WMS

The Service
The OSM-GB provides Web Map Service (WMS) according to Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard. This can serve raster output of the OSM-GB datasets through HTTP requests and responses.
 * The URL of the WMS (to be used in GIS applications) is  http://www.osmgb.org.uk/ogc/wms?version=1.1.1 
 * The URL of the WMS' GetCapabilities request is http://www.osmgb.org.uk/ogc/wms?Version=1.1.1&Service=WMS&Request=GetCapabilities

The WMS currently covers 91 transparent raster layers. In order to have a more organized service, those layers are currently categorized in 8 thematic groups: For full details of the sub-layers, see the.
 * Land (5 sub-layers)
 * Water (12 sub-layers)
 * Buildings (7 sub-layers)
 * Power (3 sub-layers)
 * Boundaries (4 sub-layers)
 * Transportation (38 sub-layers)
 * Places (11 sub-layers)
 * Amenities (6 sub-layers)

These groups are served both as layer containers and as individual layers. Moreover, a separate layer (OSM-GB:__all__) provides a flat version of the map by overlaying all layers in a standard order. Please note that the look and the visibility of the layers and layer groups highly depend on the zoom level in which they are requested to be rendered. A GIS application -depending on its capabilities- should be able to overlay a combination of any number of layers and layer groups to make the final output. A number of sample templates in QGIS, MapInfo and ArcGIS are be provided here.

The WMS is currently available in EPSG:4326 (Latitude-Longitude) and in EPSG:27700 (British National Grid).

The WMS supports raster output in any of the following formats: png, pdf, kml, kmz, geotiff8, gif, jpeg, png8, svg, tiff, tiff8 as well as embedded in OpenLayers.

QGIS
QGIS is able to read all the layers individualy, and it is able to load each group as a single layer, however it is not possible to change the visibility of its sub-layers when it is loaded as a whole. For a fine study on the sublayers it is required that each one loaded individualy. The CRS shall be selected before adding each layer. The following qgis projects load the 8 groups as individual layers as well as the "OSM-GB:__all__" layer:

Use this template for EPSG:4326 and this for British National Grid. QGIS verion 1.6.0 (Capiapo) and upper shall be used.

QGIS can also work with WMS-C service (a template is provided).

MapInfo
In MapInfo, each layer or layer group can be loaded individually and saved in a pair of (tab,xml) files. MapInfo Professional 11.0 is tested. there is an issue of changing the map colors or background to high contrast patterns, which can be corrected by de-selecting "Transparent" box when loading the layer. The preferred CRS shall also be selected before loading the layer. When selecting a layer group, the user can choose the group header or the group name as an individual layer, however there is an observed issue of wrong bounding box when the group header is loaded. The following MapInfo packages load the 8 groups as individual layers as well as the "OSM-GB:__all__" layer (by opening the "wor" file):

Use this template for EPSG:4326 and this for British National Grid.

ArcGIS
ArcGIS 10 is able to have a full control on lareys and layer groups. When a group is added its sub-layers are added under the group header, in which both the group and its sub-layers' visibilities can be controlled. CRS can also be selected before or after loading the layers. There is an obsereved issue of wrong initial zoom level. If a group cannot be initially viewed for this reason, it is suggested to add the "OSM-GB:__all__" layer as a guide for setting the correct zoom level. The following ArcMap files load the 8 groups as individual layers as well as the "OSM-GB:__all__" layer:

Use this template for EPSG:4326 and this for British National Grid.

There is now an OSM-GB group on ArcGIS.com which contains templates for consuming the OSM-GB WMS service in ArcGIS Desktop and Web products.

Layers Structure
The structure of the layer groups is as follows. The order of groups and layers are the same as their rendering order.

