variation Agreement. Some of the clauses in the Sub-Licence Agreement are superseded by those in the Variation Agreement. Both documents must be read in conjunction with one another, since one is not valid without the other.

EDINA has drawn up a set of Frequently Asked Questions to help you understand what the the Sub-Licence and Variation Agreements will permit in terms of map and data usage. These can be found at: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/support/faq_oslicence.html


The following is a summary of the changes which are brought into effect on 1 August 2009 by the Variation Agreement. The original Sub-Licence Agreement holds good unless it has been amended by the Variation Agreement. Please read the Variation Agreement itself for full details of the amendments.

1. The definition of Authorised User has changed. An individual must fulfill three conditions in order to be an Authorised User. Individuals must:
   1. be a student of, staff (both current or retired) of, or visitor to an Authorised Institution
   2. be authorised by an Authorised Institution to access the Authorised Institution's electronic information services via secure authentication; and
   3. be registered with EDINA Digimap
   
   Overseas Students are also specifically excluded from being Authorised Users, unless they are resident within the UK. Check the wording of the Variation Agreement carefully. Note also that it is the institution's responsibility to ensure that students who are not eligible for access to this service are not given the means to access it. Under the UK Federation, EDINA is not able to check eligibility.


2. All references to Athens have been superseded by references to the UK Access Management Federation.


3. Class Registration is no longer possible. This has been the case since the introduction of the UK Access Management Federation in August 2008, but has now been formalised in this Variation Agreement. Assigning one username to more than one individual (as per a Class registrations) is not permitted under UK Federation policy.


4. Authorised Users are now explicitly permitted to share data with other Authorised Users, either in the same or another Authorised Institution. This was previously implicit, but has now been made explicit. Sharing data between Authorised Institutions is still subject to completion of the Transfer of Data form as specified in the original Sub-Licence Agreement (Schedule 7, section 8.1)


5. The Permissible Publication Sizes have been amended. These now offer a significant improvement on the previous restrictions to the size of maps published. For example, it is now possible to publish a map of Great Britain in electronic format. Please read Schedule 2 of the Variation Agreement for specific details of the new rules.


6. Two new datasets have been included in the agreement: MiniScale® and the 1:250,000 Scale Colour Raster. A full list of products available can be found on the EDINA website.

Both the Sub-Licence Agreement and the Variation Agreement are available from EDINA's website:

• Sub-Licence Agreement
• Variation Agreement
• Licence FAQs

Questions regarding the subscription process and the licence agreements should be directed at JISC Collections. Questions relating to the Digimap service should be directed at the EDINA Helpdesk.

Name Poll Closed

The poll regarding a new name for Digimap's new mapping facility has now closed.

New facility, new name

As indicated in a previous post, EDINA is creating a new version of the existing Classic mapping facility.

A sneaky peek at the new interface under development....
Given that the new facility works in a very different way, we would like to give it a new name. We have a number of suggestions, and would like to know your views on them. To this end, we have posted a poll on this blog (look to the top right hand side of this window) for you to vote with.

There are a number of things we need to take into account in choosing a name. For example:

1. It needs to give the mapping facility an identity. When users contact our helpdesk asking for assistance with it, they need to be able to refer to it by name with confidence that we will know what they are referring to. Similarly, our helpdesk need to be confident that they understand which facility a user is talking about, and using an easily identifiable and catchy name for it is an easy means to that end.

2. It needs to be memorable - users need to know which facility they are using.

3. It needs to be unique, not used by any other mapping organisation for a mapping service or product.

Vote on the blog here, or if you would rather, send us an email with your ideas. Thanks for your help!

ShareGeo for Sharing Data

Have you created geospatial data for your research project or teaching module?
If so, why not put it in ShareGeo and share it with other Digimap users?

ShareGeo is a facility in Digimap where users can share and re-use geospatial data, whether they have been derived from exiting Digimap data or created entirely from scratch.

Why should I put my data in ShareGeo?

• increase the visibility of your research
• share datasets easily with colleagues and peers
• create a record of your data with simple metadata
• manage your data for future use

Also, you will:

• find datasets you may be interested in
• save time by re-using existing data that others have created

What's new in ShareGeo?

