OS MasterMap^® system & service requirements

System requirements for OS MasterMap data 

OS MasterMap data is designed for use as an intelligent digital map within geographical information systems (GIS) and database systems.

For details of Ordnance Survey's Licensed Partners, who can incorporate OS MasterMap in their systems, please see the systems/software page.

Ordnance Survey does not recommend either suppliers or software products as the most appropriate system will depend on many factors such as the amount of data being taken, resources available within the organisation and the existing and planned information technology infrastructure and last but by no means least, the applications OS MasterMap is to be used for.

However as a minimum, the following will elements will be required in any system;

• A means of reading the data, either in its native GML or CSV, or by translating into a file format or for storage in a database;
• A means of storing and distributing the data, perhaps in a database or through a web based service; and
• A way of visualising and querying the data, typically a GIS.

Customers new to either digital or geographic data, Ordnance Survey products or GIS should familiarise themselves with the general concepts and uses of data.

Currently, national cover is available for the Topography, Address and Integrated Transport Network™ (ITN) Layers and the table below gives the approximate data volumes in the zipped GZ format.

National cover for the Imagery Layer is due to be available in 2006. The current estimated sizes for the images only are:

• 11300 Gb in TIFF
• 360 Gb for Mr SID or ECW
• 660 Gb for JPEG

Additional space should be allowed for metadata and registration files.

The minimum system requirements to use the OS MasterMap service are detailed below.

For further information on the technical implications of  implementing OS MasterMap, please see Information Sheet 3 - Technical Implications from the Implementing OS MasterMap page.

Recommended requirements for the online service

The minimum service requirements for use of the OS MasterMap online service are:

Pentium^® 2 processor, 350 MHz
(complex user–defined areas may require a higher-specification processor);
56.6 Kbps modem or, preferably, Broadband, ISDN or a T1 connection.
Netscape^® 7.0 or Internet Explorer version 5.5/6.0 or above browser;
screen resolution of 800 by 600; and
16 000 colours.
You must have the Java^®-plug-in installed (version 1.4.1 or greater) and your browser must have that plug in enabled. If you do not have this set up when you first access the service, you will be prompted and guided through installation.

In order to view the mapping in the data selector, a Java applet must be downloaded. Please check with your IT department that your firewall and proxy security settings allow this.

If you are ordering data for collection from the FTP server, please ensure that your firewall will allow access to Ordnance Survey FTP and web servers. You will need FTP client software installed to collect your data.

Storage of the data should also be considered when taking data via FTP. You will need to ensure that you have sufficient storage available to hold the amount of data requested (see volume indicator on the product selector when ordering).

_{Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Netscape is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation.
Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.}