OS OpenSpace - mapping mashups for the great outdoors
Posted on 02/12/09
Outdoors types can now benefit from a wealth of new websites that are being developed using OS OpenSpace. This great new facility from the national mapping agency allows anybody with a website to overlay information directly onto Ordnance Survey mapping. So events, activities, routes, locations and more can be displayed on a map and shared with others.
This new level of access to Ordnance Survey maps is a great step forward for all those who are involved in the countryside and many people will soon be able to get their hands on lots of useful information about the areas that surrounds them.
Hundreds of developers are now taking advantage of this new service and great sites for walkers and cyclists, to name just two, are popping up daily. Two such websites that have been built by keen outdoors enthusiasts are: http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk/, a site for hill walkers and summit-baggers; and http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm, which shows Ordnance Survey mapping and Google imagery side by side, so that you can see exactly where paths begin and end.
Every aspect of outdoor activity is slowly being mapped out using OS OpenSpace, from guided tours of the Lake District at http://english-lake-district.info/maps/lake-district-tour-os.html to GPX file generators http://www.maptogps.com/, a tool for recording your routes and storing them on your GPS. The countryside is becoming more accessible for everybody who lives, works and plays there!
Locatorz, a locating product, has also been launched using the Ordnance Survey service but with the advanced OS OpenSpace Pro, the version used by partners of Ordnance Survey. Still focusing on the great outdoors but also useful for businesses and parents as well as bikers and ramblers, this service is the most affordable, accurate and easy to use locating product in Britain. It is downloaded onto a mobile phone and works by sending the mobile phone’s GPS position via its normal network. This service is great for locating your workforce or keeping tabs on your children, very useful in these security conscious times!
For more information on any of these websites and products visit http://openspace.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/openspace/
If you want to buy a map or find out more about Ordnance Survey visit http://leisure.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/
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Missing all those outdoor activities offered for Countryside2011? Get out and about with National Bike Week @TGBBikeWeek http://bit.ly/Hb38D
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We’d love to hear what you thought of the events or activities you took part in. Please complete our online survey http://ow.ly/5gjs9
Water-ski, Wakebaord or Jet Ski at the South East’s Premier Watersports Venue. http://bit.ly/kOqJfG
See the red squirrels in the walk-through enclosure at the British Wildlife Centre! Visit http://bit.ly/k2thrJ
