The Digimap Project:Delivering Ordnance Survey map data

to the UK academic community

What does it all mean for the Library of the future?

Jason MillerDigimap Evaluation Officer

(http://digimap.ed.ac.uk))

Why am I here?The Ordnance Survey is recognised as the official formal source of spatial data. A

map, in this sense, is a formal publication.

Changes in the nature of Ordnance Survey data provision have included:– Reduction in paper-based products available

– A gradual shift to digital products

– Increasing purchasing cost of the data

On the other hand, University map libraries, which have traditionally been paper-based have:

– Experienced decreasing budgets with which to buy maps or map data

– Had increasing demands by users for up-to-date and accurate spatial data as a wider selection of disciplines use more and more spatial data.

– Remained centralised, even in the light of on-line data access

Thus, the reason I am here is to demonstrate how the nature of spatial data provision is changing and indicate what role the map library of the future mightplay in this.

Note: Some extra slides have been inserted with extra notes to assist the reader in their understanding of the presentation. All these extra slides, like this one, are in Ariel Italics

An Overview

• The story so far...

• Usage of the Digimap service: who and what for?

• The role of the Map Library

• Conclusion

The story so far...

• Ordnance Survey digital data previously not available to academia (cost)

• Digimap is a virtual map library delivering OS data via www using Java.

• Went on-line October 1997

• 6 university trial sites: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Oxford, Reading

Digimap and scholarly pursuit: the potentials

The PotentialsThe Potentials

• for academic publication:– ‘we are here’ maps

– to display research findings

– as analytical output themselves

• for research activity

• for teaching

The RealitiesThe Realities

• no known use in publications:– publication time

– formats available

– publishers don’t like using colour

• Ordnance Survey and copyright

• Electronic Journals

The web and future publication….

UKBORDERS: an EDINA service

• On-line census and other boundary data for the academic community since August 1994

• Point and click text-based interface• Effective provision of complex data for research• But intended users are experts in handling digital

boundary data. Not for general use• Need the right software for the job

• Digimap is intended for a wider user group...

The following slide shows graphically what users can do with the Digimap Service. There are essentially 3 types of output:

• On-screen (or virtual) map

• An Encapsulated Post Script (EPS) orTIFF file which can then be printed out on a post script printer

• A National Transfer Format (NTF) or TIFF file, which can then be used in other software packages. It is thus the raw data.

Search

Place name:

OS Sheetname:

PreviewView andbrowse

Java system overview

Produceoutputs

Hardcopy

Land-linent4567s.ntfse12ne.ntfsp5806.ntfsp5807.ntfsp5808.ntfsp5809.ntf

01ORDNANCE Survey00LSPS_1.2(NTF)40OR004R4,140DT005R5,3 PYLON00IDPOINT OF ANY 050001 40DT005R5,3 DISTANCE\THE

Data

To give a quick idea of what the data looks like that Digimap is delivering, the following 2 slides show some examples of differerent Ordnance Survey products.

When looking at them, think about what scale they are and what use they could be put to.

Each map product is produced for a different purpose, and it is partly the role of support to understand what the different Ordnance Survey products are and how best to use them.

Some examples of OS map data

BaseData.GB™

small scale1:625,000

vector

Strategi™small scale1:250,000

vector

© 1998 Crown Copyright

Some examples of OS map data

Colour rastermedium scale

1:50,000

Land-Line®

large scale1:1,250vector

© 1998 Crown Copyright

Usage of the Digimap Service

In this section, I want to give you a feel of the what’s, how’s and who’s of the Digimap Service. It has been on-line for over a year now, and through both usage and usability evaluation, we have gathered some interesting findings on how Digimap is being used, who uses it and what for. So, the following slides will address:

• The nature of the evaluative work undertaken

• Some basic usage figures

• Who the users are

• What they have been doing with the data

• Some relationships between user background and use of the service.

Usage Evaluation

• Fundamental to the nature of effective information delivery• Evaluation on usage and usability (Human Sciences and

Advanced Technology (HUSAT)• Sources of data:

quantitativedata

qualitativedata

log data postal questionnaire interviews

Research questions:What has Digimap been used for?Is it effecting the way users undertake the work they are doing?Is there a relationship between users’ skills background and usage?How effective has support the been?

Some basic numbers...

• 573 users registered in the first 13 months

• 5083 screen maps viewed (13700 requests)

• 2519 EPS files requested

• 631 data download requests since March

Total users for the first 13 months

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct '98

Month

To

tal

Total = 573

The user community overall Oct. - Sept.

