*apologies for cross-posting*
ALL MAPPED OUT FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
A major agreement has been reached for the provision of digital map
data products of Britain for use in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The agreement is between Ordnance Survey, Britain's national mapping
agency, and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), acting
for the Higher Education Funding Bodies for each country.
The data will be supplied for teaching, educational research and academic
research purposes by students and lecturers in up to 172 subscribing HEIs.
"This agreement is excellent for both Ordnance Survey and Higher
Education," says Jim Page, Data Products Portfolio Manager of Ordnance
Survey. "It will enable staff and students to use actual Ordnance Survey
map data in their teaching, studies and research projects, thereby building
awareness and confidence in its application. We are investing in Britain's
future for our future."
JISC negotiator Dave Cook is equally pleased. "Through this agreement
we are securing access to definitive map data of Britain for the benefit of
the higher education community as a whole. This data will join a range of
other core databases which form an essential resource for university
students and lecturers."
He adds: "JISC are investing significantly in ensuring that the data will be
supplied on-line efficiently, securely and in a user-friendly way, drawing
on the experience and technical capabilities of the Edinburgh University
Data Library. It is important that we can cater for the full range of map
data manipulation capabilities within universities and the Data Library
has a proven track record in this field".
The Ordnance Survey data covered by the agreement have been selected
following extensive consultation within the higher education community.
They are:
· Land-Line - large scale comprehensive data depicting man-made and
natural features ranging from houses and factories, roads and rivers, to
marshland and administrative boundaries. The agreement provides for
30% of national coverage - the equivalent of around 70,000
highly-detailed maps.
· Meridian - a medium scale dataset containing a comprehensive road
network, main passenger railways and open stations, county district and
unitary authority boundaries, developed land use areas and place names.
The agreement provides for full national coverage.
· Strategi - a small scale dataset containing road and rail networks, water
features, cities, towns and other settlements, woods and land use and
geographic names. The agreement provides for full national coverage.
· Land-Form PANORAMA - contours and terrain model data at 1: 50,000
scale. The agreement provides for full national coverage.
· 1:50 000 Place Names Gazetteer - all 258,000 names and their national
grid references that appear on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale Landranger
mapping.
JISC subscription fees for the service will range from £1,750 per annum
for small institutions to £4,750 per annum for large institutions.
Access to these data, and to facilities for online mapping, will be provided
by EDINA, the JISC National Data Centre based at Edinburgh University
Data Library, under contract to the JISC. EDINA will be responsible for
the management, support, security and distribution of the Ordnance
Survey data to Higher Education Institutions that subscribe to the scheme.
Additional support will be provided by MIDAS, another JISC National
Data Centre based at Manchester Computing.
Peter Burnhill, Director of EDINA, comments: "This is a wonderful
opportunity and challenge for EDINA. We will bring to bear experience
already gained on the Digimap project, a JISC funded eLib trial working
in collaboration with Ordnance Survey, which has been looking at the
provision of mapping services to six university library test sites."
The service will be introduced in two stages: an initial service from January
2000, and the full range of facilities from September 2000, in time for the
start of the academic year. HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
WANTING TO REGISTER INTEREST IN THE SERVICE SHOULD EMAIL
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Notes for Editors:
1. Ordnance Survey is Britain's national mapping agency, producing,
maintaining and marketing a wide range of maps and digital map data for
business, leisure, educational and administrative use. Visit our web site
at www.ordsvy.gov.uk for more information about our products and services.
2. The Joint Information System Committee (JISC) acts on behalf of the
Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales and
the Department of Education Northern Ireland. It enables access to
digital information and datasets for the higher education community as a
whole, as well as providing and managing the network infrastructure linking
all higher education institutions. More information about the work of the
JISC is available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/.
3. Ordnance Survey, the OS symbol, Land-Line, Strategi and Landranger
are registered trade marks, and Meridian and Land-Form PANORAMA
are trade marks of Ordnance Survey.
4. EDINA provides staff and students in UK higher education with online
access to specialist datasets. Visit the web site at edina.ed.ac.uk for further
information on these services; look at digimap.ed.ac.uk for further information
about the development of the Digimap project.
5. For more information please contact:
Digimap Team / EDINA Phone: 0131 650 3302; Fax: 0131 650 3308, E Mail - [log in to unmask]
Alicia Wise, JISC Collections Manager Phone: 0171 848 2556
Philip Round, Ordnance Survey Senior Press Officer Phone: 01703 792635
Paula Good, Ordnance Survey Press Officer
_____________________________________________________________
Alicia L. Wise [log in to unmask]
Collections Manager
Joint Information Systems Committee
Information Services & Systems
King's College London Tel: (0171) 848 2556
Strand Fax: (0171) 848 1777
London WC2R 2LS Mobile: (0411) 376 256
UK
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