WFS for VMD

The Service
In addition to serving the project's main data, the Ordnance Survey's Open Data is also served via the standard Web Services. This service can facilitate the process of conflating the both sides and may benefit the users of both OSM and VMD. At this stage, the VectorMap® District data (VMD) is served as a multi-layered WFS in British National Grid (EPSG:27700). VMD is a map on which you can overlay your own information. It can also be customized by selecting and styling different features in different ways. It is ideal for creating web applications. VMD contains only the most important information to give a clear, uncluttered backdrop map.


 * The URL of the WFS (to be used in GIS applications) is  http://www.osmgb.org.uk/ogc/wfs-vmd 
 * The URL of the WFS' GetCapabilities request is http://www.osmgb.org.uk/ogc/wfs-vmd?request=GetCapabilities

The WFS currently serves the following 20 vector layers:


 * Administrative boundary
 * Airport
 * Building
 * Electricity transmissionline
 * Glass house
 * Heritage site
 * Motorway junction
 * Named place
 * Public amenity
 * Railway station
 * Railway track
 * Railway tunnel
 * Road
 * Road tunnel
 * Spot height
 * Surface water area
 * Surface water line
 * Tidal boundary
 * Tidal water
 * Woodland

A sample request: http://www.osmgb.org.uk/ogc/wfs-vmd?SERVICE=WFS&VERSION=1.0.0&REQUEST=GetFeature&TYPENAME=OS-VMD:road&SRSNAME=EPSG:27700&BBOX=447901.707808,337571.014355,453015.418400,341833.260141

The layers have different set of attributes, according to the data structure defined for VMD. More information on each layer's data structure can be found here.

The WFS supports textual/vector output in any of the following formats: GML 2, GML 3.1, GML 3.2, GeoJSON, ShapeFile and CSV.

The VMD's last update is December 2012. This service contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2011.

GIS Applications
Please note that the number of features in some layers (particularly Road, Building, Surface Water) are huge if no bounding box or filter is applied, which can make a GIS application unstable. So it is not recommended to make a no-filter request. Instructions for QGIS and MapInfo are provided below. QGIS and Mapinfo are the current tested GIS applications.


 * QGIS users: First zoom to the interested area in a base maps, then add WFS layer having "Only request features overlapping the current view extend" checked. Note that the "Only request features overlapping the current view extend" feature has disappeared in the 1.80 build which makes loading of WFS layers very slow unless you add the bounding box request within your calling URL - it may be worth staying with 1.7.4 until this is resolved. A sample template is available that shows a local VMD overlay on top of the OSM map in British National Grid.
 * MapInfo users: When the interested area in zoomed on the base map, open WFS layer having a "Row Filter" selected. To do this, in "Open WFS" window, click on the interested WFS layer (having the same SRS as the base map), then press "Row Filter". In the next window, select "way" for "Column", "ogc:bbox" for the "Operator" and "Current Mapper" for the "Value" drop-down menus. Press "OK" twice to add the WFS layer.