Duke of Edinburgh to officially open new Ordnance Survey head office

The Duke of Edinburgh is to officially open Ordnance Survey’s new head office in Southampton during an official visit on 4 October.

The Duke, who accompanied The Queen to open Ordnance Survey’s previous head office in 1969, will meet staff at the mapping agency and see how modern digital mapping is made.

Ordnance Survey moved into its new environmentally-friendly head office in February this year. The 16 acre site includes a 100,000 litre rainwater harvester, the largest underground heat pump system in the country consisting of nearly 100 boreholes over 90 metres deep and a state-of-the-art data-centre that processes 1000 terabytes of information everyday.

The process of map making has changed enormously since The Duke’s last visit, and whilst most people still know Ordnance Survey for its world famous paper maps, today its primary focus is to collect and maintain the geographic data that businesses and public services rely on. Geographic information from Ordnance Survey helps underpin everything from the digital television switchover and satellite navigation to habitat planning and the fight against insurance fraud.

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Ordnance Survey to showcase new addressing products at industry conference

The launch of the eagerly-anticipated new addressing products will be one of the highlights at this year’s Association of Geographic Information GeoCommunity conference.

The new addressing products from GeoPlace LLP, a joint venture between Ordnance Survey and the Local Government Group, will be showcased for the first time at the annual conference. Delegates will be able to view demonstrations of the new products and find out about the many new features and benefits.

The AGI conference, held in Nottingham on 20-22 September, has been the geographic information industry’s annual flagship event for over a decade. Ordnance Survey, as a Platinum Sponsor of the event, will be taking the opportunity to showcase the new addressing products as well as highlighting examples of how its location data has enabled innovation and delivered efficiencies to both the private and public sector.

The new addressing products will be available to both the private and public sector, providing customers with address information from a single database for England and Wales.

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Ordnance Survey becomes part of Department for Business Innovation and Skills

The Prime Minister announced today that Ministerial responsibility for Ordnance Survey, alongside Land Registry and the Met Office, will pass to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The Government shareholding of Ordnance Survey and the Government’s customer functions both move from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The BIS Permanent Secretary, Martin Donnelly, welcomed the move, which marks a step towards establishment of a Public Data Corporation (PDC), plans for which were announced by the Government in January this year.

Martin Donnelly said: “It is good to welcome Ordnance Survey, the Land Registry and Met Office to the BIS family. The talents and abilities of their staff will be a welcome addition to the Department’s teamwork to ensure sustainable economic growth across the UK.

“Staff and customers should know that these organisations will continue to deliver a high level of service going forward.”

Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB, Ordnance Survey Director General and Chief Executive, added: “Bringing Ordnance Survey together with some of the other major data providers in government under BIS will provide an excellent opportunity to share best practice and strengthen our existing relationships.” 

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Dr Vanessa Lawrence opens new university research hub

A traditional ribbon cutting ceremony marked the official opening of a new Graduate Geography and Environment Research Hub at the University of Southampton.

The new research facility which provides a modern research environment for up to 60 Graduate Doctoral students, as well as providing facilities for visiting scientists, was officially opened in May by Ordnance Survey’s Director General and Chief Executive Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB.

Vanessa, who is a member of the University’s council and a Visiting Professor at the University, commented: “It was a great honour to open the new research hub. For many years Ordnance Survey has had a strong link with the University of Southampton and it is always a great pleasure to be involved with the University. 

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Ordnance Survey reaches INSPIRE milestone

This week, metadata about Ordnance Survey’s products has been made available through data.gov.uk, alongside INSPIRE-compliant view services through the OS OnDemand web map service.

The INSPIRE Directive establishes a framework for easier sharing of geographic information among European public bodies and improved accessibility to the public. One of the first steps for organisations producing data which falls under INSPIRE was the creation of metadata. Ordnance Survey’s metadata is now available for other public bodies and the public to access on their website and on data.gov.uk

In addition, customers of the OS OnDemand web map service will be able to view INSPIRE-related products as a raster image via an INSPIRE-compliant view service.

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