old-maps.co.uk service permanently closing as of 31 Oct 2021

[tractionman]

I just saw there's a splash on the  https://www.old-maps.co.uk/ web-page saying the service is to close permanently as of the end of October.

 

While I much prefer the interface of NLS for accessing historic OS maps online, the Old-Maps website has its uses especially for viewing more recent larger-scale OS mapping (1:2500 and 1:1250 scale of the 1960s-1980s) for working out dimensions and details of track plans--hence my posting this topic here, as I know many of us use historic OS maps as a key source in layout planning and design.

 

all the best,

 

Keith

[Foulounoux]

Real shame

Buying our house the solicitor was struggling as searches suggested there had been a factory on the site of our house

 

It was stalemate until using old maps I found a version that showed the factory was actually an  industry school 

 

With that  solved the purchase could proceed 

 

 

 

[Andy Kirkham]

I consulted that site quite often without ever paying them any money. Perhaps too many other people did that too.

[AY Mod]

8 minutes ago, Andy Kirkham said:

I consulted that site quite often without ever paying them any money. Perhaps too many other people did that too.

 

Although I don't know of the reasons for closure there would have been costs for site hosting and any OS licensing before deriving any benefits from sales. I have used the site for maps research but maybe the PDF downloads didn't generate enough. It's a shame and has been a useful resource. 

 

I do see parallels with some of the recent grumbles from some over advertising on here and I hope this hasn't been a victim of more use than support. 

[Andy Kirkham]

3 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

Although I don't know of the reasons for closure there would have been costs for site hosting and any OS licensing before deriving any benefits from sales.

 

Many, if not all, of the maps would have been out of copyright, so I'm not sure there would have been any licensing costs.

[john new]

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

Although I don't know of the reasons for closure there would have been costs for site hosting and any OS licensing before deriving any benefits from sales. I have used the site for maps research but maybe the PDF downloads didn't generate enough. It's a shame and has been a useful resource. 

 

I do see parallels with some of the recent grumbles from some over advertising on here and I hope this hasn't been a victim of more use than support. 

It was expensive if you didn’t have student or similar access. Extremely valuable resource if you had access (I did for a while as a student*) as the maps were georeferenced. I wonder if they have sold the map resource on and if so to which company/body?

 

copyright. The OS reclaimed it as the scans were a new digital edition. Paper copies have their original issue date as the starting point for copyright period.

 

update - *might have been EDINA. It also changed in usability for the worse several years ago, possibly hived off to a different company.

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by john new
A later post raised a query as to whether it was old maps or EDINA

[AY Mod]

13 minutes ago, Andy Kirkham said:

 

Many, if not all, of the maps would have been out of copyright, so I'm not sure there would have been any licensing costs.

 

There is if there is a commercial selling of the information/data involved.

 

 

[tractionman]

10 minutes ago, john new said:

It was expensive if you didn’t have student or similar access. Extremely valuable resource if you had access (I did for a while as a student) as the maps were georeferenced. I wonder if they have sold the map resource on and if so to which company/body?

 

copyright. The OS reclaimed it as the scans were a new digital edition. Paper copies have their original issue date as the starting point for copyright period.

 

I'm fortunate to have access to historic OS mapping via EDINA Digimap, I rarely used old-maps but I saw it used on rmweb a fair bit. It's a bit clunky to use compared to NLS.

 

NLS are working their way through their collection digitising and georeferencing, and are doing amazing work for the benefit of all of us in providing free access online to historic OS mapping. 

 

All the best,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Harlequin]

I subscribed to old-maps for a while to get access to the higher zoom levels but the service became very flaky, the place name database seemed to stop working and it was obvious that no development was being done on the site.

They responded to tech support queries slowly and dismissively.

The writing was on the wall and I cancelled my subscription.

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Harlequin

[009 micro modeller]

9 hours ago, tractionman said:

I'm fortunate to have access to historic OS mapping via EDINA Digimap

 

I briefly had access to this through  university. I generally found Digimap better and easier to use than old-maps.co.uk (for which I’ve only ever used the free version, for model railway research), although I did get the impression that there isn’t really a ‘free version’ of Digimap, whereas old-maps is basically free until you want to download anything. 

[Paul Cram]

10 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

Although I don't know of the reasons for closure there would have been costs for site hosting and any OS licensing before deriving any benefits from sales. I have used the site for maps research but maybe the PDF downloads didn't generate enough. It's a shame and has been a useful resource. 

 

I do see parallels with some of the recent grumbles from some over advertising on here and I hope this hasn't been a victim of more use than support. 

I purchased ome of the pdf downloads and the quality and scaling was no better than the free view. I haven't  bothered with them since.

[Brian Emeney]

I have been using NLS for a while. Being able to compare the old maps with a modern satellite image is interesting from an historical perspective and the six-inch OS maps give a good idea of track and other features.

[tractionman]

Some information/update on why the Old Maps service is no longer accessible freely, 

 

https://www.landmark.co.uk/news-insights/blog/changes-to-old-maps-website/

 

all the best,

 

Keith 

[sjp23480]

This is another good site for old maps: https://www.archiuk.com/archi/archi_maps.htm

[Wheatley]

On 16/10/2021 at 22:17, AY Mod said:

 I hope this hasn't been a victim of more use than support. 

So yes as it turns out, but by commercial users which is a bit naughty !

 

On 16/10/2021 at 22:53, tractionman said:

 

I'm fortunate to have access to historic OS mapping via EDINA Digimap. 

When my archeaology course finished several of us asked if there was an alumni rate for NUS membership, or whatever it was we had to be in to get access to the library. 

 

"So you can all spend all day at work playing with Digimap ?"

"How did you guess ?"

"Someone asks every year."

[009 micro modeller]

On 17/10/2021 at 08:21, Paul Cram said:

I purchased ome of the pdf downloads and the quality and scaling was no better than the free view. I haven't  bothered with them since.

I thought the key issue with printing the free ones was the watermark.