Trading on geographic intelligence: How Ordnance Survey benefits the nation

Ordnance Survey is a household name synonymous with mapping every corner of Great Britain, yet it is increasingly part of the digital information industry as well as national map making.

As well as traditional paper maps, Ordnance Survey provides definitive and intelligent digital geographic data benefiting tens of millions of people every day. It is pervasive in crucial public-sector activities, from the registration and transfer of land and property titles to locating suitable derelict sites for house building; from identifying areas of deprivation to planning new access to the countryside; and from controlling the flow of urban traffic to helping the police detect crime patterns and catch offenders.

In the private sector the uses are perhaps even wider, ranging from customer profiling to calculating insurance premiums, and from managing property portfolios to developing transport logistics systems. Ordnance Survey data is an integral component of web directories, in-car navigation systems and mobile phone applications – virtually any product or service that relies on location.

Partners

Links with an ever growing number of commercial partners – software companies, systems integrators, consultancies and publishers – have probably made Ordnance Survey Europe's biggest onward licensor of map data. Licensed Partners play a vital role in delivering the benefits of geographical information. They use their expertise to add value to Ordnance Survey data, producing the best available products and services for particular applications.

Ordnance Survey operates a comprehensive partner strategy, which includes a package of support services and access to sample test data during product development. Ordnance Survey believes its approach to partners helps champion excellence in the market for geographic information and maximise customer choice.

In fact, so vital is Ordnance Survey data to both the public and private sectors that independent estimates put its annual value to the British economy at more than £100 billion.

Database content

Now, thanks to a huge programme of investment, Ordnance  Survey has developed a new generation of digital data, OS MasterMap^®, providing one of the world's most advanced geographical frameworks. It is available online in a series of themes and layers – Topography, Addressing, Imagery and Integrated Transport Network™ – for any area or activity defined by the customer. OS MasterMap is based on a consistent method of information modelling and georeferencing. As around 80% of all information collected has some geographic feature – for example, a postcode or a National Grid map reference – there is huge potential value for business, government and the public seeking a national, accessible, continuously maintained and intelligent framework on which to link and associate data. OS MasterMap is designed to be managed as a fully integrated database offering real benefits to customers through cost and efficiency savings and improved decision-making capabilities.

Trading Fund

Ordnance Survey has been a part of government since its beginning in 1791. It is a separate government department that is now financed through data licensing rather than direct funding from the tax payer. Its financial status as a government Trading Fund since 1999 gives it the freedom to innovate and develop. But what is a Trading Fund, and how does Ordnance Survey use this status to balance its many roles to benefit all its stakeholders? How can an integral part of government work alongside private business, create a national, consistent geographic database, and yet not be a drain on public funds?

Trading Funds are part of government, but have different finance arrangements from other centrally- funded departments and agencies. As well as Ordnance Survey, Trading Funds include the Met Office, United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, Land Registry^®, Driving Standards Agency and Patent Office. Each is an arms-length trading organisation but with a duty to observe specific financial targets set by the Treasury and involving capital returns, borrowing and transparency of reporting. They must also deliver quality standards and fitness for purpose in their products and services within government policy. However, Trading Funds should not be confused with public-private finance initiatives, where the private sector is actually jointly involved with government in investing and taking risks in a particular venture.

With a Trading Fund the finances of particular activities – in Ordnance Survey’s case, the collection, maintenance and provision of national geographical information – are separated from general taxation revenue. The aim is to provide a sharper focus on achieving value for money and providing key services and supplies more effectively. The government recognises that while there is a need for public accountability of the core activity there is also commercial potential in more efficient management along business lines. Ordnance Survey does not seek general funding from Parliament each year like other parts of the civil service, but reports to Parliament through a minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The Trading Fund status means that while Ordnance Survey has responsibility for its own finances and planning, it also has more freedom to develop new initiatives. It can reinvest profits and plan for the longer term rather than on a year-to-year basis. This creates better stability and confidence that Ordnance Survey will deliver what it promises.

Ordnance Survey implements best practice from both public and private sectors. For example, although it relies fundamentally on its own field staff for data collection and maintenance, private sector contractors are engaged to manage peaks of workload, so improving overall efficiency.

Ordnance Survey vision

Ordnance Survey’s Director General and Chief Executive, Vanessa Lawrence, has championed the following vision for the organisation: 'Ordnance Survey and its partners will be the content provider of choice for location-based information in the new information economy'. The vision opens up new possibilities in developing partnerships, accelerating organisational change, improving the skills base and setting the standard in geospatial data.

