Starting out?

I am very interested in walking logs as it is a great way to record walks for future reference and to show others pictures of where you have been. I get lots of ideas from other people! I have been doing one for a few years now myself and it forms part of my website (www.whitecottage.org) on my walking pages (www.whitecottage.org/walking.htm).

I really like seeing the routes of walks as well as photos and I am interested in finding out the best way of linking them together or geotagging. I use a GPS (Garmin GPSMap 60CSx) and Anquet digital mapping. I have been experimenting with EveryTrail.com and these are my results - see http://www.everytrail.com/profile.php?user_id=333 - which I have started to put on my walking log. This links GPS routes and photos on Google Earth. My ideal would be to be able to link photos with OS maps. Has anyone experimented with this or had any success?  I have registered with OS Opensource but this looks like hard work.

This is Anquet's reply to my query.  It looks as though it will be exactly what I was looking for.  

Dear Mike,

We are announcing a new WEB Service in a few months which does what you've just asked for and people do at EveryTrail but more specialised for the outdoor enthusiast.

It is called Anquet MARS and allows you to automatically display your routes on your website superimposed on proper OS 1:50K maps with the route profile (plus other information like route card etc etc). The service is free if you do less than 10,000 map impressions per month.

It's very simple, you just upload your routes from Anquet. You simply call a widget or a set of APIs (depending on the level of flexibility you want) from your website.

We are nearly at Beta stage. You can see a Alpha version of the APIs in use here (its Alpha, i.e. page in development - look, feel and design will change over the next few months as it gets slicker):

http://www.anquetmapserver3.co.uk/Mars/Default.aspx


If you'd like to be Beta user of ours let us know. We are looking to go public release after April.

Kind Regards

- Akil

Commercial Director
Anquet Maps
t: 0207 099 5258
e: akil.chomoko@anquet.co.uk

A further message from Anquet:

"There are licensing implications with putting OS mapping on your website. You would need to contact the OS directly regarding the restrictions on publishing their copyrighted material.

As you create the routes the route data is free from publishing restrictions. I.e. as anquet route/waypoint files contain no mapping but just text and waypoint positions you can put these on your website.

The anquet software is available for free so people can use these. The 10m resolution aerial photography mapping is free to download as well.

http://www.anquetmapserver.co.uk/

Regards

Daniel"

I have now heard back from the OS.  They reply as follows re my query about licensing requirements for embedding OS maps on personal websites:

"Dear Michael

Thank you for your email dated 13 February 2008 regarding the use of Anquet mapping on a website.

The Anquet product is licensed for your personal use only and will not extend to use on a website. However, subject to you obtaining separate permission from Anquet, our Internet Licence will allow you to put scanned copies of the Anquet product on your website.

Our Internet licence allows licensees to show raster or bitmap images, for example gif or jpeg, of map extracts up to 200 cm2 at source scale for an annual licence fee. Up to 10 x 200 cm2 extracts can be placed on a web site for our minimum annual licence fee of £47.50 plus VAT.  Additional 200 cm2 extracts are charged at an extra £4.75 plus VAT each.

If you require this licence please download the application form shown on this page of our website:

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/business/copyright/docs/L0105_M.pdf

Or alternatively you can request to be sent a paper copy to complete and return.

As an alternative, OS OpenSpace is a free Ordnance Survey service that allows you to embed Ordnance Survey maps covering England, Scotland and Wales in your web applications using our Javascript® application programming interface (API). You can build your own web application as long as it is non-commercial and complies with the OS OpenSpace Developer Agreement. Further details can be found on our website at http://openspace.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/openspace/index.html.

Thank you for contacting us about this matter, I hope you find this information useful.

Regards

Emma Cutler
Senior Service Advisor
Customer Service Centre, Ordnance Survey "