Q. How do I find a product in the Map Console?

A.In this website you will see that we have created three groups for our products and services.

Services – These are products or services that offer you more control over their content. They allow you to select specific areas and output parameters. Services are divided into the following Categories:

• ACEmap
• Bespoke Digital Products
• Measurements

Paper Products – These are ‘off the shelf’ published products. Paper Products are divided into the following Categories:

• Road Maps and Atlases
• Discoverer Series
• Holiday Maps
• Activity Maps
• Street Map
• Parliamentary Constituencies Maps
• Soil Map
• Books

Digital Products – These are ‘of the shelf’ digital products available in a number of formats. Digital Products are divided into the following Categories:

• Large Scale Vector
• Ortho Images and Height Information
• Ten Thou Products
• Street Maps
• Activity Maps
• Fifty Thou Products
• Digital Gazetteer
• Parliamentary Constituencies Map Series
• Quarter Million Scale
• One Million Scale

Q. I must obtain a map of my property, what does Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI®) supply?

A. The Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland ACEmap®™ (Address Centred Extract) is an extract from the large scale map database centred on an address or grid reference of your chosing. It is supplied at 1:5000, 1:2500, 1:1250 or 1:500 scale on five different page sizes ranging from A4 to approximately A0.

The area shown on the ACEmap will depend on the scale you require the ACEmap to be printed at and the size of map you require.

For further information on our products please check out the Mapstore page of this site.

Q. How can I buy an ACEmap?

A. You can now purchase ACEmaps online using this website or they can be bought in person at the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Map Shop. This is situated at;

Lincoln Buildings

27–45 Great Victoria Street

Belfast BT2 7SL

Telephone: 028 9025 1515

Postal requests for ACEmaps to the above address should be accompanied by a cheque covering map cost and postage and packaging. All cheques should be crossed and made payable to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. Our target is to turnaround 94.5% of all orders within six working days. This is currently being met.

Orders can also be made by telephone using a Visa, Mastercard, Switch or Delta card. Staff who answer your call also process your order.

Tel 028 90255767 or 028 90255769

We can also be contacted by Fax No. 028 90255735 or E-mail osni@osni.gov.uk

Q. If I buy and ACEmap online how do I get my map?

You decide in the ‘Products Search’ window of ACEview using the ‘Create and Buy’ panel. If you would like a PDF file to download or have posted on a CD or DVD you will select the A4 PDF option in the Format drop down. If you would like the map printed and posted by OSNI you would select the most appropriate of the remaining options, A4 to A0.

You decide on which delivery method you would like at the 'Check Out' stage. If you have selected A4 PDF as the format option then you can download the file or have it burnt onto a CD or DVD and posted. If you have chosen any of the remaining format options then the ACEmap(s) will be posted out to you.

Q. What information do I need to give to Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland to get an ACEmap?

A. To help Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland locate your property you should supply the full postal address, including postcode and townland if known.

Acemaps can also be extracted from the database when the customer supplies the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland an Irish Grid co-ordinate at the centre of the area required. Where possible the inclusion of copies of site maps or any other material which could help identify your property will speed up the delivery of your ACEmap.

Q. What if my property is not shown on the map yet?

A. If you require an ACEmap and your property has not yet been surveyed, you can request an update for ACEmap and your request will be incorporated as appropriate within our Continuous Revision Programme. When the new survey information has been added to our database you will be informed and you can then order the updated map online or over the phone if required.

Q. How long will this update take, is there a charge?

A. The update request will have to be fitted into the Continuous Revision programme where changes are grouped together to ensure efficiency. The turnaround time for any particular request can vary due to operational reasons. We are currently reviewing our charging policy for this service in order to better facilitate genuinely urgent requests.

Q. How do I license OSNI digital data?

A. OSNI does not sell its digital data but rather licenses the use of it (for a fee) on an annual basis to our customers.

If a customer wishes to order OSNI data they must agree to the license conditions when ordering through the Website or place their order on an OSNI digital data order form (Digital 1).

