digimap: first year (and a bit) report dr hugh buchanan user support co-ordinator, edina geo-data...
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Digimap: first year (and a bit)
report
Dr Hugh Buchanan
User Support Co-ordinator, EDINA Geo-data services
Who are EDINA?
• one of 3 JISC-funded National Data Centres for UK tertiary education
• part of University of Edinburgh Computer Services
• provide over 20 information services to UK tertiary education
• substantial experience in handling geospatial data
• UKBorders has been providing a geographic boundary data service since 1994
Datacentres
HE funding councilscommercial
dataproviders
institutionalaccess
EDINA - Edinburgh Data and Information Access
end user
Location of EDINA in UK Higher Education
What is Digimap?
• Digimap is a JISC-funded, web-based mapping service
• created & hosted by EDINA with support & training jointly with MIMAS
• access to Ordnance Survey map data via easy-to-use, map-based interface:– creating maps on-screen – printing high quality maps– downloading map data
• began as a project in 1996 in the JISC Electronic Libraries (eLib) programme
User Community
Simple Browsers Java Applet
OS Data
Digimap Server
EDINA Digimap
Available from January 2000
Data downloading
tool
Digimap Carto
Java-enabled (image or vector graphics)
Available from May 2001
All map images © Crown copyright
On-screen mapping
tool
• view/print fixed-scale maps • used by all users• meets needs of 60% of users • for novice users/low support costs
• data extraction - for GIS users• meets needs of 25% of users
• customisable high qualitymapping/printing (e.g. EPS)
• used by 40% of users• for users who are/become skilled
Land-Line.Plus®
• 1:10,000 - 1:1,250• 30% of national coverage
Land-FormPANORAMA™
• 1:50,000• national coverage• contours and DTM
Meridian™
• 1:50,000• national coverage
Strategi®• 1:250,000• national coverage
1: 50,000 Place-names Gazetteer - 250,000 place-names
Data available through Digimap
Annual updates
Annual updates
Annual updates
Annual updates
from 2001
and now …...
1:50,000 Colour Raster
• from September 2001• national coverage of
1:50,000 raster data
How we have made the data usable ...
© Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Who is using Digimap? - institutions
• UK Higher Education institutions• 163 eligible institutions• 51 institutions currently
subscribe• annual institutional subscription
is size dependent: £1,750 to £4,750 per annum
• institution subscription entitles all staff and students to use service for teaching and research
Who is using Digimap? - users
Users by subject area
Arts and Humanities11%
Information Services11%
Natural Environment13%
Geography18%
Engineering and Physical Sciences
20%
Economic and Social Sciences
22%
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
4%
Medical Sciences/Physics
1%
Users by category
Staff27%
Undergraduate49%
Postgraduate24%
• undergraduates are largest group
• 82% of users are not geographers
Supporting Digimap
• extensive online help and guidance• institutional Site Representatives
– EDINA provide extensive training– training materials available for Site Rep's use
• Site Reps can create Help pages specific to their institution
• EDINA helpdesk handles around 100 Digimap-related calls per month
• integration with other resources within institution
Growth in user numbers
Where Digimap users heard of the service
From the university library
16%
From a colleague12%
From my site representative
7%
Via the Internet3%
From a friend3%
From a poster2%
Other22%
From a lecturer35%
Monthly registrations
0
100
200
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800
900
Janu
ary
Febru
ary
March
April
MayJu
ne July
Augus
t
Septe
mbe
r
Oct
ober
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
Janu
ary
Febru
ary
March
Mo
nth
ly R
eg
istr
ati
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s
0
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To
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Use
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New Registered Users Total Registered Users
• users generally learn of Digimapby word of mouth
• number of registered users hasdoubled in this academic year
(currently 5,000)
Archaeology Spatial relationships of prehistoric ritual monumentsArchitecture Model making and urban planningBusiness Optimising location of e-commerce distribution centresCivil Engineering Locating hydrogen plant for fueling busesEarth Sciences Tectonics and landscape evolutionEconomics Impact of road noise upon property pricesElectronics Teaching position location using mobile radioEnvironment Mgt Effect of countryside stewardship on black grouseGeography Linking weather station and road accident dataHistory The feeding of Cromwell’s New Model ArmyLaw Mapping and modelling crime in CardiffMathematics Modelling rainfall with topographical variablesMedicine Pollution monitoring for Public Health SciencesPlant Sciences Biodiversity of urban gardensSocial Policy Town centre boundaries for statistical monitoringWater Mgt Pipe bursts in water distribution systemsZoology Mapping of water vole distributions
(updated to February 2001)
Some uses of OS data by Digimap users...
