Our latest GeoVation Challenge has just closed and soon we’ll be announcing who the finalists that will be invited to GeoVation Camp on 21 – 23 June.
We’ll be selecting the best ideas that address the problems identified and use Ordnance Survey data, including OS OpenData and OS OpenSpace, together with other open data in the solution.
Some of the ideas could make use of Linked Data. The term Linked Data
is used to describe a method of exposing, sharing, and connecting data and information using uniform resource identifiers (URIs) on the Web. Across government over the last ten years there has been a growing realisation to the power of linked data for exposing, sharing, and connecting pieces of data).
Ordnance Survey will soon be launching the next iteration of the Linked Data Service. In preparation a new beta version (http://beta.data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk) of the service has been designed for you to have a play around, test and review against your current applications.
Ordnance Survey launched Linked Data in April 2010 and has seen a continued growth of the use in government and research. This understanding of the use of Linked Data has been used to develop an improved service which is easy to use and access adhering to new standards making the data more open.
Continue reading 'A new Linked Data Service from Ordnance Survey'»
So, with judging now underway in our current challenge, Chris describes yesterday’s All Wales Coast Path first anniversary event in West Wales and progress of our previous challenge winner.
GeoVation challenge partner, Ramblers Cymru hosted a fantastic event in Kidwelly, yesterday to celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the Wales Coast Path and to launch the Big Welsh Walk, which takes place around the path this bank holiday weekend. The Wales Coast Path was, of course, the subject of our previous GeoVation challenge: “How can we connect communities and visitors along the Wales Coast Path?” which was timed to coincide with the official opening of the path on 5 May 2012.
Throughout the day, class after class of local school children (and adults) explored Wales and its coastline with Gwenda Owen, Ramblers Community Engagement Officer, on the enormous map produced by Ordnance Survey for Ramblers Cymru, and visited stands exhibiting activities on or near the path including local beekeeping, and allotment growing groups. In the afternoon MissionExplore (previous GeoVation winners) worked with several classes to produce mini mission explore booklets with children choosing their missions.
Local school children exploring Wales with Gwenda Owen, Ramblers Community Engagement Officer
Continue reading 'Real Food Wales at Wales Coast Path Anniversary'»
In a previous blog, we shared news about how we were supporting the BlueLightCamp hackathon, which was a developer event that took place in Manchester last Sunday. Aimed at developers that work in the Fire, Police and resilience services in the public and private sector, the event provided an opportunity for participants to explore and develop prototype ideas that address just some of the criminal and justice issues we face today.
The day kicked off at 10 am, with the event organisers providing a recap of some of the key topics that had been discussed in Saturday’s unconference. One recurring theme related to the increasing role that social media is playing in the provision of such services and the potential that these channels of communication may hold for the future. Many examples were cited of how police forces are increasingly using platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with the public. It was highlighted that some forces are even adopting other platforms such as Google+, Pinterest, YouTube and Flickr to not only to broadcast information, but to engage with people directly and to open lines of communication that were previously not in place.
Continue reading 'Developers gather at BlueLight Camp 2013 hackathon'»
You may have missed it, so we thought it was timely to remind all our GeoVator’s that Ordnance Survey recently refreshed the portfolio of products that are freely available through the OS OpenData portal. Releasing both a new height dataset, as well as making significant updates to one of the backdrop mapping products, here are just a few key points that might whet your appetite.
The portal has been updated with a new version of OS VectorMap District and a new product – OS Terrain 50® being released, we’ll cover the height dataset first.
The image illustrates OS Terrain 50 data overlaid on backdrop mapping
OS Terrain 50®
Developers can also now access a new fully maintained analytical height product called OS Terrain 50. The new product, which has a similar resolution to Land-Form PANORAMA, will enable users to access an advanced product with consistently maintained height content for the whole of Great Britain.
Continue reading 'New products available through OS OpenData portal'»
On the weekend of 27/28 April, we’re supporting BlueLightCamp, which is a free event being billed as both an unconference and hackathon. Attracting workers from across the blue light services i.e. Fire, Police and resilience services, the aim is to innovate through promoting good-practice sharing, exchanging knowledge, networking as well as providing an opportunity for concepts and solutions to be tested through the hackathon.
Through two mapping agreements that we have with the Public Sector, Ordnance Survey already works closely with many of the blue light services, providing: digital map products; the sharing and visualisation of data; supporting better problem solving and helping to reduce costs and drive up efficiency levels amongst other aspects. So it seemed entirely fitting to support the BlueLightCamp as we have a further opportunity to engage with and support the very individuals that work in these services.