Focusing on customers

As successive British governments have operated a user-pays model for the costs of national mapping, Ordnance Survey is supported by receipts and licensing from its customers and partners, rather than the tax payer. There are arguments for and against this model, but it is certainly a driver for Ordnance Survey to be responsive to specific market requirements from both the private and public sectors.

By licensing the reuse of its data through partners, Ordnance Survey supports the development of third-party applications and the generation of business benefit. It is true that partners can sometimes also be competitors in certain aspects of their trading – that is common in many business sectors, and it is one of the reasons why Ordnance Survey was among the first Trading Funds to sign HMSO’s Fair Trader commitment, recognising the importance of transparency and scrupulously fair dealing in government information.

Some commentators argue that public sector customers such as other government departments or emergency services should not pay for their mapping data as this is effectively just tax-payers’ money in another guise. But government pays for all kinds of products and services – both public and private, from postage stamps to computers – and Ordnance Survey is just another supplier. By choosing the specific products and services they want to buy, government customers dictate demand like any others. This keeps Ordnance Survey on its toes because government users can always change their requirements or seek alternative providers. In the same way, Ordnance Survey pays for all the goods and services it receives while striving to make a specific return on capital employed (ROCE) under Treasury targets.

Income from licensing information to public sector customers – along with income from other users – comes through contracts and is invested to keep Ordnance Survey’s most detailed mapping up to date and to enhance the delivery systems. The maintenance of the data collected and the extension of customer choice are absolutely fundamental to Ordnance Survey’s success. There is no intention of making excessive profits – rather the aim is to invest back in the business and meet changing customer needs.

Other commentators argue that Britain should follow an American-style model in which data is given away free with the costs of maintaining it paid for wholly by tax payers. However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) – Ordnance Survey’s equivalent body in the USA – does not in fact make large-scale map data available free and the quality of the largest federal scale, 1: 24 000 – similar to the level of detail in Explorer™ maps – is widely recognised as variable because of funding issues.

Value for money

Since Ordnance Survey became a Trading Fund, its annual turnover has risen steadily to around £115 million. The successful management of its finances, including effective control on costs and staff numbers, means that Ordnance Survey can support future investment. In the financial year 2004-05, Ordnance Survey began to demonstrate even more value for money by paying a dividend to its “sole shareholder” – the government.

Customer benefits

So, what are some of the benefits Ordnance Survey is delivering through the greater flexibility afforded by its Trading Fund status?

• Ordnance Survey is improving its data collection activities with a GPS correction network offering unprecedented operational efficiency and data quality. The network is used by all Ordnance Survey data collectors and is also being made available through partners to other surveyors and GPS users across Britain.
• Customers and partners now have access to a wide range of data from straightforward overview maps of Britain to sophisticated, highly detailed, seamless data from which they can pick and mix as required. This digital data can be reproduced at any scale, so offering far greater detail than is available on printed maps. 
• The Get-a-map facility on the Ordnance Survey website enables people to download free small-scale mapping. Other search and display facilities make it easy to preview and buy maps online.
• The millions of Ordnance Survey paper maps used every day by individuals and businesses offer excellent value for money, especially given the amount of detail they contain.
• Ordnance Survey is committed to education. For the past four years, a free OS Explorer map has been made available to all Year 7 pupils (mainly 11-year-olds) across Britain, supporting their studies and enjoyment of map reading. Around three million maps have been distributed this way. The initiative is backed by a range of free, interactive resources on the Ordnance Survey web site, including a dedicated Homework Help section.
• Ordnance Survey is working with the Royal Geographical Society to encourage schools to apply for the new Humanities Specialist Status, which will allow them to become Geography Specialist Schools.
• In higher and further education, students across Britain can access our mapping on their desktops through a service called EDINA^®. It is paid for by participating universities and colleges but is free to the students. Hundreds of thousands of maps and data files have been downloaded since the service was launched four years ago
• A nationwide network of computer-linked retail outlets, called Ordnance Survey Mapping and Data Centres, is in place giving instant access to digital data products held at the Southampton head office.
• An agreement has been implemented to spread the use of Ordnance Survey data across central government departments and agencies to enhance public services and improve efficiency. This has increased the number of government users from 50 to more than 220.
• There is a clear focus on championing innovation within Ordnance Survey. There is now greater emphasis on promoting the benefits of geographic information in new markets such as mobile wireless technology in addition to government, utilities and other existing markets.
• There are also joint venture-type collaborations with strategic partners to generate further income and efficiency from different sources. For example, Ordnance Survey is working with a joint venture company called PointX^®  to develop and market a points of interest database for Britain.