Loading GML data

This section provides basic steps on loading the OS Detailed Path Network data into some common GI applications.

General information about using GIS with OS data is available on the Using GIS software page on the OS website.

QGIS

These instructions are based on QGIS 3.4 – a Long Term Release.

1. Launch QGIS and click Settings > Options.

2. Select CRS from the left-hand menu, then check that the coordinate reference system is set to British National Grid in the Default CRS for new projects section and in the CRS for new layers section.

   

   QGIS Options dialog box with the CRS option on the left-hand pane selected and highlighted by red rectangle box. The selections of EPSG:27700 - OSGB 1936 / British National Grid are highlighted by a red rectangle in both the Default CRS for new projects section and the CRS for new layers section.

   If British National Grid is not already set as the default CRS in these sections, click the Select…button at the end of each field and type 27700 into the filter box to find and select British National Grid.

   Alternatively, if you intend to use Latitude and Longitude columns, select ETRS89 [EPSG: 4258].

3. Click OK

4. Back in the main window, open the Data Source Manager.

   

   Screenshot of top left section of the QGIS toolbar. The Open Data Source Manager (Ctrl + L) button is highlighted by a red rectangle shape. This button is represented by three coloured squares with a green plus symbol.
5. Select Add Vector Layer from the left-hand toolbar, and under Source, click the […] button to browse to your Vector Dataset(s).

   

   QGIS Data Source Manager dialog box. The Add Vector layer option is selected and highlighted by red rectangle shape in the left-hand panel. The Three dots button next to the Vector Dataset(s) selection box is highlighted by red rectangle shape.
6. Set the file type to show only Geography Markup Language (.gml) files, then browse to the folder where the OS Detailed Path Network data is located.

   

   QGIS Open OGR Supported Vector Dataset(s) dialog box. The File type drop-down list is open with the arrow highlighted by a red rectangle shape and the Geography Markup Language file type is selected and highlighted by a red rectangle shape.
7. Select the file(s) to be loaded and click Open.

   

   QGIS Open OGR Supported Vector Dataset(s) dialog box with two National Park gml files highlighted by a red rectangle shape. The Open button is also highlighted by a red rectangle shape.
8. Click Add.

9. Next, select the Vector Layers you wish to load. There are three layers available for the OS Detailed Path Network product:

   • Route – A lookup table that records collections of links representing a named entity which forms a recognised and signed route that the public can use.

   • RouteLink – Line geometry representing the general alignment of roads, tracks, paths and rights of way.

   • RouteNode – Point geometry at the start or end of a RouteLink feature which is used to record the connectivity between links.

     

     QGIS layer selection window

For further details on the product structure and attribution of these features, please refer to the OS Detailed Path Network Technical Specification.

1. Select the RouteLink and RouteNode layers, then click OK to load the geometry into the QGIS map window.

   

   Screenshot of full QGIS window with Route Nodes and Route Links for New Forest National Park loaded visually. Route Nodes are represented by light red dots and Route Links are shown as thin green lines.
2. The data can now be styled using the tools available within QGIS enhance visualisation of the data. Additionally, it can be overlaid on other datasets to provide a backdrop mapping context.

• Note: GML data cannot be spatially indexed, which means rendering can be slow. To improve performance, we recommend that you save the data to another regular GI format, such as an ESRI shapefile.

  

  Styled OS Detailed Path Network data superimposed on OS VectorMap Local

The preceding screenshot shows what the OS Detailed Path Network data can look like when it has been styled and superimposed upon other datasets, such as the OS VectorMap Local product.

ArcGIS Pro

The following instructions are based on ArcGIS Pro version 2.3 and assume that users have knowledge of the Data Interoperability Extension to convert the supplied GML into a suitable ArcGIS Pro format.

1. Open ArcGIS Pro and create a new project. You may wish to select a basemap for backdrop context.

   

   New project started in ArcGIS Pro using a basemap as a backgdrop

1. Click on the Analysis tab along the top menu.

   

   Analysis tab in the toolbar

1. Select the Workbench option from the ribbon menu.

   

   Workbench option in the ribbon menu

1. A new window will open, which provides access to the full interface of the Data Interoperability Extension. The next steps assume basic understanding of using this main interface of FME, which is an application provided by Safe Software that is embedded into ArcGIS Pro.

   

   Workbench dialog box with a navigator panel on the left-hand side, a Main section and a Translation Log section
2. In this example, we will perform a simple conversion from GML to an ESRI file geodatabase using our OS Detailed Path Network’s New Forest National Park dataset. Enter your parameters as shown in the following screenshot:

Reader (Input)

• Format: GML (Geography Markup Language).

