LogoLogo
OS Docs HomeOS NGDOS APIsOS Download ProductsMore than MapsContact Us
  • More than Maps
  • Geographic Data Visualisation
    • Guide to cartography
      • Introduction to cartography
      • Types of maps
      • Symbology
      • Colour
      • Text on maps
      • Generalisation
      • Coordinate reference systems
      • Projections
      • Scale
      • Map legends
      • Map layout
      • Relief representation
      • North arrows
    • Guide to data visualisation
      • Introduction to data visualisation
      • GeoDataViz design principles
      • Types of visualisation
      • Thematic mapping techniques
      • Data visualisation critique
      • Accessible data visualisation
      • Ethical data visualisation
      • Software
      • Data
    • GeoDataViz assets
      • GeoDataViz basemaps
      • Stylesheets
      • GeoDataViz virtual gallery
      • Equal area cartograms
      • How did I make that?
        • Apollo 11 Landing
        • North York Moors National Park, 70 years
        • Snowdonia National Park, 70 years
        • Great Britain's National Parks
        • Great Britain's Islands
        • Great Britain's AONB's and National Scenic Areas
        • Famous shipwrecks of Pembrokeshire
        • Trig pillars today
        • Britain's most complex motorway junctions
      • #30DayMapChallenge
  • Data in Action
    • Examples
  • Demonstrators
    • 🆕Product Viewer
    • Addressing & location demonstrators
      • Address Portfolio overview
      • Which address product should you use?
      • AddressBase
      • AddressBase Core
      • AddressBase Plus
      • AddressBase Premium
      • Address Classifications
      • Addressing Lifecycle
      • OS Emergency Services Gazetteer
      • What are Vertical Streets?
      • Why are there differences in boundaries?
    • Contextual demonstrators
    • Customer best practice
      • Channel Shift
      • Data Management and OS Data Hub
      • End User Licence vs Contractor Licence
      • 🆕 IDs vs Spatial Relationships
      • Why we should capture good quality addresses at source
      • Why we Snap and Trace
    • Network Demonstrators
      • OS Detailed Path Network
      • OS Multi Modal Routing Network
        • OS Multi Modal Routing Network
      • Water Networks overview
      • OS MasterMap Highways Network and OS NGD Speeds
      • OS MasterMap® Highways Network and OS Open Roads™
    • OS MasterMap Generation APIs
      • Using the OS Features API
      • Using the OS Features API Archive
      • Using the OS Downloads API
      • Using OS APIs in ESRI Software
    • 🆕OS NGD (National Geographic Database)
      • OS NGD Address
      • OS NGD Boundaries
      • 🆕OS NGD Buildings
        • 🆕Building and Building Access Feature Types
        • Building Part and Building Line Feature Types
      • 🆕OS NGD Geographical Names
      • OS NGD Land
      • OS NGD Land Cover enhancements
      • 🆕OS NGD Land Use
      • OS NGD Land Use enhancements
      • 🆕OS NGD Structures
        • 🆕OS NGD Structures
        • Field Boundaries
      • 🆕OS NGD Transport Features
      • 🆕OS NGD Transport Network
      • OS NGD Transport RAMI
      • OS NGD Water Features
      • OS NGD Water Network
      • OS NGD API - Features
      • Ordering OS NGD data
      • Change only updates
      • OS NGD Versioning
      • Creating a topographic map from OS NGD Data
      • Analytical styling for OS NGD data
    • OS MasterMap® demonstrators
    • 🆕Product & API Comparisons
      • 🆕Comparison of Water Network Products
  • Tutorials
    • GeoDataViz
      • Thematic Mapping Techniques
      • Downloading and using data from the OS Data Hub
      • How to download and use OS stylesheets
      • How to use the OS Maps API
      • Creating a bespoke style in Maputnik
    • GIS
      • Analysing pavement widths
      • Basic routing with OS Open Data and QGIS
      • Walktime analysis using OS Multi-modal Routing Network and QGIS
      • Creating 3D Symbols for GIS Applications
      • Constructing a Single Line Address using a Geographic Address
      • Creating a Digital Terrain Model (DTM)
      • Visualising a road gradient using a Digital Terrain Model
      • Visualising a road gradient using OSMM Highways
    • 🆕APIs
      • 🆕Using OS APIs with EPC API
      • 🆕OS APIs and ArcGIS
  • Deep Dive
    • Introduction to address matching
    • Guide to routing for the Public Sector
      • Part 1: Guide to routing
      • Part 2: Routing software and data options
      • Part 3: Building a routable network
    • Unlocking the Power of Geospatial Data
    • Using Blender for Geospatial Projects
    • A Guide to Coordinate Systems in Great Britain
      • Myths about coordinate systems
      • The shape of the Earth
      • What is position?
        • Types of coordinates
        • We need a datum
        • Position summary
      • Modern GNSS coordinate systems
        • Realising WGS84 with a TRF
        • The WGS84 broadcast TRF
        • The International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF)
        • The International GNSS Service (IGS)
        • European Terrestrial Reference System 1989 (ETRS89)
      • Ordnance Survey coordinate systems
        • ETRS89 realised through OS Net
        • National Grid and the OSGB36 TRF
        • Ordnance Datum Newlyn
        • The future of British mapping coordinate systems
        • The future of British mapping coordinate systems
      • From one coordinate system to another: geodetic transformations
        • What is a geodetic transformation?
        • Helmert datum transformations
        • National Grid Transformation OSTN15 (ETRS89–OSGB36)
        • National Geoid Model OSGM15 (ETRS89-Orthometric height)
        • ETRS89 to and from ITRS
        • Approximate WGS84 to OSGB36/ODN transformation
        • Transformation between OS Net v2001 and v2009 realisations
      • Transverse Mercator map projections
        • The National Grid reference convention
      • Datum, ellipsoid and projection information
      • Converting between 3D Cartesian and ellipsoidal latitude, longitude and height coordinates
      • Converting between grid eastings and northings and ellipsoidal latitude and longitude
      • Helmert transformation worked example
      • Further information
  • Code
    • Ordnance Survey APIs
    • Mapping
    • Routing with pgRouting
      • Getting started with OS MasterMap Highways and pgRouting
      • Getting started with OS MasterMap Highways Network - Paths and pgRouting
      • Getting started with OS NGD Transport Theme and pgRouting
      • Getting started with OS NGD Transport Path features and pgRouting
  • RESOURCES
    • 🆕Data Visualisation External Resources
Powered by GitBook

