30 June 2010

Ordnance Survey presents award for “Better Mapping”

The Highland Council’s OS MasterMap-based map showing Inverness city’s main developments in 2010 won Ordnance Survey’s “Better Mapping” award at the British Cartographic Society (BCS) Symposium this June.

The map was the most recent in a series highlighting the major developments in Inverness. Previous versions had been based on 1:10 000 Scale Colour Raster due to its ease of viewing, but The Highland Council decided to update the developments, remake the background and revise the layout. The map also won the prestigious BCS award, and Peter Alexander at The Highland Council said, “No other product had the desired level of detail and clarity, so OS MasterMap was used as the starting point. The purpose of the map is to clearly display the development areas around Inverness along with the necessary text to describe them. We’re pleased to have achieved this so effectively and delighted to have our work recognised with this award.”

The Highland Council used ArcMap, Photoshop and Illustrator to create their City of Inverness Major Development sites map for 2010. The realism of the map comes from the detail of OS MasterMap and the interaction between certain layers based on reasonable assumptions, such as trees becoming denser towards the middle of a woodland area, vegetation growing more lush around water and that taller buildings cast longer shadows.

Buildings were defined in seven classes according to area in ArcMap with subtle depth-cueing and shading applied in Illustrator. The largest buildings were coloured a slighter tint of the original building colour and given the longest shadows, with smaller buildings being shaded progressively darker with shorter and shorter shadows to suggest diminishing height.

Bob Lilley, Ordnance Survey’s Cartography Manager and President of BCS, said: “OS MasterMap was used creatively to define colours and textures to render a semi‑realistic impression of the city of Inverness whilst maintaining the precision of the original product. The judges agreed that through using innovative techniques within design, The Highland Council have produced a visually striking map, clearly displaying the richness of OS MasterMap data alongside modern design.”

Map makers, map users and other enthusiasts attending the BCS Symposium were able to find out more about Ordnance Survey’s flagship product by attending a workshop on “Making the most of OS MasterMap”. Run by members of the Cartography team, the workshop shows how to develop mapping to be used as an essential source of information during a training exercise conducted by emergency services’ personnel in response to a fictional incident. The workshop highlights the richness of data in the OS MasterMap product and its ease of use within a GIS environment. You can find out more about OS MasterMap on our website.

 

Notes to editors

1. Ordnance Survey is Great Britain’s national mapping agency, providing the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data, relied on by government, business and individuals.
2. Ordnance Survey, the OS Symbol and OS MasterMap are registered trademarks of Ordnance Survey. Ilustrator and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated,
3. To download this news release, visit www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/media. There you can also subscribe to our RSS news feed.

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