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Data Transformation

Not boiling the ocean

Ocean

Every organisation has its commonly used phrases and, since starting in Defra in October, I keep hearing people use the term ‘we aren’t trying to boil the ocean’. It’s an evocative term, but we could use it to describe Data …

Reducing duplication of Geospatial Information use across Defra

Travel Guidance Geography Atlas Map Market Paper

Much of Defra’s work relies on good access to, and use of, various kinds of geographical data. At present Defra has numerous local repositories within individual organisations which, in addition to being costly to maintain, can also lead to problems …

A digital-data future at Ordnance Survey

This 1790 OS-proto-map shows Major General William Roy's work with Greenwich and Paris Observatories to improve latitude and longitude records

On a recent visit to Ordnance Survey (OS) I learned about the diversity of geospatial data and innovation OS undertakes. OS was born in 1791 under the ambition of creating a superior map of Britain. While world-famous for their paper …

Sustainable Intensification research and Agri-Environment: win-win for sharing resources

Tree in a yellow field

The global population is rapidly expanding, increasing pressure on our finite resources and ability to produce food. In addition the food that we do have is not currently in the areas where it is needed most. We are facing a …

The right GIS tool for the job

Screenshot of QGIS software

#DefraData's Tim Ashelford compares his first experiences with free and open source geographical information software QGIS with proprietary alternatives. He is joined by QGIS pro Alexandra Kilcoyne from Natural England.

Data Practitioners are invisible – until something goes wrong

Pylons and telegraph poles

Do you feel like sometimes you're working in a vacuum; no one really understands the data publishing problems you have and no-one can help?  Well, welcome to the Data practitioners' group – they can solve them all! Well maybe not …