Monday 7 December 2020

Our newest team member, YiTin

 

Here at F!nd, were extremely excited to welcome our newest member to the team, YiTin.


YiTin has three years of work experience as a GIS data specialist. Before joining F!nd Maps, she worked for the Greater London Authority, promoting data transparency in Planning.

YiTin’s professional duties within the F!nd team will include database management, data update and map creation. She will also be responsible for liaising with data suppliers and dealing with data requests.

 

YiTin enjoys cooking and travelling. She is also a cat person although she doesn’t own one.

Tuesday 21 April 2020

OS Open Map Local Styling

This second Find data blogpost is to explain how Ordnance Survey created a stylesheet to make the Open Map Local backdrop style map not only visually pleasing, but easy to understand as well


Stylesheet is code that, when applied to geographic data, determines the visual appearance of the content. Once added in Geoserver and connected to the relevant layers, a proper map can be displayed through a WMS feed.




To style OS Open Map Local in the ‘backdrop’ theme, different stylesheets are requested for each layer depending of geometry and classification - building, river, road, etc. In this blogpost, polygon with building, line with road and points with London Underground logo will be presented and explained.

Building:
For building, the stylesheet is simple with just minimum and maximum scale limit and color defined by HEX code color.

Road:

To style line data as roads, minimum and maximum scale rules are used. The rule for A Road is defined with the LineSymbolizer. Color is specified via HEX code color, width of line in pixel (12 pixels), stroke-linecap parameter renders the ends of line as rounded instead of flat and the stroke-linejoin parameter renders the junction with other line as rounded.
 
Label is set with TextSymbolizer with different parameters: Font, LabelPlacement, Halo, Fill, VendorOption.

Font set identifies font family, font size and font weight.
LabelPlacement set defines label position in regard to the line in pixels. In the case of A Roads PerpendicularOffset is set to the default, which is 0. A positive value displaces upwards, a negative value downwards.
Halo set characterizes a halo around the font with radius in pixels and fill with HEX code color.
Fill set identifies label color with HEX code color.
Vendor option sets is a Geoserver specific option composed of multiple parameters.
  • spaceAround allow labels to overlap (negative value) or add extra space around labels (positive value)
  • followLine forces the labels to follow the curve of the line
  • Group allows display of a single label for multiple features in a logical group
  • maxAngleDelta sets the maximum angle, in degrees, between two characters. Used in conjunction with followLine.
  • maxDisplacement controls the displacement of the label along the line. This option avoids conflict by using alternate location with pixels along the line.
  • Repeat defines how often a label is displayed along a line.

London Underground Station:

To style a point with the London underground logo, the stylesheet uses a link to an external SVG file which contains the London underground logo. In this case only minimum and maximum scale are determined and SVG size. This method can be used for any complex object that cannot be created using standard stylesheets.


Monday 6 April 2020

Paper Map Beads

During the ongoing lockdown, our staff have been looking for ways to keep entertained and we thought this was such a good idea, it might be useful as an activity for your families...


We used an old OS map to create our beads, but they can also be done using pages from an old magazine.


Cut the page into long thin triangles


Tightly wrap the paper around a pencil of similar.




Have fun! 

Wednesday 25 March 2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As you will be aware, the Prime Minister addressed the nation on Monday night, to announce some important and necessary measures in the fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Our offices are now closed, but we are working tirelessly from home to keep our services running to our highly valued customers.

If you need any help or support over the coming weeks, please contact us via telephone or email:

Support: 0845 521 1410
support@findmaps.co.uk


Please take care of yourselves.

The F!nd Team 

Thursday 13 February 2020

Long time... No sea...

We are happy to introduce you to our new and improved range of data services. Get in touch with our team now at marinesupport@findmaps.co.uk and we’ll find a solution that suits your business.
Simply:

1. SELECT AREA OF INTEREST
2. CHOOSE YOUR DATA PRODUCT
3. SELECT NUMBER OF USERS
4. CHOOSE LICENCE PERIOD
5. DATA DELIVERY

It really is as simple as A, B, Sea...





Monday 3 February 2020

Utility Reports (STATS Reports)

As well as mapping and data for your projects, did you know FIND also supplies utility reports?



Rather than contacting individual utility service providers for up-to-date plans, save time and hassle by using FIND.  We’re a one stop shop.  All we need from you is a location and/or a plan showing the boundary of your area of interest.  We’ll quote for exactly what you want, start your searches immediately you confirm an order and deliver a completed report direct to your desktop.


Our service is convenient, reliable, competitively priced and tailored to your needs.





Thursday 19 December 2019

All I want for Christmas...

With Christmas fast approaching, we thought we would ask the team what they're hoping Santa brings them on Christmas Morning...

Pamela

What is on your Christmas List Pamela? Good food, good wine and good company.
Are you on the good or naughty list?! I think I’m on the ‘could do better’ list.

Jon

What is on your Christmas List Jon? I discovered this year that I actually have a hat face, so a nice fedora would be well received
Are you on the good or naughty list?! Have you seen me? Face of an angel!

Manon

What is on your Christmas List Manon? Enjoying time with family and friends, cooking the Christmas meal and going to a Christmas Market at some point.
Are you on the good or naughty list?! Definately the good list ðŸ˜Š


Our Office closes on Tuesday 24th December and reopens on Thursday 2nd January.

Merry Christmas