• Dataset: Location of your downloaded OS Detailed Path Network dataset.

Writer (Output)

• Format: Esri Geodatabase (File Geodb).

• Dataset: Location of the file geodatabase generated upon creating the ArcGIS Pro project.

1. Click OK.

2. You will see three Feature Types listed in the Select Feature Types dialog box:

   1. Route – A lookup table that records collections of links representing a named entity which forms a recognised and signed route that the public can use.

   2. RouteLink – Line geometry representing the general alignment of roads, tracks, paths and rights of way.

   3. RouteNode – Point geometry at the start or end of a RouteLink feature which is used to record the connectivity between links.

• For further details on the product structure and attribution of each of the feature types, please refer to the OS Detailed Path Network Technical Specification document, which is available on the OS Detailed Path Network Product Support page of the OS website.

  

  ArcGIS Pro Select Feature Types dialog box. In the Feature Type List section, the three available feature types (Route, RouteLink and RouteNode) checkboxes are ticked and highlighted by a red rectangle shape. The OK button is also highlighted by a red rectangle shape.

1. Tick the Feature Types you wish to translate, then click OK.

2. To start the workbench, click the green Run arrow at the top of the window.

1. The translation will run. Wait until you see the final log message Translation was successful.

   

   Screenshot of the Interoperability Workbench window with the Main section and Translation Log section shown. The final log message of Translation was successful is highlighted by a red rectangle shape in the Translation Log section.

Note: You may wish to keep these conversion settings for future use by clicking the Save button.

1. The features have now been written to the file geodatabase. Close the Interoperability workbench window.

2. Next, load your translated data in the file geodatabase by selecting the Map tab at the top of the main window, followed by Add Data.

   

   Screenshot of the ArcGIS Pro toolbar with the Map tab and Add Data button highlighted by red rectangle shapes. This button is represented by a yellow coloured square with a black plus symbol on top.
3. Navigate to where the file geodatabase (.gdb) is stored and select it.

   

   ArcGIS Pro Add Data dialog box with red rectangle boxes around the file path and the three features present in the File GeoDatabase: Route, RouteLink and RouteNode.

1. Select the features you require from Route, RouteLink and / or RouteNode, then click OK.

2. You should see your selected features with geometry appear in the main map window. You can style or annotate this using the various ArcGIS Pro tools and options available.

   

   Screenshot of the main map window in ArcGIS Pro. RouteNodes appear as black circles on the map of the New Forest National Park, while RouteLinks appear as green lines. World Light Gray Canvas Basemap and a World Light Gray Reference are loaded as basemaps.

Note: The file geodatabase created using the Interoperability Extension can also be opened in older versions of ArcMap. This is described in the following section.

ArcMap

These instructions are based on ArcMap version 10.5.

Note: Section 3.3.1 requires users to have access to a licence for ArcGIS Pro and knowledge of converting files with the appropriate Interoperability Extension. The following steps show how to load a file geodatabase that has been created using the steps outlined in the prior ArcGIS Pro section.

Note: If you do not have a licence for ArcGIS Pro and / or the Full Data Interoperability Extension, Section 3.3.2 steps through how to create a file geodatabase using the free ArcMap version of the Data Interoperability tool.

Loading a file geodatabase in ArcMap

1. Launch ArcMap.

2. Click the Add Data button in the top menu.

   

   Add data button

1. Navigate to the file geodatabase (.gdb) created using ArcGIS Pro’s Interoperability Extension (see the notes above and the instructions in the previous section).

   

   Geodatabase file shown in the file explorer

1. Select the file geodatabase (.gdb) and click Add.

2. You’ll see three Feature Types listed:

   1. Route – A lookup table that records collections of links representing a named entity which forms a recognised and signed route that the public can use.

   2. RouteLink – Line geometry representing the general alignment of roads, tracks, paths and rights of way.

   3. RouteNode – Point geometry at the start or end of a RouteLink feature which is used to record the connectivity between links.

      

      The Add Data dialog box in ArcMap

For further details on the product structure and attribution of these features, please refer to the OS Detailed Path Network Technical Specification.

1. Select the features required and click Add.

2. The selected features with geometry will load into the main map window. You can now select a suitable mapping backdrop and style the map using the symbology tools available within ArcMap.

   

   Screenshot of the main map window in ArcMap showing Route data added.

