MapThat – OS National Geographic Database Layers

by David Crowther

In this previous blog we explored how to use QGIS to access data from the Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database – https://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/10620039318813-QGIS-How-to-access-the-National-Geographic-Database

…. And now in this new blog we will go through how you can download some of these datasets and publish them within a webGIS!

1 – Download Data

Having ordered your OS NGD data using the Ordnance Survey Data Hub, you can use the Download menu to download the files.

.. the files will be downloaded as zip files into your download folder.

… in this example I ordered the OS NGD data as GeoPackage files.

2 – Style in QGIS

Next use your desktop GIS e.g. QGIS to open the GeoPackage files.

Once added to the map, you can use the QGIS Layer Properties to style the data as required. For example, styling the building outlines as a salmon colour….

Applying styles to the buildings, residential gardens and road layers allow you to style OS NGD to be similar to the OS MasterMap styling!

.. and using QGIS style options you can very easily make the rail lines appear as railway tracks!

And finally, you can use the Thematic styling options to style the Sites layer using their subset classification values.

For all the styles that you have created, you can export the style options as GeoServer Style Layer Descriptors (SLDs) which can be used later to style our GeoServer layers!

3 – Upload to SQL Database

To upload the GeoPackage files from your PC, simply drag and drop them into your chosen spatial database e.g. SQL, PostGIS etc…

… once uploaded the GIS data will now be available as a table in your spatial database.

4 – Publish as WMS using GeoServer

Next we can use GeoServer to then publish the spatial database tables as WMS layers.

Using the SLDs that we saved from QGIS earlier to create Style files to then be applied to the WMS layers.

5 – Create layers in webGIS - MapThat

Finally, we will then publish the GeoServer WMS Layers within our WebGIS – MapThat!

Sites Layers -

Water and Rail Layers -

Buildings, Residential Gardens, Road, Rail, Water and Sites Layers -

So, using open-source GIS technology QGIS and GeoServer you can very quickly process, style, and then publish the Ordnance Survey National Geographic Database layers into your chosen web mapping application.