New datasets available in ShareGeo include: UK Digital Terrain Model (DEM), UK National Parks boundaries, Government Office Regions, Strategic Health Authority boundaries and many others.

A full list of all datasets in ShareGeo can be found here.

How do I access ShareGeo?

ShareGeo can be accessed by logging in to Digimap and following the link on the Collections page to ShareGeo. http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/

More information about ShareGeo can be found at: http://edina.ac.uk/projects/sharegeo/index.shtml

Let us know what you think about ShareGeo by sending an email to: mailto:edina@ed.ac.uk?subject=ShareGeo

Forthcoming changes to Digimap

The current version of Digimap's Classic facility (available through the Ordnance Survey Collection) is currently undergoing both a facelift and some reconstruction work!

Later this year we will be introducing "slippy" maps (drag the map with your mouse to move it around) and some new ways of saving your maps and producing printed copies. The new facility will offer the same maps and the same functions as those currently available but will be easier and more intuitive to use. Everyday use of online mapping technology has grown dramatically since the current version of Classic was released. Users' familiarity with online mapping has increased and there are now common expectations of how map services online should work. The current re-engineering aims to accommodate these changes and build a service which meets those expectations.

Although this is still work in progress, below is a sneak preview of how the new version might look.

EDINA will operate both new and existing versions of this facility in parallel to ensure that a smooth transition is made between them. If you have teaching materials or help pages which are currently based on the existing version, there will be plenty of time to update them before the existing version of Classic is withdrawn.

Survey for Support Staff

EDINA is undertaking a survey to understand more about support for online geospatial resources, spatial data, GIS and related software. We would like to learn more about what support and training is currently available, what is useful and what might be provided to improve the support available.

If you have any kind of support role with respect to spatial data, GIS, CAD or geospatial resources we would be grateful if you would complete the following survey and would pass it on to others who are also involved in supporting users of all things geospatial.

The survey link is here: http://tinyurl.com/geosupportsurvey

The survey will remain open and available until TUESDAY 23 JUNE 2009.

This is NOT a service-specific survey, so anyone involved in supporting users of geospatial data and resources has something valuable to contribute. Please pass it on. Gathering feedback is a challenging task, so your efforts to complete these questions is very much appreciated.

The survey should take around 20 minutes to complete and the majority of questions are multiple choice checkboxes. There will be a prize draw for four £25 Amazon vouchers. Please enter your name and email address at the end of the survey if you wish to be entered into the draw.

Many thanks for your time.

What do you know about postcodes?

There is a lot to know about UK postcodes! Here are some interesting key facts:

• There are around 2 million postcodes in the UK, covering something like 29 million addresses.


• A postcode is made up of four constituent parts. Take the postcode EH9 1PR as an example:


• The postcode Area is indicated by the initial one or two letters: EH
• The post District is indicated by the one or two numbers following the Area: EH9
• The postcode Sector is indicated by the number after the District: EH9 1
• The postcode Unit is indicated by the full postcode: EH9 1PR


• Some buildings can contain delivery addresses with different postcodes. High-rise residential buildings are a good example of these. As far as the Code-Point dataset is concerned these are called Vertical Streets, and their boundaries are recorded as regular squares. These are clearly visible when the postcode boundaries are mapped.


• Usually postcodes cover around 15 delivery addresses, although this isn't a hard and fast rule.


• Some postcodes apply to only one address or building. Ordnance Survey's postcode is SO16 4GU. Buckingham Palace also has it's own postcode, SW1A 1AA, and 10 Downing Street's postcode is SW1A 2AA. The House of Commons is SW1A 0AA


• Postcode unit boundaries (which form the OS Code-Point Polygons dataset) are mathematically calculated around a centroid and are not based on physical boundaries visible on the ground. This centroid is calculated using the coordinates for the delivery points in each postcode. These are not necessarily the precise geographic coordinats of the letterbox in your front door!


• The Code-Point dataset offered through Digimap provides much more information than just the postcode and the coordinates of it's centroid. Additional information includes the NHS Region code, Ward name, how many delivery addresses are in that postcode, how many of those are domestic or business delivery points. The range of information given is different for Scotland from England and Wales.


