Cambridge University Library

What is Digimap?
Getting Access to Digimap
Data
Finding out More - General (including Terms of Use & Data Download)
Finding out More - MasterMap
Large Format Printing
Digimap Site Representatives
Printable Versions of this Text

WHAT IS DIGIMAP?

Digimap is an online service run by EDINA that delivers Ordnance Survey Map Data to UK Tertiary Education. The data is available either for download to use with appropriate application software such as GIS or CAD, or as maps generated by Digimap online.

A wide range of data is available for England, Wales and Scotland. A smaller range is also available for the Isle of Man.

There are two map collections within Digimap to which Cambridge University subscribes:

In order to access Digimap you must be a fully registered student or member of staff at the University of Cambridge. The data is available for Teaching, Educational Research, Academic Research or Limited Internal Business Use only. See below for more information on copyright and terms of use.

Note that the University does not have a subscription to Geology Digimap or to Marine Digimap.

GETTING ACCESS TO DIGIMAP

To access Digimap you need a Raven account and password. All new undergraduate and postgraduate students automatically receive a Raven password when they first register. If you do not have one you can apply for a Raven account online, see the instructions at http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/docs/faq/n5.html. In some cases your password will be sent via the UMS and so may take a few days to arrive. Raven passwords are available only to current staff and students of the University.

Logging in to Digimap:
At http://edina.ed.ac.uk/digimap/ click on the ' Login via UK Federation' button, type 'Cambridge' in the box and select 'University of Cambridge', enter your Raven user-id and password when requested.

Accessing the 'Ordnance Survey Collection' (the current OS data):
To access the current map data on Digimap you must register your Raven account with EDINA. Log in to the Digimap Service, click on 'Ordnance Survey Collection' and work through the registration process. EDINA will notify you by email when your registration is complete; this may take a couple of days. See also the 'Digimap Collections User Registration' information at http://edina.ed.ac.uk/digimap/access/register.shtml.

Class Use: Class Registration (where all members of a class were given the same login/password) is no longer possible so each member of a class must now register for Digimap individually.

Accessing Historic Digimap:
You do not need to register your Raven account with EDINA if you only wish to access the historic data.

Geology Digimap:
The University does not have a subscription to the geological data.

Marine Digimap:
The University does not have a subscription to the marine data.

DATA


Ordnance Survey Collection: The Ordnance Survey Collection provides facilities to make maps with or download data using the following Ordnance Survey datasets:

  • OS MasterMap® Topographic Layer: large-scale, polygonised and seamless topographic database product, showing natural and man-made features. (Replaced Land-Line.Plus® in August 2008)
  • OS MasterMap® Integrated Transport Network Layer (from September 2007): the ITN layer contains a comprehensive road network along with routing information
  • Meridian™2: comprehensive road network, railway lines, urban areas, boundaries, place names, woodlands and water features with a nominal scale of 1:50,000
  • Strategi®: "Road atlas" style mapping at a scale of 1:250 000, showing major settlements, roads, railways, water features and land use
  • Land-Form PANORAMA®: contours and digital terrain model (DTM) data at 1:50 000 scale
  • Land-Form PROFILE®: contours and digital terrain model (DTM) data at 1:10 000 scale
  • MiniScale (new October 2009): a 1:1million scale raster product providing national coverage for Great Britain
  • 1:250,000 Scale Colour Raster: road-atlas-style raster dataset providing national coverage of Great Britain
  • 1:50 000 Scale Colour Raster: raster version of the 1:50,000 Landranger® map series
  • 1:25 000 Scale Colour Raster: digital raster version of the popular Ordnance Survey Explorer™ paper map series for outdoor activities
  • 1:10 000 Scale Colour Raster: derived from the Ordnance Survey Landplan® product (paper and film 1:5,000 and 1:10,000 maps)
  • 1:50 000 Scale Gazetteer: containing over 250,000 place names, derived from 1:50 000 Landranger® mapping
  • Code-Point® (with Polygons): provides a National Grid coordinate for a point within each unit postcode in Great Britain and the digital postcode unit boundaries for use in a geographical information system
  • Boundary-Line®: provides administrative and electoral boundaries and their names for England, Scotland and Wales. Boundary-Line represents a full hierarchy of boundaries for use in a geographical information system

A general overview of the service and products can be found at http://edina.ed.ac.uk/digimap/description/overview.shtml ; a more detailed list of products can be found at http://edina.ed.ac.uk/digimap/description/products/ ; the OS revision policy for these products can be found at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/products/revisionpolicy.shtml ; or look at the Ordnance Survey website at http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ (search for ‘revision’). 

