OS Open Names can be used across all sectors of industry for a wide variety of purposes (only a few of which are shown in the following examples). Primarily, it can be used to identify and locate named places; however, when combined with other Ordnance Survey products, the range of uses for the product increases.
Some Public Sector services rely on accurate and up-to-date road names and numbers. Having access to a product that’s maintained quarterly is a huge advantage to delivering efficient services.
As an emergency services planner, you want to allocate your resources in the most efficient way when an emergency is reported. OS Open Names can be used as part of the process to quickly identify the location of an emergency and your resources to therefore determine the most efficient way to manage them.
As a land and property manager, you want to assess the suitability of potential sites for a new building. Using OS Open Names you can quickly identify the settlements and roads in an area as part of the assessment.
As a senior analyst for flood risk modelling for an insurance company, you may need to identify the settlements, roads and postcodes affected by a flood. OS Open Names can be used to quickly identify a list of named places, roads and postcodes in an area at risk of flooding.
As a planner for a utilities company, you need to act quickly to deploy your resources following an incident. OS Open Names can be used to determine the location of the incident and to assist with the management of resources. When linked with the OS MasterMap Highways Network – Routing and Asset Management Information product, routing around incidents becomes possible.
As a tourist new to an area, you may want to discover places of interest or activities to take part in.
OS Open Names can be used to locate named places, and you can gain additional information by linking to Ordnance Survey data.
The table below gives some further uses and applications for OS Open Names:
| Sector | Uses |
|---|---|
Central and Local Government
Locating where a person is, allowing nearest services to be matched to them.
Improving local planning capability and analysis. For example, journey information, patient transport, and traffic management.
Linking and collaborating with other departments through data sharing.
Enabling citizens to search for their location to manage tasks such as planning applications.
Also used in interactive maps for planning and for citizens reporting problems back to a council.
Land and property
Quicker, more accurate location searches for site analysis, planning applications and conveyancing.
Emergency services
Emergency planning.
More accurately identifying locations to help improve response times.
Recognising different names for the same location.
Web services
Location look-up for routing.
Location of a named place.
Where is someone or something?
Leisure
Outdoor leisure activities.
Where’s my nearest?
Where am I?
Where do I want to go?
Insurance
Desktop evaluation of locations for initial risk analysis.
