Ordnance Survey Ireland is the national provider of trusted, maintained geospatial data and platforms to ensure the State’s location data is easy to find, share and use. Address given by Colin Bray, CEO Ordnance Survey Ireland, GI R&D Initiatives, Tuesday, 22 March 2016, 13:00 to 20:30 (GMT), Maynooth University.

1. The Future of National
Mapping in Ireland
Colin Bray, OSi CEO
www.osi.ie

2. Introduction
www.osi.ie 1
Overview
• Your national mapping agency
• Why location matters
• Importance of authoritative geospatial information
• Role of national mapping to-date
• Development of world-class geospatial infrastructure
• Future role of national mapping in Ireland
• Next generation national mapping and its research challenges
• OSi research bursary programme

3. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Your National Mapping Agency

4. OSi Statement of Strategy
www.osi.ie 2
Strategic Goals
Tocreate, maintain and provide the State’s
definitive mapping and geospatial information services
to support citizens, business and government.
Mission
The national providers of trusted, maintained
geospatial data and platforms to ensure the State’s
location data is easy to find, share and use.
Vision
1. Leadership in National Geospatial Strategy
2. Provision of trusted and maintained Geospatial
Platforms
3. Innovating to meet the changing needs of citizens,
business and government
4. People & Organisational Excellence

5. OSi Act, 2001
www.osi.ie 3
OSi’s Mandate (1)
• Tomaintain and develop the underlying physical infrastructure
• Tocreate and maintain for the entire State mapping and related
geographicdatabases
• Toprovide mapping and related geographic information to the public
and private sectors
• Toencourage and promote the benefits of the use of the national
mapping and related databases
• Todevelopment of products, services and markets to meet national
and user needs

6. OSi Act, 2001
www.osi.ie 4
OSi’s Mandate (2)
• Toadvise on policy and practice of survey, mapping and geographic
information and on the development of national spatial database
infrastructures
• Torepresent the State at international level on matters relating to
mapping and geographicinformation
• Toprovide the necessary technical support to the Chief Boundary
Surveyor
• Todepict placenames and ancient features in the national mapping
and related records and databases in the Irish language or in the
English and Irish languages
• Toprotect Government copyright

7. Tailte Éireann Merger
www.osi.ie 5
Providing the authoritative:
• National property valuation service
• National property registration system
• National mapping and surveying infrastructure
Leading, developing and maintaining national spatial information
infrastructures, supporting better land management and the creation of
new businesses.
Mission Toexploit land information for the
economic & social development of Ireland

8. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Why location matters

9. Why locations matters
www.osi.ie 6
Everything happens somewhere
• Over 80% of databases has some
geographic component.
• Information can be understood more
intuitively and completely when it is
viewed in its geographic context.
• Information can be analysed in its
geographic context to support key
decision-making.
Geographic information has evolved
beyond the map…..
• Location provides the link to integrate
and get insight from multiple datasets.

10. Why location matters
www.osi.ie 7
Location matters to business
• Where are my customers…and
how can I target or communicate
with them efficiently?
• Where are my resources… and
how can I manage them
effectively?
• Where are my competitors…and
how can I manage their impact
on my business?

11. Why location matters
www.osi.ie 8
Location matters to citizens
• Where am I?
• How to I get to my destination?
• What are the things that
surround me, and where are
they?
• Who are the people around
me?

12. Why location matters
www.osi.ie 9
Location matters to Government
• Important part of State infrastructure adding value to key national
projects
Water Management
Planning
Transport
Efficient Delivery of Services
Public Sector Reform
ICT Strategy
• Enabling the integrating of data from different government
departments for effective planning and decision making.

13. Why location matters
www.osi.ie 10

14. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Importance of authoritative geospatial
information

15. Authoritative Geospatial Information
www.osi.ie 11
• Single source of truth
• Maintained
• Standardised
• Harmonised
• Robust
• Reliable

16. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Role of national mapping to-date

17. Role of National Mapping to-date
www.osi.ie 12
Primarily used as cartographic background mapping
• All about the ‘map sheet’ and the cartographic representation
• Not about intelligent real-world features
• All about the geographic reference (Easting/Northing & Lat/Long)
• Not about uniquely referenced database objects
LithographicStone Copperplate Printing Multi Resolution Cartographic Tiles

18. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Development of world-class geospatial
infrastructure

19. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 13
OSi Geodetic Infrastructure
ITM MappingGNSS Network (26) Geoid Height Model
Land Surface
GEOID
Ellipsoid Sea
H
h
p
vertical
normal
deviationofthevertical
Land Surface
N
Reference Ellipsoid
Central Meridian
ScaleonCM
TrueOrigin ø
λ
FalseOrigin
IG
Airy(modified)
8°West
1.000035
53°30' North
8°West
200000W
250000S
ITM
GRS80
8°West
0.999820
53°30' North
8°West
600000West
750000South

20. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 14
National authoritative geospatial referencing platform
• Over 50 million uniquely reference features
• Single source of truth (scale independent)
• Maintained object lifecycles
• Based on industry standards
• Real world data model
• Non-proprietary
• Dynamic state geospatial referencing
platform

21. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 15
National Geospatial Portal
• Allows users to view detailed OSi mapping in a
desktop & mobile environment.
• Makes data from many public sector bodies
available through a single portal.
• Acts as a collaborative platform between the
user, the data provider and OSi.
• Provider a wider audience with access to the
State’s authoritative spatial data and provides
insight on key location related discussions.

22. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 16
Geospatial Linked Data
• Providing the Link between the national authoritative Prime2
geospatial platform (structured) and Big Data (unstructured)

23. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 17
OSi Geospatial Workflow Management System

24. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

25. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

26. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

27. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

28. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

29. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

30. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

31. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

32. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

33. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

34. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

35. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

36. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

37. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

38. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

39. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

40. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

41. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

42. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

43. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

44. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

45. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

46. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

47. Multi Resolution Data Store Flowline

51. Automated Multi Resolution Operations
www.osi.ie 19

52. OSi Geospatial Infrastructure
www.osi.ie 20
OSi Geospatial Super-computing Capabilities
• Over 1.5 PetaBytes of data
• 2 x Oracle Exadata Engineered Systems
• 36 CPU cores and up to 1.5 TB memory for database
processing per system and 24 CPU cores
• 40 Gb/second InfiniBand internal network
• Some query statistics:
• Polygon point cloud query - 38.75 buildings per sec
running for 43,985,178,918 points
• Determine neighboring points - 28,224 points per sec
using spatial KNN 3 meter radios spatial query

53. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Future role of national mapping in Ireland

54. National Mapping As a Service
www.osi.ie 21
An authoritative geospatial platform, enabling:
• Standardised referencing (location & features)
• Linking and integration of multiple geospatial datasets
• Providing a structured context for Big Data
• The foundation of a National Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)
• Public Service Reform agenda & data sharing
• Evidence based decision making

55. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Next generation national mapping and its
research challenges

56. Next Generation National Mapping
www.osi.ie 22
Automatic identification & application real-world change
• Near real-time update of the Prime2 platform

57. Next Generation National Mapping
www.osi.ie 23
Application & supply of national higher resolution geometry
• Industry term of ‘Positional Accuracy Improvement’
1:1,000 1:2,500
1:5,000

58. Next Generation National Mapping
www.osi.ie 24
Creation & Maintenance of 3D Objects
• Replicating the real-world in an object orientated database

59. Future of National Mapping in Ireland
OSi Research Bursary Programme

60. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 25
Bi-Annual Postdoctoral Bursary
• A programme of sponsorship for two PhD research students, each
granted for two consecutive years.
• Maximum value of €50,000 per annum including PRSI & Pension
contributions.
Masters’ Degree Thesis Award
• An award scheme for Masters Level theses that have significantly
contributed to the development or understanding of geospatial science.
• An annul maximum of five awards.
• Maximum value of €5,000 per award.

61. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 26
Objectives
• Topromote geospatial research and innovation in Ireland.
• Towork with, and support, researchers in high-level projects relevant to
the Irish geospatial industry and OSi’s mandate.
• Todevelop relationships between institutes of learning, OSi and our
partners in the geospatial information industry.
• Toidentify common research needs among the geospatial information
industry, and develop a shared strategy for addressing them.

62. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 27
Bi-Annual Postdoctoral Bursary Scheme
• PhD Sponsorship of up to €50,000 per annum (including PRSI & Pension) for
two consecutive years will be awarded to each successful applicant for research
in a geospatial research field identified by OSi.
• Call topics and call deadline will be announced by OSi on the 29th April 2016
and the process will be managed via our website at www.osi.ie
• All proposals must be authorised by the applicants relevant supporting
organisation.
• Proposals will then be evaluated and selected by an advisory panel drawn from
OSi, academia, and OSi’s business partner community.
• All applicants will be notified in writing of the results of the evaluation process.
• Successful applicants must be ready to start work on a date to be agreed with
the OSi during project negotiation.

63. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 28
Bi-Annual Postdoctoral Bursary Scheme
• The Postdoctoral Bursary call will be made under the following research
themes:
• Automatic identification & application real-world change
• Application & supply of national higher resolution geometry
• Creation & Maintenance of 3D Objects

64. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 29
Annual Masters’ Thesis Award
• An award scheme for Masters Level theses that have significantly contributed
to the development or understanding of geospatial science.
• An annul maximum of five awards. Maximum value of €5,000 per award.
• All entrants must submit an abstract based on their dissertation and those
entrants whose abstract is accepted for evaluation must write a short paper.
• For evaluation purposes a copy of the thesis will be assessed by a panel drawn
from OSi, academia, and OSi’s business partner community.
• Those submissions which are considered to be of the highest standard will be
awarded a sum not exceeding €5,000, to an annual maximum of 5 awards.
• In the event that no thesis is considered to be of the required standard, then no
award will be made.

65. OSi Research Bursary Programme
www.osi.ie 30
Potential Themes of Masters-Level Research
• Automated Devices
• The Internet of Things
• Digital Mapping Applications
• Digital Data Processing
• Data Visualisation
• Data Analytics
• Data Retrieval
• Data Capture
• Data Storage
• Artificial Intelligence
• Open Data
• Linked Data

66. Ordnance Survey Ireland
Phoenix Park, Dublin 8
D08F6E4
+353 1 8025300colin.bray@osi.ie
Future of National Mapping in Ireland
Thank You