WIREDGOV

Following the announcement of a new business strategy for mapping agency Ordnance Survey, further details were yesterday unveiled to an audience of industry stakeholders in London.

The event was held at NESTA, the independent organisation with the mission to “make the UK more innovative”, and saw the enhanced web mapping portal, OS OpenSpace, showcased for the first time.

The free to use service, for which the event marked the official re-launch, provides greater access to Ordnance Survey mapping than ever before. As well as new terms that allow for businesses to use the service, boundary information is also available for the first time. This will make it possible for users to display information based on administrative regions. Map ‘mash-ups’ showing MP constituencies and environmental data divided by local authority were used to demonstrate the opportunities this enhanced service offers.

Ordnance Survey Minister, Iain Wright, commented: “My announcement about the future shape of Ordnance Survey set out some key principles which we have built upon here. The new OS OpenSpace service is an excellent first step towards driving innovation and to making geographic data and services more widely available.”

Ordnance Survey’s new business strategy was announced as part of the Treasury’s Operational Efficiency Programme report and follows a review into government Trading Funds. It set out a series of reforms for creating simpler and easier access to geographic data. Since then the strategy has been posted on the Ordnance Survey website and made open for comments.

Details of an ‘innovation network’, called GeoVation, were also unveiled. The network will help individuals as well as small and large organisations to develop ideas and deliver projects through making connections with other network members who can help them with the development of technology, services, products and financial backing.

Sir Rob Margetts CBE, Ordnance Survey Non-Executive Chair, commented: "Today marks a milestone in the implementation of our new business strategy. Our goal is to grow the scale and scope of use of geographic information for business, social and individual use and I believe that we are well on the way to achieving that."

Ordnance Survey Director General and Chief Executive Vanessa Lawrence CB added: “The strategy represents the opening of the next exciting chapter in Ordnance Survey’s long history. We are committed to both maintaining the highest quality geographic data, that will continue to underpin our daily lives, as well as increasing opportunities for innovative new consumer and business ideas.”

Under the new strategy Ordnance Survey will continue to be self-funded and earn revenue by licensing its data, but it will make sure it is easier for customers and other businesses to access its data and services. To view and comment on the strategy visit: http://strategy.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/

To use the new OS OpenSpace service visit: http://openspace.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/

Notes to editors:

This announcement follows the Trading Funds Assessment, a review looking at making public sector information available as widely as possible at a price that balances the need for users to make a fair contribution to the cost of collecting the information in the long term. The review concluded that the data produced by the Ordnance Survey was more likely to be maintained at high-quality levels under a commercial, revenue-funded model rather than through direct funding from taxation. Further details on the findings of the review are available from the Shareholder Executive website www.shareholderexecutive.gov.uk

NESTA is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – a unique body with a mission to make the UK more innovative. It invests in early-stage companies, informs and shapes police and delivers practical programmes that inspire others to solve the big challenges of the future.

Email: rob.andrews@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2265

Senior Communications & PR Officer - Paul Beauchamp

Email: paul.beauchamp@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2568

Press Office fax: (+44) 023 8030 5295