This weeks NewScientist has a good article entilted '3D mash-up maps let you 'edit' the world. Written by Colin Barras it notes that armchair explorers who soar over 3D cityscapes on their computer may be used to the idea of maps with an extra dimension. But they are now getting accurate enough to offer much more than a preview of your next holiday destination. Accurate, large-scale 3D maps could soon change the way we design, manage and relate to our urban environments.'
We have a lot of time for the good people down at the Ordnance Survey Research Labs and they have just released an interesting video of some 3D Cities work they are carrying out:
The Telegraph has a good story on this along with a quote from Glen Hart, head of research at Ordnance Survey who states that - “Three-dimensional maps in themselves aren't new, but what we've achieved in Bournemouth is a level of accuracy and detail that's never been done before,".
The Ordnance Survey plan to roll out the rest of the UK over the next 5 years and with Google/Microsoft and various other commercial outfits also scanning our cities these are interesting times.
A whole post without a dig at the Ordnance Survey, we are almost proud :)
See also the Skape Blog for the latest news on the software, views and development.
We like the GeoInformation group here at digital urban, they have provided us with various datasets over the years - allowing work such as the LiDAR movie below possible (note the movie was captured in real-time)
As such their launch of UKMap is intriguing, UKMap forms part of a five-year programme to map over 500 towns and cities covering all urban areas with a population greater than 10,000 some 24,000 square kilometres throughout the UK.
London is the first complete UKMap city covering over 1,700 sqkm and is available on 1 September 2009. Areas to be published in 2010 include the West Midlands conurbation, Merseyside, Manchester and parts of Yorkshire.
The press release states that the UKMap is a highly detailed, feature rich mapping database, which comprises integrated map layers and attribute tables. Captured for use at 1:1,000 scale, UKMap includes buildings with 3D information, road detail including pavements, lane markings, pedestrian crossings and speed humps, a full address gazetteer, inferred property boundaries, land use coding and a wide range of points of interest. It also includes aerial photography and terrain layers.
"The technology changes of the last few years have made the creation of UKMap not only technically feasible but commercially viable. There is a growing demand for choice when it comes to mapping. We believe the time is right for the UK mapping industry to provide GIS users with that choice." says Seppe Cassettari, CEO of The GeoInformation Group.
We will have more on UKMap in future posts - we are getting more information via a sneak preview soon...
These are interesting times, as Ed Parsons notes the Ordnance Survey monopoly finally faces a challenge and that can only be a good thing.
Also of note is the inclusion of height data, finally the possibility of flexible licensing on building outlines, heights and therefore 3D cities in the UK could be upon us.
Victor Keegan, writing in The Guardian, takes a look at the number of companies working on building London as a 3D model. From high end architectual represenations to Second Life the article takes a look at the history and the gold rush to build a three-dimensional replica of London, complete with streets, shops, parks, even the underground system.
Our work is covered, although its almost six years of work we would like to forget, being ahead of the field, new planning laws about to go through and a real chance of changing how Londoners view and have a say about their city - still c est la vie, as Victor states:
The biggest - covering not just central London but an area stretching out to the M25 - is also the most bizarre: a publicly funded project that the public can't see. Built by University College in association with Connect London, it boasts 3.2m building blocks and could have gone live two years ago, well ahead of the competition, as part of Google Earth, but for our friends at Ordnance Survey, which controls the vital database refused permission. Cue the Free Our Data campaign.
Our Virtual London model in Second Life has been removed from the collaborative environment at the request of the Ordnance Survey.
The research is currently 'pending license clearance' as the Ordnance Survey are 'uncomfortable' with the use of the data.
Details on the work currently unavailable are in the post below, we are reserving comment at request on this one, but i guess you know our views...
Three Dimensional Collaborative Geographic Information Systems (3DC/GIS) are in their infancy, Google Earth opened up the concept of three dimensions to the mainstream but issues with data copyright, the inability to effectively tag data to buildings and the asynchronous nature of the platform have limited developments.