Category of Registered Users

Postgraduate

24%Research

4%

Staff

44%

Undergraduate31%

Total = 447

Faculties of Registered Users

Engineering & Physical Sciences

18%

Medical Research

5%

Other4%

Biotechnology & Biological

Sciences16%

Economic & Social

Sciences26%

Natural Environment

11%

Arts & Humanities

5%

Information Services

15%

Particle Physics and Astronomy

1%

82% of users are non-Geographers!

Some uses of the data…Celtic Studies Gaelic Placenames in Western Scotland

Applied Social Studies Poverty and Social Exclusion

Computing Science Research into graphics and visualisation

Law Analysis of Police recorded crime in Edinburgh

Architecture Glasgow Theatre Design student project

Veterinary Clinical Studies Agricultural land use study

Physiological Sciences Epidemological Study

History Feeding of Cromwell’s New Model Army

Architecture Design for the Scottish Parliament student project

Transport Engineering Study of aircraft and airport noise pollution

History Religious houses in the Diocese of Lincoln in the 13th Century

Social Science Externality fields produced by Tottenham Hotspur FC

Is there a relationship between user background and use of the service?

• Users’ computing background has an influence on frequency of service use and happiness with the service

• Users’ mapping background has an influence on use of the screen maps

• There is a relationship between users’ computing background and use of human support

The Role of the Map Library

The next section attempts to give a glimpse at what is needed to support on-line map delivery and the role of the map librarian in this.

The support issue will be considered by looking at the following factors:

• What type of output users are asking for as this will influence the nature of the support required.

• Where they are accessing the service from vs. how effective this access has been in terms of successful use of Digimap

• The intrinsic complexity of spatial data and the necessity of support

• Some indications of how successful Digimap has been in supporting users

• The role of the map librarian in relation to on-line spatial data provision

Mapping sources that Digimap has been used instead of...

Internet accessed

non-Internetdigital

papermaps

Per

cen

t

80

60

40

20

0

Total = 88

Total = 145

data downloadEPS filescreen maponly

Per

cen

t

80

60

40

20

0

And what is being done...

Reasons why the service is being used

0

5

10

15

20

25

Dataavailability

On-line‘desktop’ accessible

Freedata

Userrelated

Functionalityrelated

Per

cen

tag

e o

f u

sers

Total = 177 users

Where users accessed the service from...

location of access

home

via the site rep

public library

public laboratory

own work computer

Cou

nt70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Quote: ‘Can’t get the bloody thing to print out.CRASHING at stressful moments forcing me tobeg advice from the department Computer man the grumpiest most irritating man alive’

HUSAT Study

• Recognition of the system as a valuable resource• Overall enthusiasm• But self-learning has led to sub-optimal service

use• Problems encountered

– printing plot files

– importing data into other software

– Slowness

• Suggested improvements to user interface

Spatial data is inherently Complex

• Raster or Vector?

• What scale to use?

• What OS product?

• How has the information been generalised?

• What can be overlayed over it?

• Can the data be combined correctly?

• How much storage space will be needed?

• How is the spatial data to be manipulated?

But spatial data is extremely Useful!

So, because of the intrinsic complexity of the data, it would appear that it must be supported. And, based on findings from the usage evaluation, it should take two forms:

On-line support for more expert users who access Digimap from their desktop and either don’t need to or don’t want to go to the map library to get the spatial data.

Human support for the less experienced and one-off users, who should be encouraged to use human support.

The next slide shows how users rated the support provided by Digimap. Currently, support comes in 3 forms: on-line tutorial, on-line help facility and via the Site Representative. Only about a third of users used any kind of support at all, which as the HUSAT study showed, has led to a sub-optimal uptake of the service. Of the support option available, the site representative was rated the highest. This is because they were able to offer specific answers to questions and problems: the user doesn’t have to wade through on-line help to answer a specific question

Support Ratings

site rep

tutorial

on-line help

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4 5 6

rating

fre

qu

en

cy

of

res

po

ns

e

low high

The Role of the Map Library

• Local administration of the service• Use knowledge of spatial data to facilitate use:

– Support for one-off occasional users (low skill)– Turn SUP’s into SAP’s (Goodchild, 1998)

• Develop on-line support locally• Help in promotion of on-line information access

Make the data useful and usable (Kling, 1995)Make the data useful and usable (Kling, 1995)

In Conclusion...

• We have found that usage of spatial data accessed via Digimap has surpassed initial expectations:

–number of users

–range of uses

• Use of the service will continue to grow

• But users do need help in using the Service

• On-line mapping: replacement or complement?(Interviews with users found that most viewed developments such as Digimap as a complement to the traditional map library, not as a replacement of it as each is serving a different function)

• There still a very important role for human mediation