• These enable you to link additional information to the postcode if it is already associated with a code common to the postcode dataset e.g. you can identify which postcodes are associated with data you have collected using Ward codes.


• You can use Digimap's Postcode Query facility (in the Ordnance Survey Collection) to look up the additional information about a particular postcode.


• You can use Digimap's Boundary Download facility to download the Code-Point data and the associated polygons.

Reminder: Service Maintenance 26 May

This is a reminder that all Digimap Collections will be unavailable between 17.30 and 20.00 hours on Tuesday 26 May. This is for essential service maintenance.

A further reminder: if you register for Digimap after 5 pm tonight, Monday 25 May, your registration will not be processed until the night of Wednesday 27 May.

Digimap and Licence Numbers

I’ve been asked to provide my institution’s “Digimap Licence Number”. Where do I find this?

There is no such thing as a “Digimap Licence Number”. If you need a specific licence number, we would suggest the OS Educational Copyright Licence number is the most appropriate one to use.

This licence is arranged directly between the institution and Ordnance Survey and therefore doesn’t relate to Digimap specifically. Institutions can hold an OS Educational Copyright Licence without having a subscription to Digimap, although the licence is required in order to take out a subscription to Digimap.

A copy of the licence (on which you will find the licence number) is held by your institution and the licence number is submitted with your institution’s Digimap subscription forms, which are sent to JISC Collection’s subscription agent. Ordnance Survey will also have a record of it.

Service maintenance - registration delay

EDINA is undertaking some service maintenance on Tuesday 26 May, as previously advertised.

If you are registering for Digimap between 5pm on Monday 25 May and 9am on Wednesday 27 May 2009, your registration will not be processed until the evening of Wednesday 27 May 2009.

This means you will not be able to access Digimap until the morning of 28 May 2009. Applications received on Wednesday 27 May will be processed as usual that night.

EDINA is undertaking significant work on the databases underlying Digimap, and as a result, registration applications will be collected but not processed while this work takes place.

Reminder: Digimap Training in June

EDINA would like to remind you that booking is now open and there are spaces available on the following Digimap training courses, which are open to staff members in UK higher and further education institutions:

• Digimap Essentials 4 June 2009, Bilborough College, Nottingham
• Digimap Collections Training 9-11 June 2009, Exeter University

You will find more details of course content and booking forms on EDINA's Training and Events page. 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 and lunch is provided. Regretfully, however, we will charge £25.00 for each day of absence from a course without giving us advance notice.

Supporting you remotely

EDINA's User Support team has recently delivered some short online workshops about elements of various EDINA services, including Digimap, using a web conferencing service called Instant Presenter. In order to join in with online training, you just need a web browser and a set of headphones.

We plan to develop a fuller programme of such online workshops in the next academic year. Although our initial aim is to deliver these workshops to staff in order to allow them to support users, in time we may open the workshops to students too. You can subscribe to our Training and Events feed so you can be the first to know about forthcoming training dates.

We would really like to hear from you about your requirements. Are there particular elements of our services on which you need more information? Do you have any particular topics of interest?

Ad-hoc online workshops can also be arranged at a time that suits you, so if you need support, please ask! You can contact us via the EDINA Helpdesk or you can call our Training Officer, Vivienne Carr, on 0131 651 1852.

Updated Digimap Training Materials

We have recently updated all the training materials available via the Site Representative Support Area within Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection. To access these materials, log in to Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection and click on the the Site Representative Support Area link in the left menu panel. Once in the Site Representative Support Area use the index on the left to click first on the Training Materials item, then the Download Materials item.

You are free to take any of the documents to either brush up your own Digimap knowledge and skills or to pass these on to others. Materials can also be downloaded from the EDINA website without logging in to Digimap.

As always Site Representatives are encouraged to use these training materials to run their own local courses on Digimap, both for other staff and for students.

For details of scheduled courses run by EDINA, please visit our Training and Events page. Details of our new online training sessions are also available from here.

FAQs about Change-only Update

Why does my Order say that CoU is not available?