Second Life however provides a synchronous platform with the ability to tie information, actions and rules to objects opening the possibility of a true multi-user geographical information system. It has been notoriously difficult to import 3D data into the Second Life but at CASA we have managed to import our Virtual London model of 3 million plus buildings into a scrolling map. The map is built from prims that 'res' our of a central point to build accurate models based on Ordnance Survey MasterMap with height data supplied by InfoTerra.
The movie embedded below illustrates a section of Canary Wharf, London building in real-time, note the movie represents work in progress:
Its good to see geography in the New Scientist and their write up of the Virtual London/Ordnance Survey issue raises some good points with additional views from other professionals in the industry.
Its a bit of a moment to be in New Scientist, just a shame its under circumstances of research having to take a new route rather than launching a model of London that would of changed the way people view and commented on urban planning and architecture.
The Guardian - a National Newspaper in the UK - has a full page spread on the story of Ordnance Survey and the licensing of our Virtual London model.
Entitled 'Want to see a great 3D model of London online? Ordnance Survey says no' the article by Michael Cross examines the issues behind the Ordnance Surveys decision.
We are merely passing on a link in this post as Londonist has published its own unique views on the Ordnance Survey and Google issue regarding data licensing.
Suffice to say it made us smile but also worry slightly in a 'we need to distance ourselves from all this for the sake of our career' sort of way.
We will publish a list of articles related to this issue next week - a number of people in the industry have been passing comment on various sites and blogs which make interesting reading.
As for our view - well we are probably too close to the subject to comment but there are complex issues that need to be raised with regards data licensing.
Despite the best of our efforts we have been informed by Google and the Ordnance Survey that our Virtual London model will not be appearing in Google Earth due to data licensing issues.
The decision by the Ordnance Survey effectively puts a stop to six years of research to openly inform the public about changes to London's built form via a publicly accessible model. Negotiations have been going on between Google and the Ordnance Survey for the last year, in two distinct stages. Our model, detailed in the movie below and containing 3 million buildings has been running locally in Google Earth during this time:
The first phase of negotiations broke down 6 months ago at a time when the Ordnance Survey were under increasing pressure to justify their licensing arrangements. Full details on this aspect can be found in the Guardian Article by Michael Cross 'Copyright Sinks Virtual Planning'.
The second phase of negotiations took place recently after the notable loss of Ed Parsons at the OS and his subsequent move to Google. This combined with the publication online of the HaringeyHeatloss Map which effectively uses the same data as Virtual London - as pictured below - gave renewed hope of a breakthrough:
Sadly, despite the renewed efforts at all levels negotiations have now ceased between all the parties involved.
Ordnance Survey issued the following statement:
"We have had dialogue with Google concerning commercial licensing issues around our data in CASA’s Virtual London model. There are differences in what Google wants and what our licensing framework permits that mean we have not been able to reach agreement.
We provide an open, fair and transparent set of terms for providers seeking to operate in the same commercial space as each other. We cannot therefore license Google in a different way to other providers. We are completely supportive of anyone putting our data on the web as long as they have a license to do so. Regarding the reference to Haringey, it is not the building of the model that is the difference – it is the use.
There is an existing licensing model that works for the original purpose of Virtual London i.e. the availability to London boroughs etc. What Google wanted to do would take it out of those licensing arrangements."
Google on the other hand have issued a single worded statement - simply 'disappointed'.
While it is fair to say that Google can be demanding the lack of movement by the OS does strike of a agency out of touch with today's data requirements.
The Free Data Campaign has a number of posts and information with regards the practices of the OS. While we have not always agreed with them, and indeed have been warned off openly criticising the OS in the past by the powers that be, we cannot deny that the whole episode has been slightly Python'esk.
The OS currently does not have the ability to license models for public usage and this is from a government-funded and approved agency.
This weeks NewScientist has a good article entilted '3D mash-up maps let you 'edit' the world. Written by Colin Barras it notes that armchair explorers who soar over 3D cityscapes on their computer may be used to the idea of maps with an extra dimension. But they are now getting accurate enough to offer much more than a preview of your next holiday destination. Accurate, large-scale 3D maps could soon change the way we design, manage and relate to our urban environments.'
