OS OpenSpace,
which enables users to build mash-ups of Ordnance Survey maps free of charge, was opened to companies, charities and other organisations on Tuesday. Each organisation is limited to 200 unique users each day.The service has been operating since January 2008, but its use was restricted to individuals. Some 1,500 people have registered so far.
The OS has also added postcode look-ups from Royal Mail and boundary data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to OpenSpace, so that users can mash up data from that department with OS maps.
"We have extended the user allowance and we have simplified the licences so you can use it a little more openly," said Peter ter Haar, director of products at the OS. "It will be easier, for instance, to digitise a route on top of a map and download it for your personal use. And the most important thing is that we have opened up OS OpenSpace so it can be used by a much wider variety of users."
At the relaunch event in London, OS officials demonstrated mash-ups showing MPs' constituencies and environmental data divided by local authority.
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Bike Hike, a website for people to create or view routes on either Google or OS maps, has been created using OS OpenSpace. Joe Greenwood, head of product development at the OS, told ZDNet UK's sister site GC News that Bike Hike's creator has combined OS mapping data with height data from elsewhere.
"Defra's website has CO2 emissions and that can be integrated with OS data using OS OpenSpace," Greenwood added, of another potential use. "It's a visual way of displaying that information."
Iain Wright, the minister responsible for OS, said: "The new OS OpenSpace service is an excellent first step towards driving innovation and to making geographic data and services more widely available."
Vanessa Lawrence, OS director general and chief executive, added: "I hope this becomes part of daily life."
An OpenSpace professional licence will be available for larger commercial users. It is available as a beta service and the OS aims that it will be fully available after the summer. "We are working with our partners to make sure they can provide a similar service and we have provided all the code of OpenSpace and OpenSpace pro in open source and they can access that," said ter Haar.
