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By Melanie, 17, January, 2012 8:00 am

In a survey last year, users told us that they were keen to hear more about the innovative ways in which Ordnance Survey data is being used. So, in response, we are delighted to welcome you to the first of our Innovation newsletters, designed to give you the most up-to-date news about our Innovation initiatives – OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace and GeoVation.

Since the launch of OS OpenData, we have seen OS Street View and OS VectorMap District become the most popular datasets for download. Users have ranged from councils to developers of games on Facebook!   There’s more about this and other OS OpenSpace developments in the newsletter (PDF).

We are focused on widening access to our data and supporting innovation to create new economic and social value for Great Britain. Since we launched OS OpenData in 2010, we’ve been encouraging developers to create and develop new applications using our data.

Our GeoVation programme looks to encourage the use of geography to address specific needs through a series of focused challenges. It’s a place where communities, innovative thinkers, geographic data, skills and expertise can get together for the benefit of communities and their needs. You can read about the new challenges in this newsletter and remind yourself of previous challenges and some of their winners.

We’re also extremely pleased to have delivered our 10 000^th API key for OS OpenSpace. We launched it in January 2008, to enable developers to develop innovative ways of displaying information based on our maps. On average there are over 1 million downloads each day and I July last year, we delivered our one billionth tile download – quite a milestone.

If you’d like to subscribe to the newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out next time, let us know at blog@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

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By Gemma, 20, September, 2011 11:08 am

We’ve produced a special edition of our OS Insider newsletter for this year’s Association of Geographic Information (AGI) GeoCommunity conference, running this week in Nottingham. We’re extremely pleased that Chris Holcroft, Director and CEO at AGI, agreed to write our welcome editorial. 

Inside this edition are updates on our INSPIRE involvement, the Public Sector Mapping Agreement and our move to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. 

In ‘Where’s my web?’, Julian Cooper fills us in on the latest news for web map services:

We probably all accept, if we even notice, that we are living in web-enabled social world, but perhaps for many of us, that same scenario is not yet playing out fully in our business lives. So what about web-enabled geography, does the situation hold true here? Whereas B2C use of web is forging ahead – look at

the ubiquitous nature of satnav devices and smartphone location services, for example, how many of us are using the web to access and analyse location information in our business environment?

Read the rest of Julian’s article in OS Insider now.

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By Gemma, 1, July, 2011 7:58 am

The summer edition of OS Insider is out now, giving people a snapshot of the projects going on across our business.

You can catch up on the Public Sector Mapping Agreement, find out how we support contingency planning and read about our GeoVation winners.

We also have a feature from Simon King, the Wildlife Whisperer, telling us about his love of the humble map. Take a sneak peek here:

Some of my earliest forays into the wilds of Britain were fuelled and assisted by long sessions spent pouring over the details of an Ordnance Survey map. It was the closest I could get to soaring over the landscape like a buzzard, but with so much more information than I could hope to gather even if I were truly flying.

Place name of course, were stamped on my psyche. Some of my earliest wanderings through a natural landscape centred on the Somerset levels. Tealham and Tadham Moor, Aller Moor, North Drain, Westhay Heath; all held a magic and promise of wild things. But beyond these human embellishments to the identity of the landscape, I could read the land before I ever set foot on it. The pitch of a slope, the composition of a woodland, (though this did only extend to a distinction between coniferous or broadleaf), a lake hidden from sight at ground level by trees or a hill, was apparent and alluring.

To read the rest of Simon’s article, on pages 11–12, and others, click on our OS Insider newsletter.

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By Gemma, 11, October, 2010 8:47 am

The second edition of OS Insider is now published. If you’d like to keep up-to-date with the  latest areas we’re focusing on – get reading. (PDF, 5 Mb)

You may already have seen a printed copy of OS Insider at the recent AGI conference, but if you didn’t, catch up on the latest GeoVation Challenge, OS OnDemand, Inspire and much more.

If there’s anything you’d like to see featured in the next edition, email osinsider@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

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By Gemma, 19, August, 2010 7:03 am

OS Insider is a new newsletter highlighting some of things we’re currently working on at Ordnance Survey. We’ve created it to keep you informed about everything that is happening inside Great Britain’s national mapping agency.

OS Insider

In our first edition of OS Insider we’ve be focused on some of the innovative uses of Ordnance Survey data with OS OpenData, OS OpenSpace and the GeoVation awards programme. However, OS Insider is not just a reflection of our news – it is a forum for you to share your views. So if you have any comments or suggestions, or there is something you would like us to cover in a future issue, please do get in touch.

Read OS Insider now

You can email us now at osinsider@ordnancesurvey.co.uk or post your comments on the blog. We’ll publish all future editions on the blog too, but if you’d like to be added to our mailing list and be sure not to miss out, drop us an email.