INSPIRE data to be shared under open terms
HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland are set to share their coveted INSPIRE spatial polygon datasets.
Image credit: Merkushev Vasiliy/Shutterstock.com
From 1 July 2020, INSPIRE spatial polygon datasets which map more than 23 million title extents across England, Wales and Scotland will be available on the Use land and property data service and Registers of Scotland’s website.
The new less restricted terms will broaden commercial use, creating opportunities and fuelling innovation in land and property, utility and infrastructure related industries. The news follows the Geospatial Commission’s April announcement of the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), including Ordnance Survey’ (OS) new freedoms for the publication of property extents.
The PSGA gives access to new data, while improving accessibility and increasing freedoms to share it. This change in OS’ derived data policy has paved the way for HM Land Registry and Registers of Scotland (RoS) to improve access to their spatially-enabled INSPIRE datasets. In this case the combined data, detailing over 23 million individual title extents based on the OS MasterMap Topography Layer, is now available under less restrictive terms under Open Government Licence (OGL). The change opens this data up to much broader application across the public and private sectors, particularly in the UK’s exciting PropTech space.
Andrew Trigg, Interim Director of Digital, Data and Technology at HM Land Registry, said:
It’s an exciting time for geospatial data in the UK. Alongside the Geospatial Commission, OS and RoS, we’ve been working to enable and encourage colleagues, companies and entrepreneurs to access and apply our data in novel and exciting ways. The first of July will certainly be a milestone to that end, and hopefully one which captures the imagination of everyone from app developers to analysts and helps to unlock the potential in the UK’s geospatial industry.
Chris Chambers, Ordnance Survey Head of PSGA, added:
We’re excited to see both HM Land Registry and RoS make use of the new freedoms to publish more authoritative data under OGL, as provided by the PSGA. This announcement, aligned with the release of key identifiers UPRN, USRN and TOIDs with geometry, results in significantly more geospatial data being fully open for businesses and developers to use, free and without restrictions. We look forward to seeing the innovation that is stimulated due to these significant changes, and we will continue to work with PSGA members to support them in publishing more of their data under OGL terms.
Janet Egdell, Accountable Officer at Registers of Scotland, said:
This is another key stage in the data-driven journey of RoS. We have been delighted to work with our colleagues in HM Land Registry, OS and the Geospatial Commission in publishing our first spatially-enabled OGL dataset. By providing definitive data under an OGL licence we are opening up new and diverse opportunities for our spatial dataset that demonstrates our ongoing commitment to supporting innovation across the public and private sectors at this challenging time for the economy.
This date also marks the launch of OS’ new portal for accessing its data – OS Data Hub, as well as a series of APIs (application programming interface) with up to £1,000 price per calendar month free use of premium data and unlimited use of OS OpenData – all intended to support innovation in the developer community.
Background
HM Land Registry
HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.
HM Land Registry is a non-ministerial government department created in 1862. Our ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.
HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership valued at £7 trillion, enabling more than £1 trillion worth of personal and commercial lending to be secured against property across England and Wales.
For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry, or contact:
Dan Flood, Communications Officer
Phone: 0300 006 7253
Email: daniel.flood@landregistry.gov.uk
Registers of Scotland
Registers of Scotland is the public body responsible for compiling and maintaining registers relating to property and other legal documents in Scotland. Registers of Scotland records and safeguards the rights of the individual while providing open access to information on the registers.
Kristen McNicoll, External Communications Officer
Email: kristen.mcnicoll@ros.gov.uk
Phone: 0131 2003388
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, and a world-leading geospatial data and technology organisation. As a reliable partner to government, business and citizens across Britain and the world, OS helps its customers in virtually all sectors improve quality of life. OS expertise and data supports efficient public services and infrastructure, new technologies in transport and communications, national security and emergency services and exploring the great outdoors. By being at the forefront of geospatial capability for more than 225 years, we’ve built a reputation as the world’s most trusted geospatial partner.