Continue reading 'Unconference and hackathon weekend – come and innovate at BlueLightCamp'»
Events, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace, Uncategorized
| 
communities, funding, GeoVation, geovation challenge, innovation, Open Data Master Class, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace
Held at Imperial College, London between 8th April and 26th June, Urban Prototyping (UP London) is an International festival that brings more than 300 developers, technologists, academics, artists, government bodies and community groups together for a series of events that focus on the role that digital technology can play in creating sustainable society.
This year we were invited to participate and contribute to the agenda, which has a specific theme concentrating on the role that digital technology can play in harnessing the creation of resilient environments, economies and communities. We were delighted to accept the invite, as the festival presents an opportunity for us to introduce our range of products and services in such a context, whilst allowing us to engage with communities that might not have previously considered the many benefits geographic information can bring to potential innovations.
Continue reading 'Digital technology to digital economy – our involvement at Urban Prototyping Festival'»
Developer Engagement Events, Environment Challenge, Events, Open Data Master Classes, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace, Uncategorized
| geovation challenge, innovation funding, London Cycle Map Campaign, Open Data Master Class, Ordnance Survey, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace
Over the last couple of years Ordnance Survey has been working on a collaborative project with UK Location Programme and Cabinet Office to implement map-based tools, making it easier for users to search and preview public location datasets available on data.gov.uk. The project was completed to further enable the publication of location datasets in support of the UK Location Strategy, and as part of the UK contribution to the European INSPIRE project.
We are now pleased to announce that the code developed by Ordnance Survey for these mapping tools has been released as open source.
The Map Based Search (see image below) allows users to draw a box on a background map, leading to a search for datasets which are wholly or partially contained in that area. It also features a gazetteer, so the user can locate by place name where on the map they want to draw their search box. This provide a richer, more advanced way of searching, at national, regional and local level, for records of data sets and services that are referenced by geographical coordinates.
Continue reading 'Code used to build map-based search tool released as open source'»
On Tuesday evening, we hosted a developer event at the HUB Westminster, London between 6 – 9pm. We thought we’d provide a short write-up to summarise what was covered during the evening, for the benefit of those that couldn’t attend.
If you weren’t already aware, we have just released a new version of our free web mapping API – OS OpenSpace. The new version supports mobile touch devices, meaning any website using OS OpenSpace can now be viewed and panned on tablets and mobile devices.
We organised the event to generally promote the new version but had three specific objectives in mind. First and foremost, we wanted to showcase the new enhancements to our community of users. Secondly; to provide an opportunity for developers to run through some web-based OS OpenSpace tutorials and finally, we hoped to gain feedback about the service i.e. what the developers like, what they think could be improved; and finally, what they would like to see in future releases.
Continue reading 'Tuesday’s OS Developer event a great success!'»
With the current focus on the integrity, resilience and sustainability of complex food supply chains – the journey food takes from farm to fork – this post looks at how three GeoVation winners and two GeoVation suppliers are challenging the status quo using geography and geographical information.
GeoVation “How can Britain feed itself?” challenge winner Foodnation : The People’s Digital Co-op has a mission to have neighbourhood Foodnation hubs within bicycle-riding distance of most UK households. It provides an on-line platform to connect customers and farmers in their local area, easily enabling them to buy and sell local organic food and find fruit and veg-box delivery schemes around the UK. This is supported by the Foodnation app launched in May 2012. Working with the Transition town network to pilot the scheme, Foodnation founder Louise Campbell sees the model for the Foodnation Co-operative as being fully scalable in transition towns across UK.
Continue reading 'Geography and Supply Chain Integrity'»
How can Britain feed itself?, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace, Uncategorized
| City Farmers, communities, Foodnation, GeoVation, How can Britain feed itself?, OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace, sustainable, sustainable food, transport
Do you use any OS OpenData products? If the answer is yes and you’re interested in winning an Apple® iPad 64GB but haven’t yet entered our Developer competition, be quick – as time is running out!
With the competition drawing to a close on 31 March 2013, we felt it was timely to remind all our blog followers that there are just a few weeks remaining to submit your entry. We thought it might be useful to post a blog that recaps what the entry requirements are; along with a summary of the kind of submissions we’ve had to date – so here it is!
Continue reading 'Calling all OS OpenData™ users!'»
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is used to describe a method of exposing, sharing, and connecting data and information using uniform resource identifiers (URIs) on the Web. Across government over the last ten years there has been a growing realisation to the power of linked data for exposing, sharing, and connecting pieces of data).
