luckymucklebackit Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Thanks to a slow server at work I have uncovered a way round the "right click disable" on the old-maps.co.uk site that allows you to zoom into the 1:2500 maps. It is a bit long winded but here is what you do. This is not a hack or illegal as far as I can see. 1) Select the map that you want to use. 2) Click on "view source" on your browser and scroll down until you see a list of layers, it will be in the form: {year:"1901", layer:"100524", county:"PERTHSHIRE", scale:"1:10,560", east:"288900.0", north:"693300.0"} Take a note of the layer number, east and north numbers of the map that you want to see 3) In you browser bar enter http:\\www. then the following: old-maps.co.uk/maptiles/m100524_288800.0_693100.0_0500.png, where the number immediately after the m is the layer number that you see in the source code and the next two numbers are the east and north numbers that you also see in the source code. the last four digit number is the magnification, 2000 is the standard for the site, I find 0500 gives as much detail as I need. You get a relatively small window, but by cutting and pasting into paint you can build up a mosaic of the area you want to research. This is a great way to get track diagrams for stations Give it a go and let me know how you get on with it. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckdancer Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 Very interesting! Thanks for that. I think the oldmaps server is a bit slow too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB-AU Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 On a related note, did the UK have any form of fire insurance mapping like Sanborn Maps in the USA? These were often considerably more detailed than those produced by the government mapping agency. Cheers David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meple Posted May 13, 2010 Share Posted May 13, 2010 On a related note, did the UK have any form of fire insurance mapping like Sanborn Maps in the USA? These were often considerably more detailed than those produced by the government mapping agency. Cheers David Yes they did and detailed 1:500 fire maps are available for London. they were produced by Charles E. Goad Ltd. Probably available for other cities as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 10, 2010 Author Share Posted July 10, 2010 It's all change again on old maps.co.uk, and my dodge is no longer required as they are now permitting enlargement on 1:2500 maps, there is also a much improved search function using present day O.S. maps as the base, worth having a look. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBird Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Now no longer offering the Enhanced Zoom feature, so it may be back to the dodge... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 15, 2012 Now no longer offering the Enhanced Zoom feature, so it may be back to the dodge... I have just found that out today as well. Must have been too many of us using it and not making them any money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cary hill Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Oh well - that's another little avenue of pleasure successfully bricked off then Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted May 15, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 15, 2012 That's more than annoying, as I've found it a useful background research tool for work, for areas where we don't have historic maps. Fortunately I've saved the station and MPD plans I need. Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukebox Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I think you'll find that if you right click on the thumbnails on the right, and select "properties", it will reveal the detailed http address you need to drop into your browser. At least it did for me... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tequila Sunrise Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 On most browsers, Ctrl + will enlarge the image on screen, which may help a little. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBird Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I think you'll find that if you right click on the thumbnails on the right, and select "properties", it will reveal the detailed http address you need to drop into your browser. At least it did for me... It does With GoogleChrome, right-click and select "Copy image URL". Paste this into a new browser window. In my example this is http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ maptiles/t100954_449640_333060.png Change the "t" near the centre of the address into "m" to give http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ maptiles/m100954_449640_333060.png Presumably t is for thumbnail and m is for map. The detail is nothing like as good as the enhanced zoom was, but its probably good enough for our purposes... Edit: Displaying as links lost the middle of the URL - just the bit I was trying to demonstrate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cary hill Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Thanks for the tips - they seem to produce maps which are perfectly useable for my purposes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Martino Posted November 5, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 5, 2012 From what I can see, old maps is commercial venture of The Ordnance Survey. Why should they give away the maps? If you want a high resolution map, buy it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyrush Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 The Ordnance Survey is a taxpayer funded organisation (or was when those maps were surveyed). So UK residents have already paid for them.