Ordnance Survey are pleased to announce details on the latest series of free OS OpenData masterclasses, giving developers the chance to get to grips with digital mapping data and understand how it can support their businesses, products, services and applications.
Following on from the success of the previous OS OpenData masterclass series, individuals, developers, community groups, social entrepreneurs, commercial and government organisations are invited to attend the latest national series of free masterclasses, run by Ordnance Survey and kindly supported by Horizon Digital Economy Research.
Peter ter Haar, Director of Products and Innovation at Ordnance Survey, said: “The masterclasses are a great opportunity for people to experiment and start to develop with Ordnance Survey’s open data products and services. The sessions will provide the attendees with the tools and techniques needed to use, analyse and style a range of open datasets relevant to them.
“Today we are seeing thousands of ventures, products and applications underpinned by location data, and we want to make ensure that when developers are using digital mapping they think of Ordnance Survey. Through OS OpenData and OS OpenSpace anyone can access, for free, detailed and trusted digital mapping to support their products, services or applications.”
The open data masterclasses will combine theory and practical sessions and provide participants the opportunity to use and harness free-to-use open datasets, including Ordnance Survey’s own free datasets from OS OpenData and the popular free-to-use OS OpenSpace API.
Participants will learn a range of techniques, from data collection and processing, to data analysis and map visualisation. The focus on the day will be guided, hands-on practical sessions, using data from Ordnance Survey and data.gov.uk. During the day participants will be able to get familiarised with some of the recent product releases from OS OpenData, including the popular dataset OS VectorMap District and the new 3D height product OS Terrain 50. The masterclasses will also include two new tutorial sessions; one covering the free mapping API OS OpenSpace; and for more advanced users, we will introduce our cartographic design principles and run through how to style map data features using open source software.
Claudia Arney, Chair of the Public Data Group said: “Ordnance Survey and the other members of the Public Data Group are leading the way in making public sector information more freely available. The opportunities from open data are vast, but the sheer volume of data available can be overwhelming. I would recommend that developers sign up to the OS masterclasses on digital mapping data to see how it can support their business to develop new products and services."
The content of the masterclasses is suitable for a wide spectrum of participants with various levels of IT experience, although some familiarity with web browsing and Microsoft Excel is assumed.
Ordnance Survey is able to offer up to 40 places at each masterclass, running from 9.30 am until 5.00 pm each day. Locations and dates of the sessions:
- Thursday 7 November – Southampton, Ordnance Survey head office
- Monday 11 November – London, Royal Geographic Society
- Wednesday 13 November – Cardiff University
- Thursday 14 November – Exeter Racecourse (conference facilities)
- Monday 18 November – Edinburgh University, Informatics Forum
- Friday 22 November – York University
- Thursday 28 November – Nottingham University, Geospatial institute
Interested participants should click on the relevant link to reserve their space and obtain a masterclass ticket.
ENDS