Saturday, April 3

Train of thought - OS data goes Public

Mindful of the copyright vagaries surrounding on-line mapping projects positive news this week from the Ordinance Survey.

Well sort of.


I've checked the OS site for a clearer picture of what has changed, but it looks like many of the links go nowhere relevant. However there is a licence agreement to download that seems quite positive (and mercifully short)


Quite what this means for those of us hopeful of using OS mapping data on our sites, besides the opportunity to get involved in some self funded techie development - well I can't quite work that out.


Can anyone translate in simple terms what this means for a simple minded Blogger, on Outdoor Matters, thinking about posting a detailed route map sometime in the near future?

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I still have to check the fine print in order to update my site article on the matter of displaying maps on blogs and websites, but from the forum posts I've seen on this OS OpenData consultation, there is a fundamental misunderstanding at large.

As you know, the 1:25K and 1:50K Datasets - the ones most commonly used by walkers - are not included in the free data anyway, but that is a question of licensing fees etc.. Publishing maps on websites is a different question entirely: even if they were free, they would still be Crown Copyright, and we need the permission of the copyright holder to display them. It may be that the OS give a limited permission for this purpose but we would need to check carefully.

I'll probably continue to use OpenSpace anyway, it gives the reader the ability to move the map around within a fixed window which is useful for my long backpack routes.
 
Geoff - a bit of extra info re 25000/50000 data


"Here's the full list of OS data set loose by the government:

• OS Street View
• 1: 50 000 Gazetteer
• 1: 250 000 Colour Raster
• OS Locator • Boundary-Line
• Code-Point Open
• Meridian 2
• Strategi
• MiniScale
• Land-Form PANORAMA
• OS VectorMap District (May'10)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/01/ordnance_survey_opendata/
 
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