The Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland have the following mission:
To place OSNI’s data at the heart of a vibrant Northern Ireland Vision – To be widely recognised as leaders in collecting, managing, combining and promoting the use of spatial data to benefit the citizens of Northern Ireland
I’ve just been onto the OSNI site, and I’m a little worried that they’re not meeting their vision. Putting site aesthetics and general usability aside I thought if there’s anybody who should have a decent web mapping solution its a mapping data provider. No such luck.
Firstly I have to log in to use your ‘map console’ – what for? Your maps are plastered with ‘VIEW ONLY’ so there’s little reason for me to try and nick them, and isn’t this just a barrier to displaying and showcasing your data?
So I signed my life away to view your maps, and then I got access to your ‘map console’Â or is that your ‘ACEmap’ i’m totally confused…. anyway i’m at the page with what looks like a web mapping application – finally.
Right I’ve used GIS once or twice so I’m always happy to see a web mapping site implement a ‘drag box’ zoom function, so I drag my box and wait………………………………its loading my map……………………………………well maybe not.
Maybe i used the wrong tool, let see – tool-tips…………………………….nope no tool-tips. Maybe I should be using this in IE? (It would be disappointing if this was the case, but hey I’ll try)………………nope same problems. The last resort – on-line help, well I wasn’t surprised to find this to be a bit thin on the ground, in fact it was hardly on-line I had to download a word document, which didn’t give me any clues..
………………SCREAM. Its shouldn’t be this difficult
On a lighter note, I’m really looking forward to FOSS4G next week, leaving New Zealand on Saturday for Vancouver, expect to get to Victoria Sunday at some point, disappointed to be missing the OSM party over the weekend, but the program looks excellent and I’m really looking forward to meeting loads of new people and learning loads of stuff….magic.