Check the date on which you created the original Order. If you created it after the last set of CoU was released but before the next set of CoU is released, then you already have the latest version of the data. If a release of CoU is imminent, you should wait until after the release date, and then check your data order for the availability of CoU.

---

I have downloaded CoU for my area, but having applied it to my existing data holding, nothing looks different. Why is this?

Not every feature changes every time a Change-only Update is released. It may be that none of the features in your data holding have been updated this time. It is not possible for EDINA to determine exactly whose orders contain changed features.

You may also find that there are some small changes to the attributes for your data. These are harder to identify if you are simply looking for changes visible on a map. It isn't necessarily the geometry or position of a feature which has changed. When you plot the changes on a map, you may not see them, because the changes may relate to data in the attribue table.

---

Why can't I have CoU for other datasets?

Only OS MasterMap data offers Change-only Update. This is because other datasets are not structured in a way which enables CoU to be identified and extracted separately. Other datasets are also not updated so frequently.

Service maintenance - 26 May 2009

EDINA will be making use of the advertised 'at risk' period on Tuesday 26 May 2009, in order to carry out essential database updates. All Digimap Collections will be unavailable between 17.30 and 20.00 on this day.

EDINA will endeavour to restore full access to all facilities 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 advertised above. Notices to this effect will be posted on the Digimap login page.

Emails sent in error

On Tuesday 21 April, some Digimap users may have received email from EDINA entitled "Activating os registration".

These emails were sent in error and have no bearing on the status of a user's Digimap registration. Please ignore the email and accept EDINA's apologies for any confusion caused.

Ordnance Survey Licence Agreement Renewal

Lorraine Estelle, CEO of JISC Collections, has issued the following as an email to all institutions subscribing to Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection. EDINA will also be distributing this information to site representatives and other support staff.

The current Ordnance Survey Licence Agreement for Digimap ends on 31st July 2009. Ordnance Survey and JISC Collections are working on the renewal of licence which will cover the period from 1st August 2009 to 31st July 2014.

Although the new Licence Agreement is not yet available from the JISC Collections' website, the subscription fees for first year of the new Agreement from 1st August 2009 to 31st July 2010 are confirmed: in light of the current economic situation the subscription fees for this period will remain at the current level, with no retail price index increase.

JISC Collections will be consulting with users about a new subscription model from 1st August 2010, which it hopes will enable more institutions to afford the other datasets available from the Digimap Collections: Historic Digimap, Marine Digimap and Geology Digimap. The consultation will commence in the autumn of this year.

Given that the pricing model for 1st August 2010 to 31st July 2014 is uncertain until the consultatation is complete, institutions signing the new Licence Agreement for 1st August 2009 31st July 2014, may opt-out at 31st July 2010 if they need to.

Digimap Essential Maintenance: 7 & 14 April 2009

On Tuesday 7 April 2009, EDINA will be undertaking essential maintenance on the servers which run Digimap. In order to minimise disruption to the service, there will be two short periods of downtime on this day (rather than a single long period of downtime).

These periods of downtime will be between 08:00 - 08:45 AND 17:30 - 20:00. All Digimap Collections will be unavailable during these times.

EDINA will also be making use of the normal 'at risk' period on Tuesday 14 April 2009, to carry out further essential maintenance. All Digimap Collections will be unavailable between 17:30 and 18:30. 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 periods stated above. Notices to this effect will be posted on the Digimap login page and a reminder will be sent to site representatives.

AGILE Initiative - Spatial Data Access Survey

Higher and Further Education in the UK already has access to a significant quantity of mapping and spatial data from Ordnance Survey via the Digimap agreement. EDINA is conducting a survey in order to understand more about current academic access to maps and data from other national mapping agencies (i.e. the European equivalents of Ordnance Survey) in other European countries. While we are happy for Digimap users to complete the survey, you can help us further by passing this link on to friends and colleagues within Higher or Further Education elsewhere in Europe: http://tinyurl.com/NMCAUserSurvey Please read on for more details.

*****

Are you are a teacher, lecturer or researcher at a Higher Education Institution in Europe?

