Categories
Data Policy Ordnance Survey

The OS free data licence

I have had a couple of questions about how the free OS data is licensed, here is the license which as you can see is basically a creative commons attribution license.

This confirms there are no derived data issues.

In fact this license makes OS Opendata more “open” than Openstreetmap.

Written and submitted from the Where 2.0 Conference (37.331N, 121.888W)

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Categories
Thoughts

This is not an April Fools Joke

Not a normal day in this office then…

A very important day in the history of Ordnance Survey, from later on today it really will be possible to download free OS geodata from www.data.gov.uk, and www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendata. This is close to the “Goldilocks” option presented in the recent consultation and contains “mid scales” datasets which are detailed here in the official government response to the consultation.

Importantly this data is usable without restriction and therefore removes the issue of derived data.

Large scale data remains fully commercial and licensed conventionally, although we are promised a solution to the derived data problem for this data in the near future.

This is a massive step forward for the use of geospatial information in the UK, and although as a compromise it will leave some people disappointed, it will meet the needs of many people who have not had access to OS mapping before.

This has been a traumatic experience for Ordnance Survey, and I can only imagine the internal crisis this decision must have caused, but as it is often said, a crisis is the opportunity to push through the necessary changes that were too difficult during stable times.

Just in case you missed it, the 3D streetview is an April Fools Joke !

Written and submitted from The Residence Inn, Palo Alto (37.392N, 122.095W)
Categories
cartography Ordnance Survey

On the Map

I have really enjoyed listening to the BBC Radio 4 series “On the Map” a series on mapping presented by Mike Parker a self-confessed OS Map fan, and author of Map Addict a recommended read.

Now Mike is very much a OS paper maps man, so in today’s programme I attempt to defend digital mapping against the acquisition that digital mapping and satnavs are destroying map-making and map-reading.

And on such a momentous day in the history of the Ordnance Survey data.

Written and submitted from The Residence Inn, Palo Alto (37.392N, 122.095W)
Update & Rant : Having listened to the programme on my return to UK I’m afraid I continue to be dismayed at the attitude of the cartographic establishment to digital mapping.
Why don’t we see cartographers embracing the opportunities now possible with digital data and tools, rather than just making snide comments about “power cuts”, rejecting change and resting on their misplaced belief the Britain leads the world in cartography.