As most are well aware Old Maps hold the OS digital archive and in recent
years have made online use of it more and more restrictive.
Their market appears to be for "gift maps". I'm not sure if anyone else
agrees but I feel that their pricing structructue is extortunate for what
should be a national resource, after all the maps are out of copyright and
tax payers of long ago already paid for their production.
I made this point to the company and this is the reply
"The main purpose of the site is to produce one off decorative maps,
andthe maps are priced accordingly. We are aware of the usefulness of the
site to researchers, and we arecurrently looking into the possibilities of
a subscription service toallow users to download bulk data for an annual
fee. One of the reasons the prices are as they area is due to our
licenceagreements with Ordnance Survey who charge per map viewed
(notpurchased). "
Any one else feel that a valuable reserach resource is being monopolised
out of existance?
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