11th December 2009 – The People’s Map has today launched its map of London, covering over 400 sq km stretching from Richmond Park in the South West to Epping Forest in the North East. This is a truly independent map of the nation’s capital city, free of Crown Copyright and derived data issues with a fresh new take on licensing. It is suitable for use by anyone whether they be a marketer, cartographer, GIS professional, web guru, graphic designer or member of the public. The remainder of London, within the M25, will be available in early 2010.

The People’s Map is unique, having a single database for all eleven map scales, from 1:1m to 1:12,000, with a clean, clear and consistent style across all scales, something that no other mapping achieves. There are eleven layers with over 600 different feature classifications. These layers include admin boundaries, postcodes, buildings, built up areas, coastline, drainage, land use, place name gazetteer, points of interest, roads & paths, railways, rivers and canals. All layers are available at all scales. Available in a range of vector and raster digital file formats based on the British National Grid coordinate system, the map can be supplied on CD/DVD, via FTP, via WMS feed or simply as hard copy.

The People's Map is a web-based mapping project (www.peoplesmap.com), which allows anyone to become part of the map creation and maintenance process simply by visiting the website, registering and then ‘drawing’ over Getmapping’s highly accurate orthorectified aerial photography. Work in progress can be viewed in the unverified layer whilst the finished map, the result of exhaustive validation by People’s Map cartographers, can be viewed in the verified layer.

Map makers, graphic designers, media companies, retail organisations in fact  anyone wishing to purchase or create their own maps can order base maps for areas of the People’s Map which are complete and then should they wish, apply their own styling, changing colours altering fonts and line weights to suit. They can also add their own data to produce a map which is completely customised to their own specific application.

Along with London, the People’s Map already has complete 1:12,000 scale street mapping of Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bath, as well as other cities in progress such as Bournemouth, Brighton, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Southampton, Coventry and Milton Keynes.