Once you have logged on to Digimap you can find more information on the products by clicking on the 'About Mapping Products' menu on the left-hand side of the screen.

Historic Digimap: To use, login to Digimap at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/ and select the 'Historic Digimap' option. An overview of the service is available at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/historic_overview.shtml

  • Ancient Roam: Allows you to view historical Ordnance Survey maps such as County Series maps at scales of 1:2,500 and 1:10,560 (published between 1843 and 1939) and all available Ordnance Survey National Grid maps at scales of 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 published from 1945 and before the introduction of the OS digital Land-Line product in the early 1990s. The maps cover England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, though full coverage of all areas at all scales and dates is not available. New from May 2010: large scale historical Town Plans at scales of 1:500, 1:528 and 1:1250, dating from 1848, for larger towns only (see http://edinadigimap.blogspot.com/2010/05/launching-ancient-roam.html)

    The historic maps can be viewed online and printed. Via Historic Download it is also possible to select and download multiple map images in a single request.


  • Land Use Map Viewer: Provides access to 1930's maps created by Dudley Stamp. Land use is depicted as a colour overlay to Ordnance Survey topographic mapping. Maps are provided at two scales 1:625,000 and 1:63,360. Further information is available once you have logged in to the service.
If Digimap does not provide the maps you want remember that the Map Department of Cambridge University Library has thousands of printed maps of Great Britain – including those published by Ordnance Survey – and other parts of the World. See our web site at http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/. The most detailed scales of OS mapping (from 1998 onwards for Great Britain and from 2004 onwards for Northern Ireland) are also available to view and print from a dedicated PC in the Map Room - see http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/osdata.html

FINDING OUT MORE - GENERAL

General descriptions of the Digimap services can be found at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/description/

Remember that the data is available for Teaching, Educational Research, Academic Research or Limited Internal Business Use only.

The Terms of Use are explained in the Digimap Licence Agreements at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/terms.shtml. The Frequently Asked Questions at http://edina.ac.uk/digimap/support/faq_oslicence.html help to clarify the uses to which the current data can be put.

Guides to the service can be found at http://edina.ed.ac.uk/digimap/support/guides.shtml. And once you have logged in to the services, help can be found by clicking on the 'Getting Started' links on the left-hand side of the screen.

Downloading Data. See, for example:

- The Bodleian Library's web site http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps/dmapht.htm

- Cambridge University's Department of Archaeology for information on using MapManager 6.2 to Prepare Ordnance Survey NTF Data at http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/comp/ac046/

- Dotted Eyes, a well established digital mapping solution provider, has produced an edition of their InterpOSe GML translator specifically for EDINA Digimap users. It 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. See http://www.dottedeyes.co.uk/spatial_data_loading/interpose/digimap.php


FINDING OUT MORE - MASTERMAP

Viewing MasterMap Online: If you only wish to create, view and print maps via the online Digimap interface you do not need any additional software.

Downloading MasterMap Data: No additional software is required to make use of the online MasterMap Download facility, but newer versions of GIS software may be required to make use of the downloaded data.

Further Information:


LARGE FORMAT PRINTING

If your Department does not have large format printing facilities the following may be able to help:


DIGIMAP SITE REPRESENTATIVES

If you require further information, please contact the Cambridge University Digimap Site Representatives:

Anne Taylor Map Department, Cambridge University Library, West Road. 01223 333041 aemt2@cam.ac.uk
and
Philip Stickler Department of Geography, Downing Site. 01223 339807 pjs39@cam.ac.uk


Remember!
OS OpenData provides free access to a selection of OS mapping datasets for Great Britain


See also:

Digimap OpenStream: A web service delivering OS OpenData to the UK academic sector using open standard WMS technology. For Terms of use see http://openstream.edina.ac.uk/registration/terms


And:

GoGeo! For current GI news items and to find what data exists where

 

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