OS MasterMap Topography Layer Standard Styling Specification
Last updated
Last updated
Ordnance Survey has produced a Standard Styling Specification for OS MasterMap. This is a distinct set of fonts, colours, fill styles and symbols. The specification was developed using a combination of three descriptive attributes: descriptive group, descriptive term and make.
Providing a styling specification has allowed many software providers to develop their own styling (based and adapted from this specification) that can be applied when the data is initially translated so that the data can be displayed immediately with a coherent style.
This section of the specification relates to the product both before and after the descriptive terms upgrade in 2016.
Most geographic information systems (GIS) contain tools that allow customers to choose to make their data display in any preferred manner. Customers can apply their own colours, styles and symbols based on the same three attributes. Alternatively, they can use any of the attributes, either in isolation or in tandem (if their GIS permits), to render the data to their own specification. Attaining a coherent style depends on choosing the attributes carefully. There is little point in using the TOID, for example, as each feature would then need its own colour. You can, however, use the TOID version number to get an idea of how much change has occurred in one area compared to another. In the example below, the darker the red, the higher the version number, and therefore the greater the amount of surveyed change.
This example displays the areas where the greatest amount of change is occurring in the landscape. Having so many attributes allows this to be done without any additional work on the data itself. If a customer’s
own attributes are added to OS MasterMap Topography Layer, these can also be used as the basis for the styling.
Having such flexibility to customise the data presents an opportunity to derive additional value from
OS MasterMap Topography Layer. For example, where there is a necessity to have a clear display of what features look like from a real-world point of view, styling schemes based on this style specification work well. If customers need to view their own data alongside OS MasterMap Topography Layer, they could consider toning down or removing colour from the features so that their data is more contrasted, and therefore has bigger visual impact.
In the example below, a customer has derived a set of grassed areas, coloured and hatched in green, which is displayed over OS MasterMap Topography Layer, with only the buildings highlighted in grey to give some additional definition to the data and to help viewers of the data orientate themselves within the landscape.
The customer’s own data catches the eye first and is the focus of attention. Some systems allow different views of the data, so that one type of styling can be seen by one set of viewers and an entirely different type by another.
OS MasterMap Topography Layer may also be styled just by the line or point features to replicate the engineering style of drawing commonly used in computer-aided design (CAD) systems. The data can even be rendered in black and white to save on printer ink if the printed map is going through various drafts before a final full colour version is produced, or for use in presentations and documents that are only going to be printed in black and white.
In this section, we have discussed how, by adapting the flexibility of OS MasterMap Topography Layer in terms of how it can be displayed, customers can:
Visualise the attributes in thematic maps and derive information from maps in a visual way.
Customise maps to best suit their purpose.
Produce clear, high-quality maps for use in documents, presentations or as hard copies for when it is not possible to access the data through a screen.