Website

  • Ordnance Survey

Data

  • OS Data Hub
On this page

Was this helpful?

  1. Geographic Data Visualisation
  2. GeoDataViz assets
  3. How did I make that?

Famous shipwrecks of Pembrokeshire

PreviousGreat Britain's AONB's and National Scenic AreasNextTrig pillars today

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

As Pembrokeshire is a coastal national park, for this map it felt right to incorporate some sort of ocean-based data. Pembrokeshire has a large number of shipwrecks around its coast – partly caused by some very large storms occurring in 1703 and 1859. It also has varied sea and wind conditions, and many dangerous rock formations which left historical sail ships at the mercy of the weather conditions. This map by no means shows all of those shipwrecks – some divers and historians believe there are thousands of them dotted in the waters around Pembrokeshire.

This map was made with a combination of Ordnance Survey (OS) and UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) data. The UKHO data portal includes some great opensource datasets and it’s a good opportunity to extend the map beyond ‘The Extent of the Realm’ of Great Britain (up to the coastline) which is as far as Ordnance Survey mapping goes. The UKHO also have bathymetric elevation profiles which can be downloaded for free – I think they would look great on a future OS map.

The process of making this map combined a few different techniques.

I completed this map using QGIS, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator - although other software such as ArcGIS or ArcPro could also be used instead of QGIS.

First off, I started with a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Great Britain – using data. I then clipped this to the National Park area, to highlight the elevation of the land in Pembrokeshire. I styled the DEM using a singleband pseudo colour effect – picking out this turquoise shade for the colour scheme of my map. I chose to represent the low-lying areas with darker shades, and the higher elevations with lighter colours to give that really nice hillshade effect. I then applied a transparency to the DEM of the whole country, making it more washed out and allowing the terrain of the National Park to stand out.

A Digital Elevation Model was used to create the first layer of the Pembrokeshire shipwreck map.

I then exported my map from QGIS, and brought it into Adobe Illustrator. Here, I added labels for Pembrokeshire National Park and St. Brides Bay, as well as the shipwrecks themselves and added things like leader lines and our logo.

After a few final tweaks, the map was ready to publish!

Next, I imported the ‘Shipwrecks and Obstructions’ dataset from the UKHO. This is a global opensource dataset that can be found , with over 94,000 points, so I clipped it to my study area so I wasn’t dealing with huge file sizes. It’s worth noting that not all the ‘X’ points in the sea are shipwrecks – some of these represent ‘Obstructions’ such as sunken rocks or pinnacles. To visualise these points I created a custom SVG image file in Adobe Photoshop of a hand-drawn ‘X marks the spot’. I then imported this into QGIS, and used the ‘Raster Image’ point marker function to mark out all of these locations around the Pembrokeshire coast.

The UKHO's ‘Shipwrecks and Obstructions’ dataset was used to pinpoint all the Xs in the Celtic Sea.

I then wanted to add buffer lines extending out from the coast, which are reminiscent of the style of old nautical charts and maps. I used created by John Nelson to calculate buffer distances which give this logarithmic effect, almost as if they are ripples expanding out from the coast. A turquoise fill and white outline for those buffer polygons ties them in nicely with the colour scheme of the rest of the map.

Buffer lines were added to create a ripple effect.

At this point, I was ready to start adding some labels and information about the different shipwrecks dotted around Pembrokeshire’s coast. I didn’t know much about shipwrecks before this – so it involved some research into the history of the area, and identifying specific shipwrecks then locating from historical accounts and vague descriptions whereabouts they are on the map! A lot of credit for the information included in this map goes to James Phillips – a diver who has done a huge amount of work in discovering and documenting shipwrecks around Pembrokeshire. You can read more about his work .

Final map of Pembrokeshire with all labels added.
here
this tool
here
OS Terrain 50
A map of Pembrokeshire showing the UKHO's ‘Shipwrecks and Obstructions’ dataset used to pinpoint all the shipwrecks in the Celtic Sea with an 'X'.
A map of Pembrokeshire showing buffer lines added to create a ripple effect.
A map of Pembrokeshire showing the Digital Elevation Model used to create the first layer of the Pembrokeshire shipwreck map.