Mae hwn yn fersiwn HTML o atodiad i'r cais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 'Request for publication of Public Sector and Local Authority responses to the "OS Business Strategy Consultation"'.

Response from Transport for London to the OS Business Strategy Consultation 
  
We are generally dissappointed in the scope of this consultation and regret that it is not more wide ranging 
TfL has major concerns with the issues of Derived Data which over-ride many of the items of this consultation 
We do not think that OS has paid sufficient attention to its many Government customers and their Public Task 
We regret the enormous cost in both time and resources that Government bodies have to spend on procurring OS data 
  
  
Goal 1 
Transport for London Response 
  
  
Promote innovation for 
economic benefit and social  
  
engagement 
  
  
Supporting Government’s objectives to make data more accessible and to 
OS appears to wish to promote innovation by launching such services in 
encourage innovation by individuals and commercial companies, Ordnance  house, experience suggests that this is not the best way and that they 
Survey will promote the innovative use of geographic information and its 
should concentrate on making their data freely available and allow the 
potential application. 
market to innovate. 
  
  

Ordnance Survey will provide support to all of its users in their use of 
We question whether OS is prepared to listen to their users to determine 
geographic information so that they in turn can support their customers and  what support is needed, and fear that it imagines that one size will fit all. 
the wider public. 
  
  
Many Govt bodies could contribute to this Goal if they were not inhibited by 
Key components of this goal are: 
the onerous and restrictive licence conditions imposed on their use of 
derived data
 
  
  
An extended OS OpenSpace service 
  
  
  
Provision of OS data on OpenSpace does not make it freely available. 
Users require access to boundaries in all formats and applications. The 
derived data issue is a continuing problem, even on the OpenSpace 

This will provide additional data and usage rights to support the creation of 
website gallery, demonstration users warn users not to create derived data 
any new publicly accessible application. It will provide greater access to free  on the site. There seems to be considerable interest in the BoundaryLine 
use of a number of Ordnance Survey products from 1:10,000 scale through  data from other respondents to this consultation. BoundaryLine has been 
to 1:1 million scale. It will also include official boundaries information. 
frequently quoted as the "definitive" boundary dataset for UK, why then are 
the boundaries not coincident with the Boundaries shown on the OS 
MasterMap product.
 
  
  
This service will benefit individual developers and organisations such as 
commercial companies, local community groups, national special interest 
In the OpenSpace FAQs it is stated that Govt bodies may use the API but 
groups and smaller charities that will be able to develop applications as long  it doesn't seem to be encouraged, given the OS advice on the use Google 
as there is no direct commercial gain from the specific application itself. 
maps by OS licensees we would suggest that this should be a priority. 
Advertising and sponsorship alongside the application will be encouraged. 

  
  
There will be limits within the system to ensure that the new OS OpenSpace  Govt bodies interested in using the OpenSpace Service would need 
service has a minimal impact on existing commercial users of the data but 
greater assurance on the use of limits 
these limits will be applied in a more collaborative way. 
  
  
An upgrade path from innovation through to 
  
commercial services 
  
  
Through the creation of an innovation ladder Ordnance Survey will provide a  Can the OS appoint an independent body (AGI?) to create the "innovation 
clear path for those that wish to progress their ideas from early-stage right 
ladder" so that the disincentives that are built into the current usage of OS 
through to commercial development. The existing developer programme will  data are not carried forward? Can the OS then use the lessons learnt to 
be opened up to a wider developer community and financial entry barriers 
overhaul their existing licensing terms and conditions? 
will be significantly reduced. 
  
  
Removing minimum royalty charges for partner 
  
licenses 
  
  
For organisations licensing data as value-added resellers – new or existing - 
there will be NO minimum royalty for the first year and a minimum royalty of  The partnership licenses appear to be wholly geared towards the 
only £1,000 per year thereafter. Where Ordnance Survey is providing a 
commercial sector and seem to be completely inappropriate for the use by 
national dataset of its most valuable data (OS MasterMap Topography 
Govt bodies which is sometimes required. They certainly do not feel like 
Layer) the minimum royalty of £1,000 will apply from year one in order to 
partnership agreements as all the terms are in favour of the OS. 
cover the additional costs of supplying that data. 

  
  
Develop the Ordnance Survey Innovation Network 
  
  
  
Can the OS look at the lessons that could be learnt from previous projects 
such as CODES, the Collection of Data from External Sources? In this 

Ordnance Survey wishes to create a friendly on-line community of 
project external bodies were requested to provide OS with data that could 
commercial and non-commercial developers, partners and resellers who can  be incorporated into OS products. Data was supplied free of charge, OS 
share ideas about innovative uses of Ordnance Survey data and other data.  required assurances and warranties that the data was supplied free of any 
The network will help individuals as well as small and large organisations to  external IPR etc, and that they were granted a non exclusive royalty free, 
develop ideas, deliver projects and even commercialise their ideas, through  irrevocable, licence to copy, sell, adapt, distribute etc etc. OS then went on 
making connections with other network members who can help them with the to try to sell the data back to the organisations that supplied it. The whole 
development of technology, services, products or seed financial funding. 
experience did not seem very friendly and took a very long time to bear 
any fruit.
 
