I know there's been various discussions about the announcement of the release of free OS mapping

Today's the day

Details here

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconresponse

I don't think it's going to be quite what people were hoping for.

Is it just me, or is this not 'free OS mapping'? Yeah I know you should use it for anything commercial, but it's not restricted for printing for personal use…

Streetmap….

The modifications to the data to be released have been made in order to:
• meet the most important needs identified by consultation respondents
• maximise the ability to make best use of other public data released under the Making Public Data Public initiative
• reduce the impact on existing market participants, in light of consultation feedback
• ensure that core reference information is freely available while protecting the ability of all market participants, including the Ordnance Survey, to add value
• ensure that Ordnance Survey continues to provide high-quality products and services to those customers, including government, who need them
• ensure the sustainability of Ordnance Survey paper maps
• meet affordability criteria; and
• ensure a sustainable business model for Ordnance Survey.

I.e we've realised that we want to carry on fleecing you for 1:50k and 1:25K so with invented a substitute map format that might be great, but might be gash, but as we haven't even produced an example of the new format for you plebby public to judge, you won't be able to lodge any complaints about it.

Garmins "excuse" for offroad mapping Topo, is their response to the high licence fees charged by OSGB, now that this is no longer the case, maybe they could provide a useful replacement 😕

It'll be interesting to see what vectormap district is like. I think the reason no sample has been produced is it's a vector dataset rather than a raster, so the end user will be able to style it as they like. It just remains to be seen what the level of detail is like. I've worked with the vectormap local product and if it's similar to this but at a slightly larger scale it's could be ok

now that this is no longer the case, maybe they could provide a useful replacement

GB Discoverer?

I tried to discuss a commercial solution with them last year over some mapping software I developed. The prices were absolutely unrealistic for a small company so I simply released the app for free, which really annoyed them.

The latest letter I received demanded the full details of everyone who ever downloaded a copy of the software. I forwarded it to my MP and heard nothing further.

This looks interestingly, but while free non-commercial access to 1:50k maps is included I'm not desperately concerned.

what app might this be flaperon 🙂

Disappointing, but there are certain very useful aspects, such as a gazetteer and postcode locator which were otherwise difficult or impossible to get for free (even by ripping) – it has of course been possible for a while to get 1:50k and 1:25k for free (legally I think) if you're inventive enough.

Flaperon, was that BikeHike.co.uk?

Is this going to make Tracklogs maps cheaper?

Is this going to make Tracklogs maps cheaper?

• reduce the impact on existing market participants, in light of consultation feedback
• ensure that core reference information is freely available while protecting the ability of all market participants, including the Ordnance Survey, to add value

Sadly, I suspect not.

My theory is that the tracklogs prices are dictated by the OS licensing terms, since they're all the same price… I can't imagine why a paper map costs £6 and an electronic one £30. Silly buggers.

EDIT – forget I said anything nothing to see here.

Majority of OS's revenue is not from the mapping that joey public uses and unfortunately rightly or wrongly what joey public expected to see as 'free' was not ever really likely to be made free.

Unlike USGS maps for the iPhone which are free for the whole USA…
…if you've got enough space available, that is.

According to the bloke on the radio they still need to charge for paper maps, to make enough money to keep mapping the UK.

I looked for a tracklogs equivalent in the US, they were all bloomin expensive…

Preview of Vectormap District here

No contour lines, only ocasional height points. Not much in the way of path/bridleway mapping either as far as I can tell. Looks to be aimed at road users more than countryside users.

Land-Form PANORAMA® provides contours which is also one of the datasets being given away.

If the derived data issues have been resolved, then seeing as rights of way data is Local Government data rather than Ordnance Survey then maybe it can be obtained from them. I know some places have yet to go digital with their definitive maps though.

Oh look, no contour lines or public rights of way. What a surprise.
So it's not even as comprehensive as open streetmap 😉

it's going to be interesting how OSM will integrate the free OS data.

more here.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Ordnance_Survey_Opendata

So it's not even as comprehensive as open streetmap

Depends whether you think including contours but not all roads is more comprehensive 😉

Land-Form PANORAMA® provides contours which is also one of the datasets being given away.

According to OSM it's unmaintained though 🙁