Announcing new beta Ordnance Survey Linked Data Site

Ordnance Survey has released a new beta linked data site. You can read the official press release here.

I thought I’d write a quick (unofficial) guide to some of the changes. The most obvious one that is hopefully apparent as you navigate round the site is the much improved look and feel of the site. Including maps (!) showing where particular resources are located. Try this and this for example. Maps can be viewed at different levels of zoom.

Another improvement is the addition of new APIs. The first of these is an improved search function. Supported fields for search and some examples can be found here. The search API now includes a spatial search element.

The SPARQL API is improved. Output is now available in additional formats (such as CSV) as well as the usual SPARQL-XML and SPARQL-JSON. Example SPARQL queries are also included to get users started.

Another interesting addition is a new reconciliation API. This allows developers to use the Ordnance Survey linked data with the Open Refine tool. This would allow a user to match a list of postcodes or place names in a spreadsheet to URIs in the Ordnance Survey linked data.

In the new release the Ordnance Survey linked data has been split into distinct datasets. You could use the above described APIs with the complete dataset or, if preferred, just work on the Code-Point Open or Boundary Line datasets.

For details on where to send feedback on the new site please see the official press release here.

Update: I blogged a bit more about some of the new APIs here.

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