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Goal 2 
Transport for London Response 
  
  
Increase the use of Ordnance  
Survey data
 
 
  
  
It is recognised that the framework under which Ordnance Survey prices and  TfL would be slightly reassured that this review by the Shareholder 
licenses its data and services has become complex and unwieldy. Working 
Executive and OPSI would lead to a desirable outcome if the OS included 
with Shareholder Executive and OPSI, this is being comprehensively 
its customers in this review 
reviewed as part of the drive to improve focus on the customer. 
  
  
The OS has frequently in the past used the "level Playing Field" argument 
to inhibit any negotiation on their terms and conditions of contract. Clear, 

The overall aim of the work is to make data more easily available and 
concise and transparent terms and conditions would assist here. 
encourage innovation and competition in the market. 
Innovation has been stifled in the past by OS insisting that any use of there 
data must fit into one of their existing contracts.
 
  
  

Under the new framework, Ordnance Survey will continue to license its data 
both indirectly and directly to end customers. Partners will continue to have  Many users of OS data, and derived data wish to make their information 
appropriate licences so that the price they pay reflects the market value of 
available free of charge. If OS wish to licence their data so that the price 
their end product. However, Ordnance Survey wishes to re-examine the 
paid by the user reflects the market value of the end product, does that 
boundary between the different licensing routes to check they best support 
mean that the OS data will also be free of charge? 
the current market and rationalise the suite of licences available to partners. 
  
  
In particular, Ordnance Survey expects over time to offer many more 
We can see no advantage in the OS competing with the private sector for 
products to commercial partners so that they can distribute them to end 
the distribution of mapping products, because on a level playing field they 
customers in parallel to Ordnance Survey itself. It is also examining how to 
will lose, and if it is not level everyone will cry foul. OS should concentrate 
give greater flexibility over the rights customers have to use data internally in  on the collection of data and leave the distribution to the private sector. In 
their own business and better facilitate the use of data within the public 
the public sector there should be total freedom for Govt bodies to define 
sector that contains shared public sector intellectual property. 
and complete their public role. 
  
  
Ordnance Survey is also reviewing all of its licence documents with the aim  The OS should appoint an independent body to review their licence 
of making them shorter and easier to understand. 
documents and pay them based on the number of words deleted. 
  
  
The pricing structure that accompanies the new licensing framework will be 
transparent and reflect the work that is being undertaken to reduce costs 
  
across the organisation. 
  
  

One of the major problems for users is the derived data issue which both 
restricts what the user can do with the derived data but also requires that 
the OS data and the derived data are deleted at the end of the licence 

Ordnance Survey recognises that there is a desire for rapid change to the 
term. One way to overcome this would be to make licences perpetual, so 
current system. However, it wants to ensure that it takes decisions about its  that having "purchased" the OS data the user can keep it, and any derived 
pricing and licensing model with a thorough understanding of the impact it 
data for ever. OS needs to differentiate between a commercially derived 
will have – on customers, Ordnance Survey and others in the market. For 
product such as Geographers A-Z map and a Govt body's derived data 
that reason, comments are very welcome here on how the licensing 
which may consist of discrete points lines or polygons describing their area 
framework should be reformed as part of the new strategy. 
of interest. It must be recognised that the current rules on derived data 
make OS map data legally unusable for many Govt bodies and they have 
to resort to increasingly complex and costly methods to avoid creating an 
OS derived data issue in completing their public task.
 
  
  
It is expected that work on a new pricing and licensing framework and the 
plan for its rollout will be complete by October 2009. Ordnance Survey has 
asked the Office of Public Sector Information, together with Shareholder 
  
Executive, to be involved in the work from today to ensure that its thinking is 
independently challenged. 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Goal 3 
Transport for London Response 
  
  
Support the sharing of 
information across the whole  
  
of the public sector 
  
  
Accurate and high-quality geographic information is playing an increasingly 
important role in the delivery of better public services and ensuring the 
The Public Sector would be best served by open competition in the supply 
Government is held to account by citizens. The public sector – at both a 
of mapping data services, but all previous procurement have been skewed 
national and a local level – is an important part of Ordnance Survey’s 
by the near monopoly situation of OS. The Public Sector has to go through 
customer base and it is committed to ensuring they receive data and 
lengthy and costly procurement processes to access their data. 
services that best meet their requirements. 
  
