Ordnance Survey to open up data

Number 10 website
17 Nov 2009

The Prime Minister has announced that the public will have more access to Ordnance Survey maps from next year, as part of a government drive to open up data to improve transparency.

Communities and Local Government website
Read more about the Make Public Data Public project

Gordon Brown said the government and Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, will open up the data relating to electoral and local authority boundaries, postcode areas and mapping information.

Mr Brown made the announcement at a Smarter Government seminar at Downing Street this afternoon.

He said:

“I think we’re on the verge of a revolution that can transform public services and the public sector. I’m speaking very specifically about how government can change to meet the needs of the times. I think we are determined to be the first government in the world to open up public information in a way that is far more accessible to the general public.”

The announcement follows The Guardian's 3 year Free Our Data Campaign.

See also OS mapping data: a new landscape unfolds, The Guardian 19/11/09