The UK Ordnance Survey has been talking about its new computerised map service, Superplan (CI No 1,279), which should enable a customer to obtain a map of a specific area of the UK, printed in black and white, or colour within 15 minutes. The process behind the operation starts when the results of field surveys are transformed into computer-readable form. This is done using a workstation built by Ordnance Survey, containing a Sun Microsystems processor with a digitising tablet. The information is transferred to Ordnance Survey’s ICL mainframe in Southampton using an overnight communication link. The data is processed and fed into a Sharebase relational data base management system, where the maps are broken down into basic components, such as houses, roads and vegetation. At the other end of the line is one of three processors – a MicroVAX 2000, a MicroVAX 3100 or a Sun – which is linked to either an electrostatic plotter, a pen plotter or a thermal plotter, all of which are provided by Calcomp or Precision Image. The software used to drive the machines was designed by Ordnance Survey itself. As an example of the cost of the service, a 16 square map ranges from UKP40 to UKP55, depending on the colour or if vegetation is shown – and you can ask for it with your home or your business right in the centre.