  
In particular, it is recognised that public sector bodies need to be able to 
The Public Sector also need to share data with the public, who ultimately 
share data – including data with shared intellectual property (IP) – with each  pay for all this, and with the commercial sector, who will also pay if we can 
other in support of the development of policy and its implementation at 
get through the minefield of licensing. 
national and local level. 

  
  
The Pan-Government and One Scotland agreements for the provision of 
geographic information to central Government in England and Wales and 
central and local Government in Scotland came into force on 1st April 2009.    
Ordnance Survey is delighted to be part of both of these agreements that will 
better enable the delivery of public services. 
  
  
By competing with commercial rivals to deliver GI products, OS can no 
longer maintain its UK definitive role. For example in the Address field 
there are now two competing products both effectively paid for by the 
public purse and neither definitive, such that for the 2011 census additional 

Ordnance Survey recognises that it will face increasing competition from 
public funds will be spent harmonising and incorporating other data to 
commercial rivals to deliver geographical information services to the public 
produce a comprehensive address list, which is a plain waste of public 
sector and others. Ordnance Survey welcomes this and aims to continually 
money and resources. Surely a better strategy would be for one public 
improve its offering to provide the best value-for-money for all its customers. body, such as the OS, to collect GI data, using the commercial sector as 
appropriate. The data should then be made freely available to the Public 
Sector and marketed through commercial partners who create GI 
products.
 
  
  
Following the success of bringing the public sector, including the NHS and 
Emergency Services, into a single agreement in Scotland (One Scotland 
The Ordnance Survey always insists that their agreements are 
Agreement) Ordnance Survey is now in discussion with central and local 
"commercial confidential to the parties", therefore other Govt bodies are 
Government in England and Wales to determine how the new Ordnance 
unable to compare the success or benefits of one form of agreement with 
Survey business strategy might support a similar goal. This would provide a  another. Greater openness and transparency would assist here. 
common platform for use in delivering core public services using geographic 
information from Ordnance Survey and its competitors. 

  
  
As part of this work, Ordnance Survey will also be discussing with Local 
Authorities, Land Registry, Royal Mail and others how it can align its 
  
methods of data capture and provision to ensure efficiency for the public 
purse. 
  
  
Goal 5 
Transport for London Response 
  
  
Enhance value through the 
creation of an innovative 

  
trading entity 
  
  
The geographic information market is undergoing huge change as a result of  Data collection methods are changing rapidly and driving costs down, but 
advances in technology. There is less and less distinction between viewing 
we question whether they are driving standards up. OS maps of London 
data on a computer, via the internet or on a mobile phone. Data collection 
100 plus years ago show street furniture, drainage gullies, lamp post, the 
methods are also changing radically, with technology driving costs down and  internal building layouts of public buildings, all features long gone from 
users increasingly making their own contributions back to the original source  their latest offerings. While the overall accuracy may have improved, the 
data. 
quality provided is actually quite low and worse than previously claimed.  
  
  

If it is to thrive in this market and continue to fulfil its core public duties, 
Ordnance Survey must adapt to this, just as it did 30 years ago in the move    
from paper to digitally-based information. 
  
  
It is believed that there are greater opportunities for the Ordnance Survey 
brand particularly in the consumer marketplace. To explore and grow these 
opportunities in a transparent and timely manner, Ordnance Survey will 
  
establish a wholly-owned subsidiary company. This subsidiary will further 
Ordnance Survey’s ability to offer new and innovative services to 
government, business and individual customers alike. 
  
  
The new company will initially explore the development of an enhanced 
brand presence through an extended consumer leisure portal. Research has 
strongly suggested that a richer website operating under the Ordnance 
Survey Company name and brand, will attract a far larger proportion of 
  
leisure enthusiasts. It is envisaged that this company will explore the 
opportunities afforded by the use of the Ordnance Survey brand for affiliate 
merchandising. 
  
  

As a large user of OS mapping in the public sector TfL suffers significant 
restrictions on its use of OS data because it is not licensed to engage in 
activities that are regarded as "competing activities" with OS's commercial 
rivals. We are concerned as to how this will develop if OS is going to enter 

The new subsidiary is part of the drive to ensure that Ordnance Survey is 
the market with this new trading company. There are a series of complex 
sustainable for the medium-term and value is generated for the taxpayer. It 
competition issues which arise from monopolistic or dominant 
will operate on the same terms in relation to Ordnance Survey data as any 
undertakings seeking to enter a downstream market on a commercial 
commercial rival. 
basis.  TfL is extremely concerned by this prospect and questions whether 
effective arms' length arrangements will really be put in place.  At a wider 
level, we also question whether this is really the most effective strategy for 
deriving overall public benefit.