Do you use geospatial data (maps, aerial photography, satellite imagery etc.)?

http://tinyurl.com/NMCAUserSurvey

What is the purpose of this survey?
The purpose of this survey is to find out how easy it is for you, as a teacher or researcher, to gain access to the geospatial data sets held by the National Mapping and Cadastral Agency or Agencies in your country. Europe’s Network of National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs) hold and maintain the majority of Europe’s ‘core’ geospatial information including:

• topographic data;


• cadastral information;


• aerial photography; and


• land use information and historical map data.

We believe that Higher Education in Europe should be an important market for the NMCAs, as there are around 4,000 Higher Education institutions, with over 17 million students and 1.5 million staff.

With your help, we hope to find out how easy it is to access these data. We will use this information to encourage more NMCAs to make their data available to teachers and researchers in Higher Education across Europe. Our goal is to help you gain access to the quality geospatial data that you need.

Who is carrying out the survey?
Our research team is part of the EDINA National Data Centre, based in the University of Edinburgh, UK. The survey has been endorsed by the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe (AGILE) and EuroGeographics, which represents 52 National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies from 43 countries across Europe.

When will the survey finish?
The survey will be open for you to complete until Tuesday 21st April 2009.

During this time we would like your help to get as many teachers and researchers as possible to complete the survey. So, once you have completed the survey, please pass on the email and web link to this survey.

How do I complete the survey?
The survey can be found at http://tinyurl.com/NMCAUserSurvey

Who should I contact for more information?
If you have any questions please contact: Dr David Medyckyj-Scott, by email at edina.surveys@ed.ac.uk

Reminder: April Digimap Training

This is a reminder that there are still spaces available on the following Digimap training courses, open to staff members (and postgraduates for the OS MasterMap courses) in UK higher and further education institutions:

• Digimap Collections: 31 March-2 April 2009 - Leeds University
• OS MasterMap for Users: 22 April 2009 - York University

The following courses will be offered but booking is not yet open:

• Digimap Essentials: 4 June 2009 - Bilborough College, Nottingham
• Digimap Collections: 9-11 June 2009 - Exeter University

You will find listings and booking forms (where open) for these and all other EDINA training events here: http://edina.ac.uk/events/ These courses are free of charge. Regretfully, however, we will charge £25.00 per person for each day of absence of which EDINA is not given prior notice. This is due to the increasing number of no-shows at courses.

Note that all attendees MUST be registered users of Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection in order to participate in the OS MasterMap training.

OS MasterMap: CoU release on 24 March

The next release of Change-only Update data for OS MasterMap will be put into service on Tuesday 24 March 2009. The currency date of the new data will be 20 January 2009.*

Change-only Update (CoU) applies only to the OS MasterMap data. It does not apply to any other data product.

EDINA collates all the data changes released by Ordnance Survey over a 6-month period, and makes these available through Digimap approximately every 6 months. The previous update was released in September 2008.

What is the point of Change-only Update?
Change-only Updates enable you to update your data holding without needing to store multiple copies or versions of the same data. By taking only the changes to the data you hold you can minimise the storage requirements for your data, while still maintaining an up-to-date dataset. This is particularly useful if you are studying changes to an area over time.

Most users will not need Change-only Update. CoU is only useful to you if you already have a full copy of the original data to which you can apply the changes.


How do I download CoU?
You can download Change-only Updates only for data orders you have already submitted within Digimap's Mastermap Download facility. Go to the Your Account page within Mastermap Download and scroll down to the table of Orders.

You will see a list of all your previous Orders, and in the final column you will see whether or not CoU is available for that Order.

If CoU is available, click the radio button in the far left column for the Order you require. Below this table, you will see two buttons in a blue box:

Click the first button to Order Change-only Update. The data file will be delivered in the usual way: you will receive one email to say your Order has been received and is being processed, and a second email to say your data is ready for collection.

If you submit a new order for OS MasterMap data, by defining the Layer, Themes and your chosen area, you will automatically receive the latest version of the data; this will include all the latest changes. Change-only Update will therefore not be available for such an Order until the next batch of CoU is released.

