A new online mapping service has been unveiled today by Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI).
MapGenie will provide online access to the most complete and highest quality map data available for Ireland at a range of scales from OSI and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland (LPS) geodatabases through an all-Ireland web mapping service.
According to the OSI, MapGenie will allow users connect directly from their desktop to provide easy and instant access to premium map data at a variety of scales for the entire island of Ireland. OSI will house all map information, and it will update customers' view of map data as the database is expanded.
Built on industry standards, MapGenie will operate across browsers and operating systems and may be used with or to supplement existing web-based applications built around Google Maps or Microsoft Bing interfaces.
A number of public and private sector organisations already use MapGenie in its prototype form.
OSI is collaborating with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to produce a web-based road safety application. This displays the pattern and locations of road collisions in recent years in Ireland, where death and personal injury was involved, showing collision data on OSi maps at national, county and local levels by severity, year and type.
OSI chief executive Geraldine Ruane said: “ MapGenie is an important milestone for OSi. Using the latest technology, the new online service will support the development of national industry and assist public sector organisations improve existing services as well as introduce new services as evidenced by the collaborations announced today.
“Existing OSi customers will benefit from MapGenie’s value-for-money offering while new customers will be rewarded with easier access to our map data. This will be particularly attractive for the SME sector,” she added.
According to Hugh Mangan, business and marketing manager at OSI, the new service has been in prototype use with 15 to 20 clients over the past six months, including the Road Safety Authority, Kilkenny county council and Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
"We do expect the service to be reasonably successful for us in the short to medium term. Like any IT system, it will require additional development, and that will be driven by what our customers want, " he said, adding: "OSI is a commercially driven organisation, and we have sales targets that have to met during the year."
Noting a map viewer on the HSE site gets some 25,000 hits a month, while the OSI gets about 15,000 hits a month, Mr Mangan said: "Some of the organisations that we do business with have thousands of employees, and we're keen to get them involved."
Mr Mangan said the MapGenie was licensed under the the annual data licence, giving existing customers access to the service. The price of that annual licence is dependent on the data required by customers.
"It's a good news story for existing customers because we're trying to add value to our relationship with them. We'll host the data, we'll build the IT structure, we'll absorb the software costs - you can just consume it as you want," he said.
Speaking at the launch today, Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources Conor Lenihan said: "Using the latest technology, the new online service will support the development of national industry and assist public sector organisations improve existing services as well as introduce new services as evidenced by the collaborations announced today."
The national mapping agency said that MapGenie can also be used by existing customers through a web-based map viewing application that combines a selection of an organisation’s data with OSi map data.
Examples cited include organisations involved in managing land parcels or property interests; the insurance industry using geographic location techniques to improve pricing and risk assessment processes and access to MapGenie can be provided immediately at any time for use in the event of a national emergency.
A web-based map viewer could be used to support potential Government projects that require quick, easy and simple access to national geographic datasets. Using the MapGenie map viewer it is possible to achieve cost efficiencies in projects through better informed decision making or to obtain feedback through public consultation programmes.
