WHAT IS DIGIMAP?
Digimap is an online service run by EDINA offering to subscribing organisations within UK Tertiary Education, free access to maps and geospatial data from a number of national data providers, including Ordnance Survey and the British Geological Survey. Maps can be generated online within Digimap or data can be download for use with appropriate software.
A wide range of data is available for England, Wales and Scotland with a smaller range available for the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.
The Digimap collections available to Cambridge University students and academics include:
- Ordnance Survey® Collection Current Ordnance Survey map data. Offers a range of contemporary Ordnance Survey mapping data products. A range of online tools are available to facilitate viewing, interrogation and download of these products.
- Historic Digimap Offers a range of historical Ordnance Survey mapping data products from 1843 to 1996. A range of online tools are available to facilitate viewing, interrogation and download of these products.
- Geology Digimap Offers a range of onshore and offshore British Geological Survey mapping data products. A range of online tools are available to facilitate viewing, interrogation and download of these products.
- Environment Digimap Offers a range of Land Cover Map data products. A range of online tools are available to facilitate the viewing of these products.
- Aerial Digimap Aerial imagery data at scales ranging from 1:150,000 to 1:500 available for making maps online or for download. Complete coverage of Great Britain is available.
- Lidar Lidar data is a very accurate model of the earth’s surface. The data is captured by firing rapid laser pulses (thousands of times per second) at the ground surface. By examining the laser energy reflected back from the ground the surface is captured as a dense cloud of 3D points. These points are then converted in to highly detailed terrain models of the surface of the earth and by examining the reflections from both the ground surface and the vegetation canopy it is possible to derive both Digital Terrain Models of the bare earth surface (DTM) and also Digital Surface Models (DSM) that show the vegetation canopy.
- Marine Includes the raster nautical charts derived from the UK Hydrographic Office paper charts and chart panels, and Marine Themes vector data covering all UK waters which can be loaded into Geographic Information Systems. Marine data is extensively used in offshore engineering projects, management of marine and coastal environments, marine ecology studies, environmental impact assessments and tourism.
- Global Provides access to global datasets in cartographic styles and downloadable formats that are useful to you. primary content is OpenStreetMap; also included is data from Natural Earth and Collins Bartholomew.
- Society Digimap – 2011 UK census data. Provides a wealth of census and socio-economic data for Great Britain.
- Verisk Digimap’s Verisk Collection provides access to data from commercial data supplier Verisk (previously known as Geomni UK). Includes data on the age, structure, characteristics and use, of commercial, public and residential buildings across GB ; land use data across the UK ; detailed, feature-rich mapping database of Greater London. Demonstration on YouTube. Blog post from University of Glasgow Library.
- agCensus. Provides grid square agricultural census data for England, Scotland and Wales. Map and download data is derived from Agricultural and Horticultural Censuses of Great Britain. Provides realistic estimates of what is produced, how much is produced and where it was produced.
Each of the collection links above will give access to further information plus tips on using the data, etc. See also the Digimap Help Centre ; About Digimap ; Learning Materials pages. Also, their YouTube channel has lots of useful videos.
Keep up to date with what is happening with Digimap by going to the Digimap Blog, or follow Digimap on Twitter;Facebook.
GETTING ACCESS TO DIGIMAP
For an overview see https://digimap.edina.ac.uk/help/about/get_started/
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, licensing and terms of use.
You need a Raven account and password. Raven passwords are available only to current staff and students of the University. All new undergraduate and postgraduate students should be given an account when they first register.
1. Logging in:
From http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/ select the Login button at the top right ; select 'University of Cambridge' from the list (type 'Cambridge' into the box) and enter your Raven user-id and password when requested. Further information can be found on the Login Help page
You will also need to accept the licence agreements associated with each Collection you access.
2. First Time User? Registration Required:
Before you can use Digimap services you will need to register your details with Digimap. This is an automated two-step process
3. Class Use:
Each member of a class must register for Digimap individually.
TERMS OF USE / LICENCE AGREEMENTS
Remember that the data is available for Teaching, Educational Research, Academic Research or Limited Internal Business Use only.
Information on Copyright and Licensing can be found at Copyright and Licensing
DOWNLOADING DATA
Digital mapping data translator for GIS and other mapping utilities
OS DATA / MASTERMAP
OS MasterMap revision policy (Ordnance Survey website)
DIGIMAP SITE REPRESENTATIVE
If you require further information, please contact the Cambridge University Digimap Site Representative:
Anne Taylor Map Department, Cambridge University Library, West Road. 01223 333041 aemt2@cam.ac.uk
LARGE FORMAT PRINTING
If your Department does not have large format printing facilities the following may be able to help:
UIS Printroom, University of Cambridge Information Services, Roger Needham Building, 7 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0RB (West Cambridge site) 01223 (3)34727 ; printroom@uis.cam.ac.uk
Anatomy Visual Media Group (AVMG), Department of PDN, Anatomy Building, University of Cambridge, Downing Site, CB2 3DY 01223 (3)33787 / (3)33767 ; avmg@pdn.cam.ac.uk
Engineering Department Print Room, 1st floor of the Baker Building, Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ 01223 (3)32710 ; print-room@eng.cam.ac.uk
OTHER RESOURCES
OS OpenData provides free access to a selection of OS mapping datasets for Great Britain
Cambridge University Library Map Department Collections If Digimap does not provide the maps you want remember that the Map Department of Cambridge University Library has over 1.3 million printed maps. The collections cover all parts of the World and include thousands of printed Ordnance Survey and British Geological Survey maps and hydrographic charts.