OSM-GB:Amenities
including the following layers that makes the amenities, points of interest and their symbols: Example call
 * OSM-GB:amenity-stations
 * OSM-GB:amenity-stations-poly
 * OSM-GB:amenity-symbols
 * OSM-GB:amenity-symbols-poly
 * OSM-GB:amenity-points
 * OSM-GB:amenity-points-poly

OSM-GB:Places
A group of layers about the places (mostly geometries) and their labels on the map, including: Example call
 * OSM-GB:sports_grounds
 * OSM-GB:line features
 * OSM-GB:polygon barriers
 * OSM-GB:placenames-large
 * OSM-GB:placenames-capital
 * OSM-GB:placenames-medium
 * OSM-GB:placenames-small
 * OSM-GB:text
 * OSM-GB:text-poly
 * OSM-GB:area-text
 * OSM-GB:interpolation_lines
 * OSM-GB:theme_park

OSM-GB:Transportation
Everything about transportation including roads, paths, trains, ferry and aerial ways: Example call
 * OSM-GB:tunnels
 * OSM-GB:tracks-tunnels
 * OSM-GB:highway-area-casing
 * OSM-GB:minor-roads-casing
 * OSM-GB:highway-area-fill
 * OSM-GB:minor-roads-fill
 * OSM-GB:roads
 * OSM-GB:waterway-bridges
 * OSM-GB:access-pre_bridges
 * OSM-GB:direction_pre_bridges
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer0
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access0
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions0
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer1
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access1
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions1
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer2
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access2
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions2
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer3
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access3
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions3
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer4
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access4
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions4
 * OSM-GB:bridges_layer5
 * OSM-GB:bridges_access5
 * OSM-GB:bridges_directions5
 * OSM-GB:roads-text-ref-low-zoom
 * OSM-GB:highway-junctions
 * OSM-GB:roads-text-ref
 * OSM-GB:roads-text-name
 * OSM-GB:ferry-routes
 * OSM-GB:aerialways
 * OSM-GB:footbikecycle-tunnels
 * OSM-GB:guideways
 * OSM-GB:tracks-notunnel-nobridge
 * OSM-GB:trams
 * OSM-GB:turning_circle-casing
 * OSM-GB:turning_circle-fill

OSM-GB:Boundaries
Administrative boundaries are collected in this group, including: Example call
 * OSM-GB:admin-01234
 * OSM-GB:admin-5678
 * OSM-GB:admin-other
 * OSM-GB:misc_boundaries

OSM-GB:Power
eatures about the power network, including:
 * OSM-GB:power_line
 * OSM-GB:power_minorline
 * OSM-GB:power_towers

OSM-GB:Buildings
Sub-layers including the buildings, city builtups (low zoom), walls, house names and numbers. Example call
 * OSM-GB:builtup
 * OSM-GB:citywalls
 * OSM-GB:castle_walls
 * OSM-GB:buildings-lz
 * OSM-GB:buildings
 * OSM-GB:housenumbers
 * OSM-GB:housenames

OSM-GHB:Water
All features related to the water resources, including: Example call
 * OSM-GB:water-lines-casing
 * OSM-GB:water_areas
 * OSM-GB:water-areas-overlay
 * OSM-GB:glaciers-text
 * OSM-GB:water-lines-med-zoom
 * OSM-GB:water_lines
 * OSM-GB:waterway-bridges
 * OSM-GB:dam
 * OSM-GB:marinas-area
 * OSM-GB:piers-area
 * OSM-GB:piers
 * OSM-GB:locks

OSM-GB:Land
This group includes world boundaries, coastlines and the land covers: Example call and another
 * OSM-GB:world
 * OSM-GB:coast-poly
 * OSM-GB:landcover
 * OSM-GB:landcover_line

OSM-GB:__all__
This is not a group, but a single flat layers including all the above sub-layers rendered in the standard order. Example call

Note:

 * The layer order in OSM-GB:__all__ is not completely theme oriented. This means that overlaying the output of all the layer groups may not necessarily and exatcly produce the same layer order as it is done in OSM-GB:__all__.
 * WMS optimizes the feature representations according to the layer names put in each individual request. Each WMS call is stateless, so is not aware of the previous calls and is not aware of how its outputs are going to overlay in a particular GIS application. This means slight differences between GIS overlaing (overlaying individual map responses) and WMS overlaying (the response from a multi-layer WMS call), even if the call order is the same. For example, if layers A, B and C are requested separately and overlayed in a GIS application, the result may be slightly different from where a single WMS call requests for A, B and C. This can also cause extra differences between OSM-GB:__all__ output and a multi group overlay.