Case study - coastal quarry design• coastal quarry feasibility design exercise • Surfer software package• students use Digimap data to produce 3D visualisation of the
existing topography• model used to show the quarry site during and after extraction• students also calculate the volume of extraction, i.e. the
planned capacity of the quarry
© Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Case study - positioning of early Norman castles
• to test reasons why early Norman castles were built in particular places
• examine the viewshed from the castles, that is, what can be seen from the castle
• also the proximity of castles to lines of communication such as roads and rivers
• more rigorous than has previously been done
• comparing groups of castles in south-eastern Midlands, Cheshire and north Wales
© Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Case study - planning impact study
• class practicals examining the impact of a planning proposal upon the local area
• supplement Digimap data with environmental, socio-economic and property valuation information, and own data collected during field visits.
• students write and report, and produce annotated maps to support their arguments
© Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Case study - crime pattern analysis
• burglary repeat victimisation
• a repeat doesn't have to occur at the same address
• criminals may build mental maps of the properties they burgle
• Land-Line data used to map Merseyside police recorded crime data against homogenous housing types
• using Mapinfo and Arcview
© Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Mapping activity
• 250,000 screen maps created• 50,000 paper maps created• mapping usage follows undergraduate activity• Land-Line.Plus is numerically dominant
Screen mapping by product January 2000 - March 2001
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
Jan - Mar Apr - Jun July - Sep Oct - Dec Jan - Mar
Scr
ee
n M
ap
s
Landline Meridian Panorama Strategi
A
Data downloading by Ordnance Survey product
• 79,000 tiles of data downloaded• data download usage follows postgraduate / staff
activity• Land-Line data very predominant
Tiles downloaded by product: April 2000 - March 2001
0
2000
4000
6000
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10000
12000
14000
Apr - June July - Sep Oct - Dec Jan - Mar
Tile
s do
wnl
oade
d
Land-line Meridian Panorama Contours Panorama DTM Strategi
Activity per user by status January 2000 - March 2001
0.00
20.00
40.00
60.00
80.00
100.00
120.00
140.00
160.00
180.00
200.00
Digimap Activity
Inde
x (B
ase
Sta
ff =
100
)
Site rep Staff Postgraduate Undergraduate
Activity by different user types
Future developments - Ordnance Survey data
• Meridian product being re-launched in 2001– hydrology and woodlands added– additional attributes on road network– digital terrain model incorporated– annual update cycle
• OS sample data– previously available to academia through separate
deal ( " the CHEST data " )– wide range of products, small number of tiles– Digimap products, plus ….
MiniScale, 1:50,000 raster, Boundary Line, 1:10,000 raster,Address-Point, Land-Form PROFILE, OSCAR
Additional OS products - sample coverage
1:50,000 raster
ADDRESS-POINT1:10,000 rasterLand-Form PROFILE OSCAR
Boundary-Line
All images © Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
MiniScale
Future developments - aerial photography
• more detail in later session
• ‘Cities Revealed’ data from GeoInformation Group
• covers major GB cities (19,000 km²)
• full colour imagery, 25 cm resolution, photoscale 1:7,000 - 1:18,000
© The GeoInformation Group, Cities Revealed
Future developments - Ordnance Survey County Series
• EDINA had hoped to add historical data to Digimap
• not possible in current development programme, due to technical issues
• EDINA will reassess this summer
• raster images from OS/Landmark Information Group (tiff, 300-dpi)
• maps in five epochs [1843-1893, 1891-1912,1904-1939, 1919-1943, 1945 onwards]
• available at scales of 1:2,500 and 1:10,560, from the First Series through to the Fourth
• Digimap infrastructure can deliver other datasets
• pilot service for Edinburgh University users only
• XYZ Edinburgh street map• Cities Revealed Edinburgh
data• terms and conditions
separately negotiated
Future developments - locally licensed data
© XYZ Digital Map Company Ltd 2000
Future developments - functional improvements
• Digimap interface is being continuously improved
• select map location by gazetteer search– uses gazetteer
from Strategi data
• improved feature selection on mapping interface– select all, clear all buttons
Improved symbolisation - Strategi
• relief shading• improved road labelling• text colour differentiation
Map images © Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Improved symbolisation - Meridian
• use attribute values to control cartographic display
• road labelling• roundabouts• motorway junction
labels• trunk roads• index contours
Map images © Crown copyright. Ordnance Survey
Digimap Carto
• release date 29 May 2001
• flexibility to– combine
products– set map scale– set output map
size and shape– locate map by
coordinate or gazetteer
Development activities
• Digital National Framework – major OS programme to redevelop large scale
database, and hence products– offers substantially greater flexibility in data use– EDINA are tracking developments and liaising
closely with OS (data) and JISC (funding)
• geo-related projects - more later in day– geo-data browser for the HE community– geo-crosswalk – e-Map Scholar
User feedback
• EDINA gather user views on Digimap, and feed these back to Ordnance Survey and JISC
• most common data requests are for:– removal of Land-Line.Plus usage restrictions– additional data products– simplified registration processes
• data requirements survey– reported in later session
• NOW!
Digimap - keeping in touch
• EDINA Digimap web page: http://edina.ac.uk/digimap
• EDINA web site: http://edina.ac.uk
• Email: [email protected]
• Tel: 0131 650 3302Fax: 0131 650 3308