Example
You submit an Order for data on 20 March 2009. In the Orders table under Your Account, the Order details say that CoU is not available. This is because you already have the latest version of the data.

If you submit a second Order for data on 27 March 2009, you will also see that the order details say that CoU is not available. Again, you have the latest version of the data; it includes the changes which were released on 24 March.

If you go back to look at your first Order (submitted on 20 March) on 2 April 2009, you will see that COU is now vailable for this Order. This is because the changes released on 24 March are now available; they were not available when you submitted the original order.

* Although the latest update is dated 20 January 2009, it takes time for Ordnance Survey to process and release these data, to send them out to EDINA and for EDINA to process and load the data into the database. This accounts for the time delay between the "freeze date" of the database (20 January 2009) and the release date (24 March 2009).

Northern Ireland map data: JISC Consultation

JISC Collections has an opportunity to add Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI) data to the Digimap Collections. Before a final decision is made to pursue this agreement JISC Collections would like to guage interest in these mapping data from existing subscribers. JISC Collections would welcome feedback on whether or not your institution would participate in an agreement to supply OSNI data through Digimap Collections.

It has been proposed that the following data be included in the licensing arrangement. The suggested formats are also given for each dataset:

• OSNI Largescale Vector (ntf, dxf, dwg)
• OSNI 1:50,000 Vector (shapefile, mapinfo tab)
• OSNI RegionalMap (pgdb, shapefile)
• OSNI GlobalMap (pgdb, shapefile)
• OSNI Road Network (shapefile, mapinfo tab)
• OSNI Boundary Map (pgdb, shapefile)
• OSNI Pointer Product (format: csv) (Pointer includes Royal Mail Group PAF postcodes)
• OSNI Place Name Gazetteer Product- OSNI 1:10,000 Raster Product (format: tiff, ecw)
• OSNI Raster Activity Map Products (format: tiff, ecw)
• OSNI 1:50,000 Raster Product (format: tiff, ecw)
• OSNI 1:250,000 Raster Product (format: tiff)
• OSNI Parliamentary Constituency Raster Map Products (format: jpeg)
• OSNI Raster Street Map Products (format: tiff, ecw)
• OSNI Historical Archive Product (format: ecw)
• OSNI DTM 50m, standard, enhanced Products (format: txt, dbf, dgn)
• OSNI Orthophotography Product (format: ecw)

More information about the data can be found on the OSNI website: http://www.osni.gov.uk/

The suggested prices for an institutional subscription to this agreement vary according to JISC's institutional banding, and are as follows:

Higher Education

• Bands A-B - £750 per annum
• Bands C-D - £600 per annum
• Bands E-F - £400 per annum
• Bands G-J - £100 per annum

Further Education

• All bands - £75 per institution

If you would find it useful to have access to Northern Ireland data, please contact your Digimap site representative to express an interest in a subscription. If you don't know who your site representative is, please check the list on our website: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/list.shtml

If you are a Digimap Site Representative, please gather feedback you receive from Digimap users at your institution and contact Liam Earney (L.Earney@jisc.ac.uk) if you would like to express an interest in a subscription for your institution.

Training: booking now open

EDINA would like to announce that booking is now open and there are spaces available on the following Digimap training courses, open to staff members (and postgraduates for the MasterMap courses) in UK higher and further education institutions:

• Digimap Collections: 31 March-2 April 2009 - Leeds University


• OS MasterMap for Users: 22 April 2009 - York University

The following courses will be offered this year, but booking is not yet open:

• Digimap Essentials: 4 June 2009 - Bilborough College, Nottingham


• Digimap Collections: 9-11 June 2009 - Exeter University

Further details of course content and learning objectives can be found on our website. You will also find listings and booking forms (where open) for these and all other EDINA training events here: http://edina.ac.uk/events/

This page contains details of all forthcoming EDINA courses and workshops which may interest staff within subscribing institutions, including multimedia services courses to be announced soon.
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 institutions which subscribe to Digimap are also welcome. Note that all attendees MUST be registered users of Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection in order to participate in the OS MasterMap training.

