A survey of geo-spatial data needs

Barbara Morris

Digimap.Plus Project Officer

JISC eLib Digimap.Plus Project

• Digimap Project (1996-2001)

• EDINA Digimap national service launched (2000)– on launch of Digimap service, renamed Digimap.Plus

• On-going research issues include– ‘changing landscape’ (air photographs, historic maps)– assisting the JISC in prioritising development of geo-spatial

data content within the DNER

Geo-data needs survey methodology

• Short survey by email of all staff and postgraduates in UK Higher Education with potential interest in geo-data – Digimap and UKBorders users – Learning and Teaching Subject networks– relevant JISCMail lists– 5000 users surveyed

• Longer survey by post or web– respondents to email (100 approx.)– budget holders

(Librarians/Heads of Computing Services - 150)

• Publishing the results– EDINA web site– JISC GWG

Requests for Ordnance Survey products

OS Products not currently available in Digimap and seen as absolutely or very important:

• ADDRESS-POINT– 52 % respondents

• Land-Form PROFILE– 39 % respondents

• 1:10,000 Raster Data (LandPlan)– 50% respondents

• 1:50,000 Colour Raster– 30% respondents

Requests for products from other vendors

• Geological Survey

• Hydrographic Survey

• Royal Commission on Historical Monuments

• Environment Agency

• Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

• Eurostat

• IKONOS, USGS, NASA

Software expertise

• GIS• Image processing

Greatest Expertise in GIS Software

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

GIS Image Processing Visualisation CAD

% o

f re

sp

ond

ents

Expet User Regular User Novice Never Used

VisualisationCAD

Existing and future geo-data requirements non-OS

Required Data Types (Non OS)

0

5

10

15

20

25

Digital AerialPhotography

Code Point/UK PostCodes

Landcover Geology Postal and CensusBoundaries/Census

Data

Soil Survey Data Remote Imaging

Data Product

% r

espo

nden

ts

20 % respondents identified Digital / Aerial Photography from a specific data producer

16 % respondents identified Code Point/ UK Post Codes

• Digital Aerial Photography• Code Point/UK Post Codes• Landcover• Geology

Postal and Census Boundaries/Census DataSoil Survey DataRemote Imaging

Geo-data handling

• Standard file formats• Software specific formats• Printable graphical formats

User preference for data format

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

data format

% o

f re

sp

on

de

nts

ESRI Arcshape and TIFF the most popular

methods of handling downloaded data

Requirement for Aerial Photography

• ‘Cities Revealed’ aerial photography– view and create hardcopy prints

– download user defined extent

– currently pilot service

– accessible via stand alone web

application and in future Carto

– 70% respondents - require Aerial

Photography for a specific

geographic region

© The GeoInformation Group, Cities Revealed

© Crown Copyright Ordnance Survey

Requirement for Historical Data

Ordnance Survey County Seriesview imagery and create hardcopy printsnumber technical problems delayedpilot servicestand alone web application

© OS/Landmark Information Group

Respondents viewing historical data as important

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1800 - 1850 1851 - 1900 1901 - 1950 1951 - 2000

time period

% o

f res

pond

ents

Locally licensed data eg. XYZ street map for Edinburgh university users

View alongside OS Land-Line

• Digimap infrastructure can deliver other datasets which could be locally licensed data– Terms and conditions

negotiated separately

• Edinburgh University users– XYZ Edinburgh street map– Cities Revealed Edinburgh

• “Geo-Data Portal very important” – 95% survey respondents

Future developments - locally licensed data

© XYZ Digital Map Company Ltd 2000