The terms and conditions for licensing the use of OSNI data are contained in the Standard Digital Data Licensing Terms, which is part of the Digital Data Supply and Licence form (Digital 1). This agreement must be signed before OSNI will supply you with the data.

If a customer wishes to sub-license data, the customer must be licensed to hold OSNI data (Digital 1) and both parties i.e. customer and consultant must complete and sign a sub-licence (Digital 5) to temporarily transfer the data to the consultant.

OSNI refers to each customer order for digital data as a Digital Order (D.O.). Service Delivery allocates a unique reference number to each D.O. they receive. This D.O. number is used as an easy reference number for both the customer and OSNI.

Q. I am at college/university, does OSNI provide reduced rates for educational research?

A. OSNI provides an "Academic Licence" (Digital 4) for educational research for individual students or research teams where this is clearly for educational or research purposes only and not for commercial gain.

Q. How does a consultant do work for a customer?

A. The customer must be licensed to hold OSNI data (Digital 1) and both parties, i.e. customers and consultants, must complete and sign a sub-licence to temporarily transfer the data. This sub-licence is available on this website (click here for Digital 5).

Q. Can I license large amounts or all of OSNI's Digital data?

A. Yes, OSNI is willing to license customers all of our digital data. In this case you will be required to sign a Supply and Licence Agreement, which will be drawn up to cover your specific business needs. The data will be released following completion of this process. To initially discuss these issues, please contact Service Delivery section.

Q. How do I order OSNI digital data?

A. You can order OSNI Digital Data using this website or by using an OSNI Digital Data Supply and Licence order form (Digital 1). When completing an order form the customer must take the following actions to ensure the swift processing of their order:

• State the required digital product i.e. vector / raster; scale etc.
• Identify the location of interest i.e. plan number; sheet number ; coordinates etc. (OSNI can offer diagrams to assist the customer identify the area of interest).
• State the required format for the data i.e. Dxf; Dwg etc.
• Sign the declaration to abide by the terms and conditions of Digital 1 .
• Estimate the quantity of hardcopies to be downloaded from this data i.e. 100 x A4 copies.
• Pay the licensing fee prior to the data being released if you don't have an account with OSNI.

Q. How long does it take to supply data?

A. Standard orders (i.e. less than 40 L/s files) will normally be dispatched within 6 working days of receipt of the digital data order form.

In relation to large orders a phased delivery schedule can be agreed when the order is placed.

Q. How long can OSNI data be licensed for?

A. OSNI data is licensed on an annual basis to the customer. OSNI will send the customer an ‘Annual Renewal Form’ for each Digital Order at the end of the license period . If you have ordered online then this will take the form of an e-mail. This gives the customer the option to either renew or cancel their licence for OSNI data. If the customer chooses to renew their licence they will be charged an annual licence fee. Theoretically a customer can be licensed to use OSNI data for as long they wish providing they pay their annual licence fee each year.

Q. What happens at the end of the Licensing period for a Digital Order?

A. At the end of the annual licence period for a Digital Order OSNI will send the customer an 'Annual Renewal Form' or an e-mail depending on the order method. The customer will be asked to sign a declaration stating whether they wish to renew or cancel their licence to use the data.

If the customer chooses to:

• Renew their licence for digital data they have to state the quantity of hardcopies they intend to download and whether they require updates (large scale vector data only).
• Cancel their licence to use OSNI data they must wipe the data from their computer systems and sign the appropriate declaration on the annual renewal form.

Q Does OSNI permit it's data to be resold by either "Distributors" or "Value Added Resellers"?

A. OSNI is always keen to consider new business proposals. Businesses that wish to become either a "Distributor" or "Value Added Reseller" of OSNI data should contact the Commercial Account Manager.

Q. How much does OSNI data cost?

A. The licence fees for all OSNI digital products are contained in the current OSNI price list. OSNI data is licensed on an annual basis, for each year that a customer chooses to license OSNI data they will have to pay an annual licensing fee.

Q. Could you tell me the digital mapping coverage for Northern Ireland?

A. OSNI has complete coverage of Northern Ireland at a range of scales in both vector and raster formats.

Q. What is Raster data?  

A. Raster data is comprised of a series of cells, which together form an overall picture. It is a means of storing and displaying maps in digital format and is often produced either directly from the vector map or by scanning the original paper documents.

