Ordnance Survey goes free – some initial thoughts
How about that, then? Or as the Map Room succinctly put it, “Holy shit.”
Good news for:
- Google, Yahoo, Microsoft. Free maps, and unlike the US, good-quality free maps which they can start using right out the box.
- Ordnance Survey. I wrote here previously that OS’s best chance of surviving was to open up street name/geometries, boundaries, postcodes, peaks, rivers and PROWs, and to keep charging for the large-scale stuff. This seems to be pretty much what’s promised. I still believe that it’s absolutely the right decision for them. (Also, I am rather smug.)
- The Guardian. Launching a campaign is a risky business for any publication, especially a fairly obscure and, at times, seemingly fruitless campaign like ‘Free Our Data’. It has paid off – and of all the organisations campaigning for this, the Guardian is the only one that anyone has ever heard of.
- Apple et al. Insofar as Apple ever gives a shit about anything that happens outside the US, they no longer have to depend on anyone for UK iPhone maps. Not Google, not Tele Atlas. No-one. (Incidentally, if UK mobile carriers had any brains, they would now write their own mapping app and bundle it with their iPhone contracts. Fortunately they don’t.)
- Cartographers. Maps will now compete on cartography, not on data. This is an absolute shot in the arm for skilled cartographers and could go a long way to reviving the craft in the UK. With my Waterways World hat on, I’m delighted: our cruising guide maps can get better than they are now, yet anyone wanting to compete still has to learn how to produce lovely maps.
- Developers. Same applies. I am really looking forward to what people come up with. If I were an iPhone dev I would start writing that killer app now, ready to release when the data arrives.
- Wider Government. Full release instantly becomes the standard for public data. There is now absolutely no excuse for, say, the Environment Agency to withhold its fisheries data. That means more third-party sites that do funky things with public data. I suspect that will help in breaking the stranglehold of evil big outsourcers on Government IT projects.
- This blog because I can stop writing about boring map copyright law and start writing about fun things, like canals, organs and the new William Orbit album.
Possibly good news for:
- OpenStreetMap. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this wouldn’t have happened without OSM. The inevitability that OSM would, in time, catch up with OS small-scale mapping absolutely vindicates the project. And, hey, complete data for the whole UK – what could be cooler?
But on the other hand, everyone else has it, too. How do ongoing changes get integrated into the OSM database? Will the UK community survive a sudden change in tack from surveying the basemap to becoming a provider of ‘added value’? Will smaller public domain mapping projects create an informal, developer-led community without OSM’s harsh share-alike restriction? Will UK OSM developers (who lead the project) get bored of it now there’s not such a unique need? How many questions can I get in one paragraph?
Oh, and there’s the licence. I dread to think what would happen if the chosen licence wasn’t compatible with OSM.
Bad news for:
- Tele Atlas and Navteq. See G-Y-M above. On the up side, their parent companies no longer have to bother collecting UK data for their satnavs/mobile phones. But that’s like saying Tesco giving free food away is good news for Sainsbury’s, which can now take it and resell it for 1p.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Category: cartography |
I think there will still be a market for Tele Atlas and Navteq because I don’t think that OS data can be used for accurate travel time estimation, and therefore good routing. I doubt that speed limits and junction restrictions will be shown, and I expect that it won’t know the difference between a windy bumpy narrow A road and a much smoother faster road.
Holy shit. William Orbit has a new album out?
Er, I mean, yes, potentially good news for OSM. This might mean that we can actually get mapped some places that we’d rather not go, such as the rural backwaters of Wales, the remoter parts of the Highlands, or Barry. *Especially* Barry.
On a related note, who are the 25 idiots that voted down your DLF proposal?
Firstly it is not a done deal. From what Steve said, OS don’t sound happy at the prospect.
Secondly, as I understand it, it doesn’t apply to printed maps. Which means it can’t be compatible with OSM.
1. Absolutely, OS don’t seem to be overjoyed. But they’re an executive agency (ok, strictly speaking a trading fund), not a policy-setting department. They do what they’re told… in theory at least.
2. Not my understanding at all. They are not open-sourcing the cartography and (probably) some of the particular datasets behind the Explorers and Landrangers, yes. But that’s completely different from saying “the licence will forbid you to print the map data out”, which is what would create an incompatibility.
All this is speculation until the consultation starts on the data and the licence, of course, but the general assumption thus far is Meridian2 and a public domain-like licence – very possibly a revised form of the Click-Use PSI licence.
Thanks for the mention of the Free Our Data campaign. Yes, it’s nice to have a result.
It will be interesting to see if one can produce a paper map. If derived data is wiped out as a restriction (which is what Tim Berners-Lee said had been a continuing thorn in the side of those he spoke to) then why not produce special printed maps from the online?
I think if the copyright is released, OSM will – and should – fall on it like a wolf on raw meat. Grab it once – that’s enough.
But sure, let’s wait for the consultation and push for the broadest release possible.