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OS OnDemand options

OS OnDemand is available as either a Web Map Service (WMS), which allows your organisation to have a single view of our data, or a Web Map Tile Service (WMTS-like) which makes customising maps for your website much faster.

Web Map Service (WMS)

This is a simple interface for dynamically generating map images including layer(s) and areas of interest from a database.

Diagram showing how a web map service works

Each request from the user is called a map transaction.

These take time to register, access the database and then create and serve raster tiles. OS OnDemand WMS does this in less than two seconds.

Find out how to access the WMS service.

Web Map Tile Service (WMTS-like)

This is an interface that generates predefined map images from a cache.

Diagram showing how a web map tiles service (like) works 

Rather than having to get features from the database like the WMS, mapping application programming interfaces (APIs) use preconfigured and rendered map tiles. This reduces the time for seeing mapping to under 0.5 seconds.

The WMTS-like includes a consistently styled zoom map stack that enables easier interpretation of mapping between zoom thresholds.

The WMTS-like service option of OS OnDemand can only be accessed via the API and not from a desktop GIS system.

Find out how to access the WMTS-like service.

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For general enquiries, complaints, feedback or suggestions, email: customerservices@ordnancesurvey.co.uk or call us on 08456 05 05 05