Ordnance Survey make map toolkit for developers

Published January 29, 2019

Ordnance Survey (OS) release OS Open Zoomstack, a free, customisable digital mapping toolkit that gives developers the ability to create quick, easy 2D and 3D maps for use in apps and websites and offline pages. OS Open Zoomstack contains up-to-date and authoritative OS data for every building, road, and greenspace in Great Britain, and comes with four different cartographic styles – outdoor, roads, light and night – with further flexibility for greater customisation.

OS Open Zoomstack is a supported open data product. It is available in GeoPackage and as Vector Tiles (for both web and mobile). Its release comes after a three-month trial, which saw OS working closely with more than 1200 developers who helped shape the product ahead of its release.

OS Cartographic Design Consultant Charley Glynn said: “OS Open Zoomstack is part of OS’s journey to improve access to OS data, to reach new audiences and make our data easy for customers across all sectors to use. The learnings taken from this project are vital and will be incorporated into other projects as we move forward. During the trial, OS partner AddressCloud embedded OS Open Zoomstack in its risk analysis work in the financial sector. Open Canal Map used OS Open Zoomstack to enhance their open data canal map of Britain. The trial has shown how this tool can remould what organisations and individuals do when creating their own mapping, and we’re looking forward to seeing what people produce.”

Writing in a blog, Tom Chadwin, ICT Manager for Northumberland National Park, described OS Zoomstack as “… a game-changer for UK mapping.”

Visit the product for more info: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/products/os-open-zoomstack.html

Benefits at a glance:

Relevant data at all scales – from a GB overview to street level
Tilt or pan to create a 3D effect of a map
Consistent and improved cartographic styling
Fully customisable mapping
Supplied as a single file
Updated twice yearly
Use across multiple platforms including Mapbox, ESRI, Tableau, QGIS, MapInfo, Keplr.gl, Maputnik, Cadcorp and many more
Easy to display third party data on the basemap
Contains simple data schema and guides to get you started

What formats are available?

GeoPackage and Vector Tile releases of OS Open Zoomstack have been launched. OS will continue to trial the Vector Tile API as an alternative means of access.

OS demo 1: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/demos/open-zoomstack/index.html

OS demo 2: https://labs.os.uk/prototyping/vector-tiles/terrain-rgb/hillshade.html

OS demo 3: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/demos/boundary-line/index.html

Tom Chadwin’s blog article: https://medium.com/@tomchadwin/os-zoomstack-first-impressions-4b2a1120cb80

Keegan Wilson

Explore more: 3D, Geospatial Data