Presentation on Sourcing Good Data at Better Mapping II Seminar 24 Nov 2010

1. Sourcing good data
Steve Chilton
Middlesex University

2. Better Mapping – the next level
CONTENT
1. Map data sources
2. Creating your own map data
3. Some useful non-map data
4. Briefly – adding maps to websites
Map data rather than mappable data
http://www.cartography.org.uk/downloads/bm2010.pdf

3. Better Mapping – the next level
But not ……..
• Ordnance Survey Mastermap
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/osmastermap/
• UKMap data
http://www.theukmap.co.uk/
• Collins/Bartholomew data
http://www.bartholomewmaps.com/
• or Navteq, TeleAtlas …..
http://www.navteq.com/ http://www.teleatlas.com/index.htm
Alternative data that is available

4. Better Mapping – the next level
OS OpenData
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/opendata/
LICENCE
You must:
• acknowledge the copyright and the source of the Data by including any attribution statement
specified
by the Data Provider. If no specific statement is provided please use the following:
Contains [insert name of Data Provider] data © Crown copyright and database right
• include the same acknowledgment requirement in any sub-licences of the Data that you grant, and a
requirement that any further sub-licences do the same;
• ensure that you do not use the Data in a way that suggests the Data Provider endorses you or your
use of the Data;
• ensure that you do not misrepresent the Data or its source.

5. Better Mapping – the next level

6. Better Mapping – the next level

7. Better Mapping – the next level
OpenStreetMap
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Downloading_data
LICENCE
OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence
(CC-BY-SA).
You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our maps and data, as long as you credit
OpenStreetMap and its contributors. If you alter or build upon our maps or data, you may distribute the
result only under the same licence.

8. Better Mapping – the next level
OpenStreetMap
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/
http://www.geofabrik.de/data/download.html
3rd
party downloads

9. Better Mapping – the next level

10. Better Mapping – the next level
Downloadable UK base map
http://www.systemed.net/carto/ukbasemap.html
The map is in Illustrator 10 format (fully
compatible with CS and CS2).
Features :
• Elevation layers at 50m intervals (from NASA
SRTM data)
• Built-up area layer (from Digital Chart of the
World)
• Coastline (generally rough data from NASA,
but some areas supplemented with some
good quality data traced from the New
Popular Edition)
• Aligned to the National Grid
LICENCE
The map is from public domain data and we claim no further copyright. If you would like to contribute
any additions back so that other cartographers can share them please contact us.

11. Better Mapping – the next level
Natural Earth
http://www.naturalearthdata.com/
LICENCE
All versions of Natural Earth raster + vector map data found on this website are in the public domain.
Natural Earth is a map dataset
available at 1:10m, 1:50m, and
1:110 million scales, featuring tightly
integrated vector (Shapefiles) and
raster data (TIFF).

12. Better Mapping – the next level

13. Better Mapping – the next level

14. Better Mapping – the next level
Create your own map data
http://www.systemed.net/gpx/
GPX to Illustrator conversion
This experimental service converts a GPX tracklog,
downloaded from your GPS receiver, to an Adobe
Illustrator file. At present it will only output files on the
Ordnance Survey National Grid, and is therefore
restricted to GPXs of Great Britain. Future revisions will
support Mercator projections for the rest of the world.

15. Better Mapping – the next level
Create your own map data
Out-of-copyright map data
Many sources, eg:
OS New Popular Edition http://www.npemap.org.uk/
You can do what you like with the tiles as long as you're not making any money from
them. You can trace as much as you like from these maps and then do whatever you
like with the tracings - commercial or otherwise. If you do trace anything from them,
please consider putting your tracings in the public domain, so other people can
benefit.
OS 1” 7th
Series http://steve8.dev.openstreetmap.org/os7.htm
You can do what you like with the tiles as long as you're not making money from
them. You can trace as much as you like from these maps and then do whatever you
like with the tracings - commercial or otherwise.
Tools:
Map warper http://warper.geothings.net/
Upload an o-o-c image or a map, and rectify it against a map. You can then
download and use the rectified map in your mapping applications. As used by NYPL.
Warp-gbos http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Warp-gbos
Warp-gbos is a group of programs to convert scanned map sheets into rectified KML
files or slippy map tiles.

16. Better Mapping – the next level
Non-map data
Patterns
There are over 500 free patterns to download from the USGS:
http://structure.harvard.edu/~andreas/map%20patterns/
If you purchase MaPublisher you get a wide range of patterns
and symbols
http://www.xyzmaps.com/mapping-software/avenza-mappublisher.asp

17. Better Mapping – the next level
Non-map data
Icons
SVG map icons: an attempt to create a consistent set of vector
icons suitable for map use, some from US Nat Parks Service:
http://www.sjjb.co.uk/mapicons/introduction
LICENCE
To the extent possible under law, SJJB Management has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights
to SJJB SVG Map Icons. This work is published from United Kingdom.
That said, if you are making extensive use of these icons and your medium is suitable a credit would always be
appreciated linking back to this page. For instance: "Map icons CC-0 from SJJB Management”.

18. Better Mapping – the next level
Sourcing maps for websites
Google
Bing
OpenStreetMap

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20. Better Mapping – the next level

21. Thank you
Steve Chilton
Chair of the Society of Cartographers
Middlesex University
steve8@mdx.ac.uk