The raster data can be positioned on the Irish Grid within a Geographic Information System by using supplied TIFF World Files (or twf files). TWF files contain information about the origin point of the raster file and the individual cell size. Each raster file is divided into a series of rows and columns forming a grid. Each cell, within that grid, is rectangular in shape. The example below shows a sample .twf file for OSNI 1:10,000 raster data.

0.63324538258575 Cell size in the X plane (metres)
0.00000000000000 Rotation in the X plane
0.00000000000000 Rotation in the Y plane
- 0.63347520538454 Cell size in the Y plane (metres)
284000  Irish Grid Easting co-ordinate
386400  Irish Grid Northing co-ordinate

The sign of the ‘cell size in the Y plane’ defines if the image insertion point is the upper left or lower left corner for that cell. A positive Y value means that the origin point for the cell is the lower left corner of the cell. A negative value means that the origin point is the upper left corner of the cell.

The Easting and Northing co-ordinate values locate the file within the Irish Grid and allow tiles to be loaded in their correct position relative to each other to form a continuous map.

The suitability of Raster data for a particular task may depend on the scale and the scanning resolution. It is available in colour or monochrome and at a range of scales. OSNI's raster data is particularly useful as a backdrop to thematic data.

Raster data:

• Can be provided for most large and small scale maps. The data is subject to appropriate licensing arrangements at the time of ordering. All common raster formats can be accommodated and normal digital copyright arrangements apply.
• Is supplied as standard in ECW (Enhanced Compressed Wavelet) and TIFF group 4.
• Is stored at 400 dots per inch (dpi) unless otherwise stated, but is available at any resolution up to 800 dpi or the metric equivalent (Microns) as a special order.

Q. Why are compressed files necessary?

A. When dealing with large images, excessive file size means that it is not convenient to store or distribute the raster files in their original format. This means that file sizes need to be reduced or compressed. OSNI uses compressed files when supplying 1:10 000 raster sheets and orthophotographs. The types of compression used by OSNI are ECW and Mr SID. If you are unable to access ECW files you may need a plug-in. Free plug-ins are available on the ER Mapper web site and free viewers are available from the Lizardtech web site.

Q. Is it possible to change a colour raster file into a black and white image?

A. This is software dependent. Within GIS software there is usually a menu or switch that allows the raster image to be converted into a black and white image.

Q. Are Administrative Boundaries shown on OSNI's large scale maps?

A. Yes, both large scale paper maps and digital data show International, County, Local Government District, Ward and Townland boundaries. OSNI also produce 1:50 000 small scale Administrative Boundary datasets.

Q. What is Vector data?

A. The Association for Geographic Information's definition of Vector Data is: -

An abstraction of the real world where positional data is represented in the form of co-ordinates. In vector data, the basic units of spatial information are points, lines and polygons. Each of these units is composed simply as a series of one or more co-ordinate points, for example, a line is a collection of related points, and a polygon is a collection of related lines.

The OSNI Large Scale database consists of 1:1250 and 1:2500 scale vector mapping and the Pointer address database. It forms the basis on which spatial information in Northern Ireland is held, or is related to, either directly through a coordinated position on the Irish Grid, or indirectly through an address or administration area.

All features are recorded as cartographic elements - lines, symbols, text etc. - with related attributes, within a hierarchical framework to categorize them by type of feature (building, wall, road edge, administrative boundary etc).. The mapping data has been subject to continuous update and data no longer extant is not discarded but is held separately and can be accessed when necessary.

Some additional structure has been imposed on the data, creating polygons for cartographic objects such as buildings, streets, waterways and areas of vegetation. Additional data has been recorded about road centre lines, such as identification information, to enhance the value of the data, and to create datasets separate from the large scale maps.

Further enhancements of the large scale mapping data have been made to enable it to be used for the derivation of medium scale (1:5,000, 1:10,000 and 1:20,000) products. These have included the generation of separate text and contour data.