New Popular Edition
Contents |
What is the New Popular Edition?
The New Popular Edition (NPE) is a complete set of 1-inch-to-the-mile mapping of England and Wales, published by the Ordnance Survey in the 1940s and now out of copyright. It has been scanned, rectified (i.e. squared up), and cut into tiles which are available for tracing and for mashups.
The New Popular Edition is not to be confused with the similarly named Popular Edition, an older set of maps used on npemaps.org.uk to provide coverage for Scotland. See the grid at Out-of-copyright maps#Old maps which OSM people have.
Alternatively, the newer Seventh Series 1-inch maps are starting to emerge from their copyright protection and into OSM - especially important for most of Scotland not covered by NPE.
Tracing from the New Popular Edition
Using Potlatch
To show NPE maps, click the options icon in the bottom left, and choose 'Out-of-copyright map'
The NPE maps can be only be used at zoom levels. 13, 14 and 15 (To check your zoom level, hover your mouse over the 'Edit' tab and the URL will have 'zoom=14' in it.)
Sometimes, the Ordnance Survey's surveying was slightly askew, and doesn't match up with real GPS traces. To line NPE up with real data, hold down Space and drag the map.
Using JOSM
JOSM's imagery plugin no longer ships with defaults for NPE maps. Here's how to get it back:
With JOSM version 4553 or later:
- Menu: Edit → Preferences...
- Click the WMS/TMS tab on the left.
- Click the Add button to the right of the Selected entries: list. It has a "+" as its icon.
- Click on the TMS tab in the Add Imagery URL dialog which appears.
- Enter OS New Popular Edition 1940s (NPE) for the Menu Name setting.
- Enter http://ooc.openstreetmap.org/npe/{zoom}/{x}/{y}.png for TMS URL.
- Enter 6,15 for the Zoom setting.
- (As you do this and click between fields, the Imagery URL field will update itself to read tms[6,15]:http://ooc.openstreetmap.org/npe/{zoom}/{x}/{y}.png. If you already have an NPE entry in your list, you can update it using this string instead.)
- Click on OK in the Add Imagery URL dialog.
- Close the main Preferences window ith the OK button.
- Select the layer from the Imagery menu when editing.
Scotland note: ooc.openstreetmap.org does not have maps of Scotland - use the older nick.dev.openstreetmap.org instead.
With JOSM version 3751 or later:
- 'Edit' menu -> 'Preferences...'
- Click 'WMS/TMS' tab on the left
- Click the 'Add' button
- Enter 'NPE' as the menu name
- Delete any text in the 'Service URL' box.
- Enter in the WMS URL box (the bottom box) the following text string: tms:http://ooc.openstreetmap.org/npe
- 'OK'
- Back in the 'Imagery Preferences' window add the maximum zoom value of 15 in the 'Zoom' column alongside the new line item you just added.
- 'OK'
- Give it a try! Just add the new image layer by selecting it from the 'Imagery' menu.
Tag 'source=NPE' to indicate the way comes from NPE maps.
Using Merkaartor
You'll need to add NPE to the TMS adapter (Tools->Preferences->Background Image) with the following:
* Name: New Popular Edition * Server address: ooc.openstreetmap.org * Path:/npe/%1/%2/%3.png * Tile size:256 * Minimum zoom:6 * Maximum zoom:15
Unlike the JOSM plugin, there is no grid of expected intersections, so it's best used only for getting names, summit heights etc. If you must use it for tracing, please only do so if you can independently confirm at least some of the positions on the way(s).
Using the new tiles in OpenLayers
The javascript file at http://ooc.openstreetmap.org/openlayers/OOC.js provides an OpenLayers.Layer.NPE class which can be used to add an NPE layer to an OpenLayers map as follows:
var npe = new OpenLayers.Layer.NPE("OS NPE");
map.addLayer(npe);
Using the new tiles elsewhere
The newly rectified tiles used by Potlatch are at http://richard.dev.openstreetmap.org/npe/z/x/y.jpg, where z, x and y are standard "like-Google" tile co-ordinates (See Slippy map tilenames) Please respect the licence which is the same as that used by npemap - tracing is unrestricted, but the images themselves are subject to a non-commercial restriction which may be relaxed on application.
Error checklist
If you find rogue tiles anywhere on Potlatch's NPE layer, please flag them up here.
- odd misplaced squares in Devon and Cornwall
- http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=50.9942&lon=-3.8257&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF South of S Molton
- http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.0412&lon=-4.1674&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF East of Appledore
- http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=50.9946&lon=-4.2053&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF Just S of Bideford
- http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=50.7719&lon=-4.5795&zoom=14&layers=B000FTF Just S of Bude
- Sheet joins:
- Eastern Lake District, Howgill Fells, Yorkshire Dales to edge of North York Moors: from http://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?lat=54.4242&lon=-2.848&zoom=13 (Troutbeck) to http://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?lat=54.414&lon=-1.1922&zoom=13 (NE of Northallerton)
- Tiny missing bits of coastline where it goes outwith the usual sheet boundaries (probably won't fix)
- Aberaeron: missing coastline - http://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?lat=52.2432&lon=-4.26&zoom=14
- Whitby: missing coastline - http://www.openstreetmap.org/edit?zoom=14&lat=54.47224&lon=-0.57143
- Snippet of coastline north of Hunstanton missing - http://maps.compton.nu/?zoom=13&lat=52.97589&lon=0.56127&layers=000000000000B0
- Incorrectly positioned area in North Dorset / South Somerset
Islands and peninsulas
Islands and peninsulas in insets are not yet rectified to their true position:
Key
Other projects using New Popular Edition mapping
- npemap.org.uk - map browser and postcode collection interface
- gpx.npemap.org.uk - generate GPX files by tracing
- Freemap-NPE - OSM countryside mapping on an NPE base layer
- SABRE Maps - Find roads and layer contemporary OSM traces over New Popular mapping (also with a variety of other out of copyright maps)
More info
- FAQ at npemap.org.uk
