Ordnance Survey – Great Britain's national mapping agency
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OXERA (Oxford Ecomomic Research Associates Ltd) Final Report (public version)
3. The Market for OS Products and Services
3.1 The geographic information market in Great Britain
Despite the dominance of OS, the market for GI in Great Britain is complex. Figure 3.1 identifies the role of OS in the GI market, and provides the basis for the methodology used to estimate economic value, described in Section 4.
Souce: OXERA
OS undertakes a variety of activities in the GI market, including data collection, data maintenance, data storage, production and supply of GI products and services. Each element of this production chain provides value to the GB economy. The remainder of this section describes the products and services produced by OS and considers the role of the different players in the GI market.
3.2 Production of products and services
3.2.1 Inputs
The inputs to OS products and services can be split into two categories: base data and other standard production inputs. The base data is generated from the National Topographic Database, which is created and maintained by OS. This covers urban areas at the 1:1 250 scale, rural areas at the 1:2 500 scale, and mountain/moorland at the 1:10 000 scale. It records over 200m features of the landscape and is fully digitised. Other datasets are generated from this base database, and some OS products and services are produced by combining the base data with other GI (e.g. postal codes).
The other inputs to the production process are similar to those used in any manufacturing industry. Table 3.1 shows a range of the services provided to OS by a sample of 100 companies. As OS and its customers have focused more on digital data, and the associated products, so has the proportion of technological inputs changed.
Table 3.1: Services provided by OS's top 100 suppliers
| Aerial photography | Mobile communications |
| Agency workers | Packaging |
| Car hire/leasing | Parcel service |
| Cleaning | Partner in joint publications |
| Communications | Payroll services |
| Computer consumables | Plotters |
| Consultancy | Print machinery |
| Co-publisher for CD-ROM | Printing press |
| Digital copier | Printing services |
| Display equipment | PRISM/pen computers |
| Display/promotional | PRISM/software |
| Electricity | Promotions |
| Facilities management | Recruitment |
| Film/chemistry | Relocation services |
| Fleet management | Restaurant/catering |
| Furniture | Rural revision |
| Gas | Service/supplies |
| Global Positioning Systems/survey equipment | Software |
| Insurance broker | Software/maintenance |
| IT | Special papers |
| IT consultants | Stationery |
| IT consumables | Survey equipment |
| IT equipment | Telephone systems |
| IT maintenance | Training |
| IT networks | Travel |
| Mailing services | Vehicle leasing (private user scheme) |
| Map paper | Water |
| Market research |
Source: OS.
3.2.2 Outputs
The information held in the National Topographic Database is combined with other inputs to produce two main sorts of OS products: paper mapping products, and computer data products (which now account for the largest part of the business). OS also provides related services. These are customer-focused, so that OS provides individual users with GI-based solutions to identified problems. Revenue from these products and services is generated through direct sales and from the licensed use of products.
Box 3.1 provides an overview of the main standard products and services currently provided by OS. As with any company working in a sector which is greatly influenced by technological change, the range of products and services is rapidly increasing, and the nature of the products and services is changing all the time.
Box 3.2: OS products and services
| Paper maps A range of leisure, motoring and planning maps are produced at different scales. Examples include the 1:50 000 scale Landranger series and the larger 1:25 000 scale maps, which include the Outdoor Leisure™, Explorer and Pathfinder series Scale Raster Digital data with a familiar map appearance on two scales 1:50 000 and 1:10 000 Land-Line Large-scale maps available on three different scales: 1:1 250 (urban), 1:2 500 (small towns and villages, and developed rural areas), 1:10 000 (mountain and moorland areas). Superplan Data Large-scale (1:1 250) street-level data Code-Point A precise geographic location for each postcode unit ADDRESS-POINT Locates and defines residential, business and public postal addresses Land-Form Provides a visual representation of the terrain in Great Britain Strategi A strategic decision-making tool based on a 1:250 000 vector dataset BaseData.GB A dataset which gives an overview of Great Britain on the 1:625 000 scale Meridian A vector dataset which can be used for regional analysis Boundary-Line A vector dataset containing electoral and administrative boundaries OSCAR A family of products for customers who use roads or manage assets relating to roads. The products are OSCAR Asset-Manager; OSCAR Traffic-Manager; OSCAR Route-Manager; OSCAR Network-Manager and OSCAR Drive Restricted Information |
There are four main routes by which customers obtain OS-related products and services.