Converting GML to a file geodatabase and loading with ArcMap

1. Open ArcCatalog and open the Arc Toolbox window.

2. Select System Toolboxes, then Data Interoperability Tools and click Quick Import.

   

   Screenshot of the Arc Toolbox window in ArcCatalog.

1. Click on the […] button next to the Input Dataset box, then navigate to the location of your OS Detailed Path Network GML data and select it.

   

   Screenshot of the Quick Import and Specify Data Source dialog boxes in ArcCatalog.

1. Click OK.

2. In the Output Staging Geodatabase option, give the new file geodatabase a suitable name in the Name section, then click Save.

   

   The Output Staging Geodatabase dialog box in ArcCatalog.

1. Click OK to start the Quick Import.

2. A message will appear in ArcCatalog when the process is complete. Once the process has finished, start ArcMap or select it if it is already running.

3. Click Add Data from the top menu.

   

   Add data button

1. Navigate to the new file geodatabase that you just created in Step 5.

   

   The Add Data dialog box in ArcMap.

1. You’ll see the features of OS Detailed Path Network available for loading (Route, RouteLink and RouteNode). Select the features you require, then click Add.

2. The OS Detailed Path Network data will now load into the map window of ArcMap. You can now select a suitable mapping backdrop and style the map using the symbology tools available within ArcMap.

   

   Screenshot of the main map window in ArcMap.

1. When you’re finished styling your map, save the project as a .MXD file.

MapInfo Professional

The following instructions are based on MapInfo Professional version 16.0.4.

1. Open MapInfo Professional.

2. Select the MAP tab at the top of the ribbon menu. Click Open > Universal Data.

   

   Ribbon menu shown in MapInfo Professional/

1. In the Specify Data Source dialog box that opens, select GML as the Format to be converted, then click the […] button at the end of Dataset field and navigate to the OS Detailed Path Network GML file. Select that file and click OK.

   

   The Specify Data Source dialog box in MapInfo Professional.

1. You’ll see three layers listed in the Select Layers dialog box that opens:

• Route – A lookup table that records collections of links representing a named entity which forms a recognised and signed route that the public can use.

• RouteLink – Line geometry representing the general alignment of roads, tracks, paths and rights of way.

• RouteNode – Point geometry at the start or end of a RouteLink feature which is used to record the connectivity between links.

For further details on the product structure and attribution of these features, please refer to the OS Detailed Path Network Technical Specification.

1. Tick the layers you require.

   

   The Select Layers dialog box in MapInfo Professional.

1. The Import process converts these layers from GML to TAB format. In the Directory box, navigate with the […] button to the location you wish to import the TAB files.

Note: Optionally, you’ll see you can apply styling at this point, though this can also be applied after the import. Additionally, in the Preferred View box, you can either add each layer to the Current Mapper or create a New Mapper. In this example, we’ll add to the Current Mapper to automatically load the converted layers.

1. Click OK to begin the translation from GML to TAB.

2. MapInfo Professional will automatically load the converted layers into the map window.

   

   Screenshot of the main map window in MapInfo Professional.

• Note: Styling can be added using the Apply Styles button which can be found under the Layer Tools tab on the top menu.

  

  Apply Styles button on the Layer Tools tab

Cadcorp SIS Map Express

• Cadcorp SIS Map Express is a free viewer that automatically loads OS Detailed Path Network GML data. Simply open the application and drag and drop the GML file into the map window, as shown in the following screenshot:

  

  Cadcorp SIS Map Express viwer with OS Detailed Path Network loaded

Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller

The following instructions are based on the full application of Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller version 9.

1. Launch Cadcorp Map Modeller.

2. In the main Cadcorp map application window, select Add Overlay from the top menu.

   

   Add overlay button in the top menu of Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller

1. In the Overlay Types dialog box that opens, select Files > File > Next.

   

   Overlay Types dialog box in Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller.

1. Navigate to where you’ve placed the OS Detailed Path Network data and click on the relevant GML file(s).

   

   File Browser dialog box in Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller.

1. At this point, you can also apply the OS XSD schema the schema is detailed in Section 2.1 of the guide) by clicking Configure > Preload custom GML application schema. Click Browse… and navigate to the folder where you downloaded the schema file. Select it and click OK.

   

   The Configure OGC GML Dataset dialog box in Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller.

1. Click Finish. The data will now load into the main map window.

   

   The main map window of Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller, showing a map of the New Forest National Park.

The full Cadcorp SIS Map Modeller application allows you to apply different styles to the data as required. If you wish, these styles can be saved as documents for future use, and they will also work in the free Cadcorp SIS Map Express application (see Section 3.5 for more information on that application).