Category: Ordnance Survey

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Ordnance Survey Thoughts

OS future begins to emerge…

The Treasury has spoken.. (that in itself gives you a sense of where this might be heading !!)

From the Treasury Operational Efficiency Programme report published yesterday..

“The OEP has concluded so far that Ordnance Survey needs to be more customer-focused and  commercially driven. The Government is therefore publishing a new commercial strategy for  the Ordnance Survey on their website. 

The new strategy balances the requirement to  maintain the highest quality standards with the need to significantly enhance ease of access  to geographic data and services for both commercial and non-commercial use.   

The new strategy seeks to equip Ordnance Survey to thrive in and better support competition and innovation in a wider geographical information market that is being transformed by advances in technology.  It is a significant and ambitious programme of change. The Government has set key milestones for delivery in 6 and 12 months’ time and beyond, as well as a process for independent review and challenge of progress. 

If sufficient progress is not made to promote competition and innovation in these timescales, the Government will consider further reforms. Opportunities to accelerate the delivery of initiatives through introducing further commercial experience and capabilities will be fully explored over the coming year. ”

So all eyes on www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Written and submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
Ordnance Survey Thoughts

The return of the edge video..

Whilst hunting through YouTube for a video to use in a presentation, I came across this video.


  

If I remember rightly this was the first time a viral video was produced by any part of the UK government, I might be mistaken on that,  but the video was not met with universal acclaim in Southampton..

Shame a great video and a pretty good product – paper maps without edges…

Nice to see that the OS has a YouTube channel now, there are some classics there..

Written and submitted from the Google Office, London.

Categories
Data Policy Ordnance Survey

Power of Information Taskforce – Homework for the OS

The influential Power of Information task force,  the group working within the Cabinet Office to suggest better ways of using Government Information has published their interim report back to government in a “wiki-like” form to allow comments from the community before final publication.

As any reader of this blog will expect, there is considerable discussion of the potential value and problems associated with  access to geospatial data in the UK. 

The report make a number of recommendations which don’t really appear to be that radical,  and are not a million miles away from suggestions I have made in the past, lets hope the influence of the cabinet office can move policy in Southampton with more success.

Here are the recommendations themselves..

▪ Basic geographic data such as electoral and administrative boundaries, the location of public buildings, etc. should be available free of charge to all.

▪ There should be simple, free access to general mapping and address data for modest levels of use by any user

▪ Voluntary and community organisations pursuing public policy objects should benefit from straightforward standard provisions for ensuring access to geospatial data at all levels of use

▪ Licensing conditions should be simplified and standardised across the board and, for all but the heaviest levels of use, should be on standard terms and conditions and should not depend on the intended use or the intended business model of the user.

▪ The OpenSpace API, similar to but currently a constrained version of Google Maps should become the primary delivery point for the Ordnance Survey’s services

Although not a recommendation in itself, clearly a key point remains the OS view of derived data, and it viral effect on the creation of geospatial data in the UK, the current situation where even the smallest use of OS mapping in locating a new feature on a map results in the OS claiming IP on the whole map cannot continue.

Overall the report itself and the process by which it has been created are a great example of how Government can really make use of “web 2.0” approaches to change how policy is developed, discussed and communicated.

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network.