Why should I use Stanfords Business Mapping?
Our Business Mapping division is one of the country’s top suppliers of large scale mapping & data products for planning & business use. We are an Ordnance Survey Premier Partner, Infoterra preferred reseller, UKMap official reseller & one of only 4 suppliers accredited by the Planning Portal.
link to top What products does Stanfords Business Mapping offer?
There are two ways to order from Stanfords Business Mapping – online using our self-serve tool Stanfords Portal or via our National Service Centre:
1. Order from Stanfords Portal -
Ordnance Survey Maps for Planning (1:200 to 1:2500 scale, monochrome or colour)
Stanfords VectorMap (derived from OS MasterMap) DWG, DXF or ESRI data
LiDAR Terrain & Surface Height Data DWG & DXF for CAD or ASCII Grid for GIS
OS mid-small scale mapping: OS Streetview (1:10k), 1:25k, 1:50k & 1:250k JPEG or TIFF
RGB Aerial Photography – ©GeoPerspectives 25cm & 12.5cm resolution data
Coming Soon –
Flood map data Heighted Buildings data Historical Mapping GOAD Plans British Geological Survey data Land Registry Plans
2. Order from Stanfords Service Centre -
Ordnance Survey Maps for Planning (1:200 to 1:2500 scale, monochrome or colour)
Stanfords VectorMap (derived from OS MasterMap) DWG, DXF or ESRI data
UKMap® 1:1000 scale Map data – DWG & DXF for CAD or ESRI, MapInfo and Oracle for GIS
LiDAR Terrain & Surface Height Data DWG & DXF for CAD or ASCII Grid for GIS
OS mid-small scale mapping: OS Streetview (1:10k), 1:25k, 1:50k & 1:250k JPEG or TIFF
RGB Aerial Photography – ©GeoPerspectives 25cm & 12.5cm resolution data
OS Landplan 1:10000 TIFF or Paper Plots
Groundsure Environmental Reports (Flood & Ground Stability)
Historic OS Mapping (Prints only)
link to top What is the website address for Stanfords Portal?
http://www.geostore.com/stanfordsportal
link to top I need a map for Land Registry search / planning permission; can I get this from Stanfords?
Yes you can. Generally, the Land Registry & Planning Authorities will request an A4 1:1250 4 hectare (200x200m) map for urban areas or an A4 1:2500 16 hectare (400x400m) map for rural areas. They may also request a more detailed ‘block plan’ at either 1:500 or 1:200 scale.
All these maps can be ordered online via Stanfords Portal or from our Service Centre.
link to top Can I mark my property/land boundary on my map?
Using our ‘Auto-annotate’ tool in Stanfords Portal you can add red and/or blue outlines to your map to show boundaries as you place your order.
For assistance please view the animated tutorial accessed from Stanfords Portal homepage or visit our user guides page – http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/userguides
link to top How can I make an order?
1. From Stanfords Portal –
To buy a planning map or data file online visit our Planning Portal accredited site – Stanfords Portal http://www.geostore.com/stanfordsportal
Registration for the site is instantaneous and only incurs a small, one off, administrative charge of £1.50 + vat payable online through a secure WorldPay card service. Customers self-serving via Stanfords Portal benefit from our best ever pricing for A4 planning maps & CAD data files.
You’ll need the postcode & address details of your required site and credit/debit card details to pay for your order via WorldPay.
For assistance using our Portal site please visit http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/userguides/ or click the View Animation link on the Portal homepage to watch a demonstration of how to order A4 planning Maps or VectorMaps for use in CAD/GIS.
Please note that orders placed via Stanfords Portal are delivered to the Order History section of your Portal account for you to download & are not emailed or posted to you.
2. From Stanfords Business Mapping National Service Centre –
To order from our National Service Centre (Monday – Friday 9am to 6pm) please call 0845 880 3730 or email mailto:digital@stanfords.co.uk with the information below.
Delivery / Dispatch – Would you like your map delivered by post or email?
Map Location Information – Full address & postcode of your map site centre. If your required site centre is not a property address, please provide as much detail as possible e.g. “Centre map on junction of High Street & Station Road” or provide us with a snapshot of mapping showing the site centre & extents required.
Required Map Scale – Map data files can be produced at any scale from 1:200 – 1:250,000; pre-defined paper size maps (A4 & A3) are available at 1:200, 1:500, 1:1250 or 1:2500 scale.