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ikcdab Posted November 5, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 5, 2012 The Ordnance Survey is a taxpayer funded organisation (or was when those maps were surveyed). So UK residents have already paid for them.... Ordnance Survey is a government trading fund which means that they have an obligation to operate at nil cost to the tax payer. As a tax payer myself, this is good news and has driven a huge amount of efficiencies. One off shoot is that they need to make money to cover costs. Although many of their current maps are free on line, they use initiative such as this to fund these. So it's ok by me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I have removed Methos' post as it advocated breach of copyright. Old-Maps are not there to provide a free and abused source of reference material. If you want the map without watermarks then go and buy one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katier Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 One thing that is interesting regarding copyright is that, I believe, technically the older maps are not covered in the legal sense. Of course, as Andy rightly says, old-maps is a commercial concern so is selling old-maps in effect to finance new ones. Makes complete sense, but in terms of copyright the originals at least are, I believe, well out of copyright up to around 1942 ( or possibly 1962 ) depending on if they are covered by normal, or crown copyright. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 depending on if they are covered by normal, or crown copyright. They're Crown Copyright Ordnance Survey mapping is protected by virtue of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Our mapping is protected for 50 years from the end of the year in which the map was published. For example, a map dated 1942 would have gone out of copyright on 31 December 1992.Copying of our material can be authorised under a licence that suits your intended use of the mapping. Old-Maps hold a licence to reproduce a range of maps and if they're out of copyright the fees due are for printing/file availability. Even if the map is out of copyright, the image they publish of the map is the copyright of old-maps and therefore any copying, distribution and publication falls under the copyright of that image rather than the source material. I can go and take a photo of the Mappa Mundi today (if Hereford Cathedral allowed the taking of images); it isn't my map but the image would be and I could then choose how that image could be used. I could go out and buy an old NPE edition of an OS map and scan it and then choose to charge for use of that scan; that's the mechanics behind it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 There is some threshold at 50 years which allows (for instance) for libraries to supply partial photocopies of older maps and the publishing of them as backgrounds to Templot plans (!). But the images on sites like old-maps (as with photo libraries) are there just to show you what you can buy, not as a free resource. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I can go and take a photo of the Mappa Mundi today (if Hereford Cathedral allowed the taking of images); it isn't my map but the image would be and I could then choose how that image could be used. That seems to be the case with the image of an object that the general public are able to view. However with government owned documents that are only available to look at under controlled conditions it can be more complicated. There are files at TNA Kew marked as closed for 100 years. Certain WW11 records for example. You can read them and copy them but the T & C limit what you can do with the information. Regarding old maps AFAIK parts of General Wade's survey of the northern parts of the Empire have never been published. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I think it's worth quoting the following from the OS which may assist forum users in whether map extracts (your own maps or from a resource which permits reproduction) can be posted on the site: Copying out of copyright mapping Crown copyright exists in Ordnance Survey mapping for 50 years from the end of the year in which it was published. You can copy mapping that is older than this without a licence from us. If you are unsure if the mapping is over 50 years old, please contact us to check. You are not obliged to include an acknowldegment on any copies of out of copyright mapping. However, if you wish to use one, we suggest either of the following: © Crown Copyright {insert year of publication} ...or: Reproduced from the {insert year of publication} Ordnance Survey map. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 old-maps.co.uk is part of the Landmark Information Group. This is a commercial enterprise that provides digitised databases including OS maps among other survey data. As pointed out above they have obtained and reproduced maps from OS and the digital databased maps provided by the Landmark Information Group are THEIR copyright. In addition to the OS crown copyrighted current maps for which they pay a license. I am quite a fan of the old-maps.co.uk site and use it a lot as a research tool. I have even purchased a couple of hard copies from them for closer and more convenient examination. When I read Methos' post, I was a little surprised at the lengths that were being proposed to remove the quite legitimate watermarking of the images. It was definitely a step too far. He should IMO have left it at the direct linking information as this was only providing a simpler way to navigate the maps already presented on their website. The images are still there for anyone to view and this remains a very useful site for us as a resource. The alternatives to obtaining this information conveniently online are considerably more expensive and I have no problem with paying a modest fee to obtain what are good quality print outs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Sidelines Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Of course if you are interested in Scottish maps there are lots free to down load from the National Library for Scotland Regards Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Martino Posted November 5, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 5, 2012 The Ordnance Survey is a taxpayer funded organisation (or was when those maps were surveyed). So UK residents have already paid for them.... UK tax payers may have funded them. Not all residents are tax payers, and not all tax payers are residents! As previously mentioned, the OS is supposed to supply items at zero cost to the exchequer, therefore there is no reason why they should supply anything free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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