- Direct account sales-confined to business users.
- Value-Added Resellers (VARs)-these are private and public organisations which form partnerships with OS to produce 'off-the-shelf' computer packages incorporating OS data. Complete solutions are offered (e.g. farm-management packages) and prices are negotiated. OS gains a royalty for the data.
- Superplan Agents-these supply the full Superplan and Landplan product ranges by producing maps and data on demand, using installed computer terminals. There are now 35 fully equipped agents in Great Britain.
- Wholesalers and Retailers-these service the consumer sector and are primarily responsible for the distribution of paper maps.
An OS digital-data client requires appropriate computer hardware and software to view digital data on screen. For the most part, standard operating systems and personal computers can be used with OS-related data products. The supply of the required software is carried out by System Suppliers. 250 GIS suppliers in Great Britain are currently licensed by OS. The System Suppliers work closely with OS to develop digital products and services, in the knowledge that, for both parties, compatibility of product and software is a necessity for the success of the venture.
OS has a heterogeneous customer base which is divided into the business sector (responsible for 80% of total revenues) and the consumer sector. In OS's marketing strategy, these sectors are sub-divided into the following market segments.
| Business segments | Consumer segments |
| Architects, engineers, survey and construction | Drivers |
| Central government | Other leisure pursuits |
| Computer and related activities | Referencers |
| Education | Walkers |
| Emergency services and security | |
| Farming and forestry | |
| Finance and insurance | |
| Health and non-local-authority work | |
| Legal and environmental consultancy | |
| Local government | |
| Manufacturing | |
| Marketing and business consultancy | |
| Mining, drilling and quarrying | |
| Publishing and broadcasting | |
| Real estate | |
| Recreation, culture and sport | |
| Restaurants, public houses and hotels | |
| Transport | |
| Utilities | |
| Wholesalers and Retailers |
Some of these segments are much more important to OS than others. In particular, 25% of total revenue is generated from the utilities sector, 20% from central government, and 16% from local government.
The uses of OS data, products and services also differ from sector to sector. For the purposes of this study, it is particularly important to consider how dependent each sector's output production is on OS-related products. In part, this is done by considering what OS-related products and services are used, and the opportunity cost of not using them. A related assessment is made of how crucial OS products and services are as inputs to the production processes of these business users.
The scope and timescale of the project prevents an analysis of the importance of OS in all of the many sub-sectors it serves in the business and consumer markets. OXERA has therefore identified, in conjunction with OS staff, the 10 primary users of OS products, which are as follows. These are considered in more detail in section 6 of this report. The omission of a detailed assessment of all sectors biases the final economic value estimate downwards.
| Utilities | Central Government |
| Local government | Architects, engineers, survey and construction |
| Real estate | Legal and environmental consultancy |
| Transport | Computer and related activities |
| Farming and forestry | Mining, drilling and quarrying |
OS's consumer market segment represents the more traditional face of mapping in Great Britain. The major focus in this sector is on the use of paper-mapping products for leisure activities. The economic value of OS to this segment is considered in the overall context of the social and environmental value of the organisation (Section 9).
There are several other companies operating in the GI market in Great Britain, producing both paper products, and digital products and services. While OS remains the leader in the business sector, the intensity of competition has increased significantly in recent years. Many competitors also combine the role of information providers, System Suppliers and VARs to provide a complete package of services to customers. It is clear, however, that the majority of these competitors use OS information as the basis of their products and services. In fact, most of the key players are OS licensees.
OS is also facing competition in the GI market from providers of alternatives to the traditional map, particularly via the Internet. For example, Global Positioning Systems and high-resolution air photography are providing consumers with alternative means of visualising the required data.