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October 2000
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Online Digimap service offers vital digital map data to universities in the U.K.
A milestone 100,000 maps have been called up on screen at universities across the country thanks to a landmark deal between the higher education sector and Ordnance Survey, Britain's national mapping agency. Staff and students are using the online Digimap service to gain vital digital mapping data for both teaching and research. Digimap is free at the point of use in each of 49 subscribing higher education institutions. Many more are expected to sign up during the new academic year.
The web site - www.edina.ac.uk/digimap
- allows users to download Ordnance Survey map data into suitable application software on their own desktop. So far, more than 100,000 maps have been called up, 32,000 data files downloaded and almost 20,000 printing requests made. The response to Digimap, launched just ten months ago, has cheered organisers at EDINA, its national datacentre within the University of Edinburgh.
The Ordnance Survey mapping on offer ranges from large-scale data showing individual buildings and natural features in close-up to road atlas-scale data showing cities, towns and major transport links. It includes the 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer, the database containing all 256,000 names shown on the popular Landranger map series.
The service enables users to gather data by panning and zooming across an area of interest, and printing A4 size maps at one of three predefined scales. Progressive updates are planned over the coming year, widening the range of possible tasks. From next March users will be able to produce their own maps at whatever scale they like, combine data from different maps, and print out at sizes up to A0. Digimap followed a formal agreement struck between Ordnance Survey and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) acting for the higher education funding councils in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"Higher education is creating the innovators, business leaders and professionals of the future," says Elaine Owen, Ordnance Survey's Education Sector Products Manager. "Ordnance Survey is therefore investing in its future through the Digimap service. We are very pleased with the successful take-up and use of map data that has been achieved to date. Ordnance Survey and JISC will continue to work together to develop Digimap in line with the needs of the higher education community."
More information available at www.ordsvy.gov.uk
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