Running the courses is subject to a sufficient level of interest. If you are uncertain about the relevance of a course for your needs, please get in touch with EDINA for advice at edina-training@ed.ac.uk

All EDINA training courses are free of charge. Regretfully, however, we will charge £25.00 per person for each day of absence of which EDINA is not given prior notice. This is due to the increasing number of no-shows at courses.

Lunch will be provided for all full-day attendees and refreshments will be available throughout the day. If you have any questions about Digimap or these courses, please do not hesitate to contact us.

ShareGeo Launched

A new geospatial data sharing facility has been released today which enables Digmap users to find and share geospatial datasets.

ShareGeo forms part of the EDINA Digimap suite of services and is accessible from the Digimap Collections main page in the 'Find and Share' section. It is free for all Digimap users to use.

Use ShareGeo to contribute your own (derived or user-generated) geospatial datasets, or to download datasets which are already there for your research, teaching or personal use.

Have you created a geospatial dataset for your dissertation? Do you use them in your teaching? Do you think they would be interesting/useful to others? If so, contribute them to ShareGeo and they will be accessible for download by other Digimap users*.

Geospatial datasets in a number of formats (raster, vector and tabular) can be contributed for anywhere in the world. A minimal amount of metadata is required for each dataset. Access ShareGeo by logging in to Digimap (http://edina.ac.uk/digimap) and then either follow the link on the Collections page to ShareGeo or click on the following link: http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/sharegeo/

Help and further information is available at: http://edina.ac.uk/projects/sharegeo/Help/help.shtml We would welcome comments and feedback sent to us at edina@ed.ac.uk Alternatively you can use the form within ShareGeo at: http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/sharegeo/feedback

*Licensing restrictions may apply to some datasets. If, for example, a dataset is derived from Ordnance Survey data, only Digimap users registered for Digimap's Ordnance Survey Collection will be able to access it. Specific licence restrictions may apply to individual datasets and these must be adhered to.

Obituary: Peter Burrough

Peter Burrough, one of the founding fathers of GIS research, died in Leiden on 9th January 2009.

Peter Burrough is recognised for his for seminal work, Principles of GIS for land resources management. Published in 1986, the book introduced the essential technical tasks of GIS applications such as spatial data capture, storage, and output, and the development of the analytical models that were needed to exploit the full potential of this new technology. The book became an instrumental resource for soil scientists as well as geographers, surveyors, social scientists, urban planners and students in these fields. As a result many became interested in the newly developing GIS field.

Peter Burrough is also recognised for his important contributions to the creation of both AGILE (the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories for Europe) and to EUROGI (EURopean Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information) at a critical point in its development.

In January 2007, his role as a founding father of GIS research was internationally recognised in a special issue of the International Journal of Geographic Information Science on Advances in the spatio-temporal modelling of environment and landscapes. This was edited by two of his former colleagues at Utrecht University and the co-author of the second edition of his classic work, Rachael McDonnell.

NEW! Geospatial data sharing service

EDINA have implemented a new geospatial data sharing facility called ShareGeo. It forms part of the Digimap Collections suite of services.


It is intended that ShareGeo will be accessible to all Digimap users at the beginning of February, however we are providing early access to it for readers of the Digimap blog (details of how to access it are below).

Please feel free to browse and download any datasets that are already there. If you have any geospatial datasets, we would ask you to contribute these to ShareGeo. ShareGeo is free to use for all registered Digimap users.

ShareGeo can be accessed after logging in to Digimap, using the following liks.

• First login to Digimap at: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap You will see a greyed out link to ShareGeo.


• The visible link is not active, so you will need to go to ShareGeo by entering the following link in your browser: http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/sharegeo/ (Note: Once the facility is accessible to all, there will be a link on the Digimap Collections page to take you directly to ShareGeo)

Help and further information is available at: http://edina.ac.uk/projects/sharegeo/Help/help.shtml We would welcome comments and feedback sent to us at edina@ed.ac.uk Alternatively you can use the form within ShareGeo at: http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/sharegeo/feedback

If you need help or advice regading ShareGeo please do not hesitate to contact us.

12 January - full access restored

Following a hardware failure during routine maintenance, access to all Digimap Collections and facilities has been restored. Apologies for the inconvenience caused by this incident.

