Source code to Web 2.0 application from Ordnance Survey

OS OpenSpace enables web-savvy users to build mash-ups with a range of Ordnance Survey data in line with government aims to make public sector information more accessible. Under an application programming interface (API) developers will register for a feed of data to experiment with non-commercially. It includes a range of mapping scales covering the whole of Great Britain down to street level.

Ordnance Survey is keen to ensure its community of more than 500 business partners support OS OpenSpace. Partners will be able to offer their own equivalent experimentation platform as well as offer developers a path to help take forward ideas suitable for commercial application.

Developers can access up to 30 000 "tiles" or extracts of data a day and up to 1 000 place name look-ups. OS OpenSpace allows users to add markers, lines and polygons on top of Ordnance Survey maps, search for place names with a gazetteer and display other location data from elsewhere on the web.

The platform is a JavaScript API that uses "slippy map" technology, so users can grab and move images in different directions. As well as the API itself, OS OpenSpace will include a community website so developers can discuss, review and collaborate on projects.

"Technology continues to expand the opportunities for benefiting from geographic information," says Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey's Director General and Chief Executive. "Our OS OpenSpace project is all about promoting innovation and allowing non-commercial experimentation with our mapping data."

Ordnance Survey's move has been welcomed by Steve Coast, founder of OpenStreetMap and a consultant on the development of OS OpenSpace. He says: "This represents one of the most significant releases of a mapping data API. It will be interesting to see what web developers do with it."

Source : http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk