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Cessation
of Ordnance Survey Dynamic maps on Happyhiker.co.uk
Since
I started this site, all my walks have been accompanied by a link to what I
call a "Dynamic OS Map", meaning that the route can be seen on a
1:50000 scale Ordnance Survey Landranger map, which can be moved about and
zoomed, This facility takes advantage of the Ordnance Survey Open Space
facility, which is straightforward to use. It needs to be because I am no IT
expert!
Regrettably
Ordnance Survey have advised that this facility is to be retired from Autumn
2021. The replacement system Open Data system is unintelligible to me, and
is clearly aimed at commercial companies who have the backing of technical
experts or "geeks" (no offence intended) who can learn all this
stuff. I am afraid my ignorance of the coding aspects of the new system mean
I will not be able to deploy it. To give you an idea of what I am talking
about, below is the response I received from Ordnance Survey in Email 1
below.
I
contacted them again pointing out my technical ignorance and they said they
would look into the issue.
They
have now responded and this is at Email 2 below.
The
options do not provide a way of incorporating OS maps into my website, so it looks very much as though this facility on my walks will cease in
Autumn 2021.
Clearly
there is now little point in producing the OS maps on the existing platform
for any new walks I add for the remaining few months.
The
sketch maps I draw will enable you to work out the route on your own OS maps.
I
have not investigated any alternatives to Ordnance Survey maps but as there
are over 300 walks on my site, having to redraw them all is probably a task
too far. In any case, users of my site are unlikely to find trying to relate
routes shown on alternative map styles to OS maps particularly helpful.
I
must apologise for the loss of this facility and feel I am letting visitors
to my site down but I would rather spend my time on other things than
learning this particular "foreign language"!
Email
1
Hello John
Thank you for your feedback and apologies
for the delay in responding. I had to reach out to colleagues around
the business for the best next steps for you.
Ultimately getting the first map
updated/working is key.
You should be able to make use of the
JavaScript wrapper file which is available at https://github.com/OrdnanceSurvey/openspace-migration.
First you would need to download a copy of
the script
(which should then be uploaded to your web server).
You can then reference the Route
Map (GPX) example as the basis for updating your pages [attached is a
copy which has been modified to reflect your original OpenSpace code].
This should replace the existing
content between <!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan -->
and
<!--webbot
bot="HTMLMarkup" endspan --> on his Dynamic
OS Map page.
NOTE: All that will need to be changed
is the text I have highlighted in red on
the two lines below:
<script src="/<path_to_script>/mapbuilder.js"></script>
var apiKey = 'INSERT_API_KEY_HERE';
If you could work on the first map and
confirm that it works, we could look to see if we can help reduce the
manual effort involved with the others. For each “Dynamic OS Map”
on your site we will need to know the map center; zoom level; and GPX route
[filename].
Given a list of the pages – we hope it
should be possible to use a custom script to scrape your site, extracting
the above information, in order to generate a series of HTML files which
can act as replacements for upload to your web server.
I hope that this helps and once again
apologies for the delay in getting back to you.
Could you let me know how you get on with
the above suggestions from my API colleague? I look forward to
hearing from you.
Kind Regards
Email
2
Hi
John,
This query has now been passed onto me by Emma.
The technical team have reviewed your
information but we are unable to simplify the set up of the OS DataHub APIs
any further. Incorporating an interactive map on a website is always
going to involve some level of coding with current HTML sites and API
services.
The much less technical and less commercial
option is to look at the consumer service OS Maps. This is Online and
through iOS or Android mobile apps.
You can as a free registered user create
and save .gpx routes files to the 'standard' map layer. These .gpx
route files could be what is shown on the happyhiker website so when Users
click on the file the route can be imported into and opened on OS Maps -
Online or OS Maps - App for mobiles and tablets.
https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/os-maps-web-faq/#routes
As .gpx files are user created and not (C)Crown
Copyright in any way these can be shared, published, imported and exported
however you wish. There are already lots you can access for free on the
Standard map layer under Routes > Discover Routes.
As a Premium subscriber from £2.99 per month
or £23.99 per year you get the digital view of all
Explorer and Landranger mapping too, though these map views cannot be
embedded or screen dumped into other websites currently. https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-maps/
As you already have some gpx files it should be
possible to import and view them in OS Maps, and signpost your happyhiker
community to OS Maps too so then its up to individuals to see maps for free
or subscribe to get the Leisure Map view.
This is the best low tech and low cost option we can offer, tailored
towards the general public web and app user.
I hope this helps to explain but do get back to
me if needed.
Kind regards
All information on this
site is given in good faith and no liability is accepted in respect of any
damage, loss or injury which might result from acting on it.
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