10 January - Digimap Now Available

Access to the Digimap service was restored around 7pm last night (Friday 9 January) following a recent hardware failure. However, the MasterMap Download facility remains unavailable and will do so until Monday 12 January.

The available services have not yet been fully tested, so it is possible that you may find some elements not fully functional. If you encounter any failures, please report these to the EDINA Helpdesk on edina@ed.ac.uk; they will be dealt with on Monday 12 January.

9 January - update

Following yesterday's scheduled maintenance, Digimap remains unavailable today owing to an unexpected hardware problem which could not have been predicted. Engineers are currently working on some diagnostic tests to establish the extent of the problem.

In diagnosing the problem there are a number of tasks to be performed, each one of which may or may not offer a solution. It is therefore not possible to predict how long it will take to reach a solution.

The full Digimap service will not be available today, Friday 9 January or on the morning of Saturday 10 January. Our next opportunity to provide an update on progress will be around 2pm on Saturday 10 January. Further to that, updates will not be available until Monday 12 January.

Again, EDINA apologises for the inconvenience this causes.

9 January: Digimap unavailable

Yesterday, a significant upgrade was scheduled for the service machines which host Digimap. The upgrade should have been completed by around 5.30 pm. However, unforseen problems with the upgrade have meant that Digimap remains unavailable today, Friday 9 January. Our last update yesterday was at 6.45pm.

Engineers are currently having to acquire and install a new piece of hardware in order to fix the problems which arose yesterday. As yet we do not know how long this will take, nor do we know when the next progress update will be delivered. When we have further information on an estimated time for restoring access to Digimap, this information will be posted here and on the Digimap login page.

EDINA apologises for the inconvenience the service unavailability causes.

Review of geo-spatial services for the ESRC

EDINA has received the following message regarding a survey being conducted by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which we believe will be of great interest to you.

EDINA believes that this survey will influence the development and availability of services offering geospatial resources to the academic community. If you or your colleagues make use of, or have in the past made use of, geospatial data or resources (maps, satellite data, statistical data, census information etc), we would strongly urge you to complete the survey.

We would also be grateful if you would pass on a link to this page to colleagues who may not see it. Note the closing date of the survey is 31 January 2009.

The following text is from the researchers conducting the survey, and gives some useful background:

In support of the National Strategy for Data Resources for Research in the Social Sciences, the Economic and Social Research Council has commissioned a review of the current availability of, access to, and future needs for geo-spatial data services by the research community. These are broadly defined and include not only the data necessary to map and analyse data with a spatial dimension, but also resources which broaden the range of spatial research undertaken and enhance the ability of researchers to undertake spatial analysis.

To assist us with this review, would you please spare a few minutes to complete a short web-based survey concerned with the awareness and use of geo-spatial resources by researchers and their opinions about new areas for development via ESRC investment. Please note that we are interested in your opinions even if you are not currently undertaking research with a spatial or geographical dimension.

Any information you provide will be used purely for statistical purposes in order to plan future services. This survey will remain confidential and any published results will not identify individuals.

The survey should take 5 to 10 minutes to complete and will remain openuntil 31 January 2009.

Link to: Geo-Spatial Resources and Services Survey


Many thanks for taking the time to complete this survey.

Peter Elias, Anne Green and David Owen,
Institute for Employment Research,
University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 7AL.

NB: If you want further information about this review or wish tocontribute your views/opinions in a more detailed fashion, please emailthe researchers directly:
Peter.Elias@warwick.ac.uk
Anne.Green@warwick.ac.uk
D.W.Owen@warwick.ac.uk

Reminder: Digimap Training in January

Places are still available for Digimap training in Newcastle on 20 - 22 January 2009. Further details can be found on the EDINA website.

You can register online for this event here.

EDINA would also like to wish you a happy new year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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...

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:

• 20-22 January 2009 - Newcastle University
• 31 March - 2 April 2009 - Leeds University
• 9-11 June 2009, Exeter University

OS MasterMap for Users Training:

• 19 November 2008 - Edinburgh University
• 25 February 2009 - Open University, Milton Keynes
• 22 April 2009 - York University

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.