
The Parish Council makes use of two aspects of digital mapping:
- Web maps,
- GIS (Graphical Information Systems) Software
Web Maps
The Parish Council uses OpenStreetMap as the primary base map for map-based information on this website. This service is free to use under an open licence. Other base maps used include those provided by MapBox {ExternalLink] (satellite) and Thunderforest , both of whom have a free usage tier. We also use Leaflet , a leading open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps.
There are many examples of this service in use throughout this website, such as the Public Rights of Way (PROW) page. This page displays two maps: one showing PROWs and the other showing permissive paths. In both cases, the web mapping service is used to display a map base upon which separate layers of spacial data, compiled by us, are displayed. There are two data layers: one of lines representing the paths and one containing markers, or symbols, with popup windows with further information. These layers are ‘stacked’ on top of the base map and move with it as the map is moved around and/or rescaled.
GIS (Graphical Information Systems) Software
The Parish Council has registered with the Ordnance Survey to use their digital mapping products under the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA). Our PSMA licence number is 0100060478. This means that we can access a range of digital maps and data layers to use in building our own custom maps, for any part of the parish at any scale. These products are free to public sector bodies like ours.
Using specialist GIS software (we use the opensource QGIS application), we can create custom maps either using the OS map and data layers ‘as is’ or by combining them with data layers available from other sources. An example of this is the PROW page cited above, where data extracted from the North Yorkshire County Council Public Rights of Way dataset has been used to create a layer of PROWs in the parish that is then shown on top of any base map.
We can also build our own custom data layers to use over the OS base map layers. An example of this is our Grass Cutting layer which contains both spatial data about each area cut as well as other information.
These custom maps can be printed for use in paper-based documents or saved as images for insertion in digital documents, which may then be printed or distributed digitally.
Aerial Photography
Our PSMA licence also allows access to aerial photography and height data free-at-the-point-of-use to the public sector in Great Britain. We make use of 25cm resolution and 12.5cm resolution aerial imagery. An example is the permissive paths map on PROW page cited above, where digital map layers did not indicate precise path routes but the aerial photograph enabled the paths to be digitally plotted accurately along the paths on the ground.
The aerail photographs were taken in 2018 and are regulary updated. We have photographs that cover the whole parish.