Your address details (postal and/or email) - If we are emailing a map to you we still need your postal address details to issue your receipt to.
Method of Payment - Either credit or debit card details (not Amex) or your Stanfords Account Number.
link to top I bought a map through Stanfords Portal and it hasn’t been delivered to me. What might be the problem?
With the exception of large aerial photo data files that may be posted to you on CD due to file size, all orders placed on Stanfords Portal will be delivered to the Order History section of your Stanfords Portal account for you to download.
Click the My Account link (top right of screen) then choose Order History from the menu displayed. A list of all orders placed is now shown. Navigate to the required Order Number & ‘Click for Order Details’ – now click the Orange Download button to download & save your file. Please note that downloads are only available up to 20 days after order completion so always save your order rather than opening it directly from the site.
If the Order Status shows as ‘Processing’ rather than Complete or Invoice please contact our service centre team on 0845 880 3730 / mailto:digital@stanfords.co.uk for assistance.
If an Order Number is shown in the Order History view but no Download button is shown after clicking for order details then a stage has been missed in the order process & payment has only been made for the OS view charge (unless the Order Number is for your Portal registration). Either a product has not been added to the basket or the terms & conditions box for the selected product wasn’t ticked – please make your order again & contact our service team if you require assistance.
link to top I can’t navigate the Stanfords Portal site easily. What should I do?
A summary of the steps required to place an order is shown below. A full user guide & A4 quick guides for products available in Stanfords Portal can be downloaded from http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/userguides
You can also view an animated tutorial on the Portal homepage to watch a demonstration of how to order A4 planning Maps or VectorMaps for use in CAD/GIS – click the View Animation button at http://www.geostore.com/stanfordsportal
To place an order in Stanfords Portal –
•Log in to the site with your email & password
•Enter search criteria e.g. Postcode
•Choose a site centre from the address list below the map window
•Choose the required main product category e.g. Planning Application Maps
•Choose specific product e.g. OS MasterMap Mono (accept the view charge for large scale OS Mapping)
•Select one of the product options below the map window e.g. 4.0 Hectare(s) A4 1:1250 scale
• Tick the Select to order box to generate a price
•Add to Basket & then Go to Basket
•Click Submit (tick product terms & conditions box)
•Pay via WorldPay
After making payment via the WorldPay site return to Stanfords Portal & download your map/data from the Order History section accessed via the My Account link.
In addition, telephone support is available from our Service Centre, Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. Onsite training for multiple users can be provided, please contact our Service Manager to discuss.
link to top I haven’t received a receipt / invoice for my order, how do I obtain this?
For any orders placed via Stanfords Portal & paid for via the WorldPay site, a VAT receipt is emailed to you.
You should receive an email from mailto:noreply@stanfords.co.uk titled ‘Stanfords Portal Order (order number) accepted’. Attached to this email is your pdf VAT receipt.
If you haven’t received this email please check your SPAM/JUNK email folders. If you haven’t received the email with your receipt attached please email mailto:digital@stanfords.co.uk & our service team will arrange for a receipt to be sent to you.
For any orders placed via Stanfords Portal & paid for ‘by Invoice’ or for orders placed via our Service Centre, an invoice/receipt will be dispatched to you by post.
link to top Do you offer user guides?
Full User Guides with text & screenshots for assistance for both Stanfords Portal & Stanfords GIS can be downloaded from http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/userguides
A4 Quick Guides (product specific) can also be downloaded from the link above.
You can watch a tutorial from the Portal homepage that shows how to place orders for planning maps or Vector data – click the ‘View Animation’ button at http://www.geostore.com/stanfordsportal
link to top When is the Service Centre open for support?
Our service team can be contacted 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
T: 0845 880 3730
F: 0845 880 3731
E: mailto:digital@stanfords.co.uk
Stanfords Business Mapping (Suite 302A)
Triangle Business Centre, Fennel Street
Exchange Square
Manchester M4 3TR
link to top I’m logged in to Stanfords Portal but the page is not displaying correctly, why?
What browser are you using to connect to the Internet/access Stanfords Portal? ISP browsers such as AOL or BT Internet will not load Portal pages correctly. Use either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox to access our Portal site.
link to top My planning map hasn’t printed to scale. What could be wrong and how do I resolve it?
If a map image does not print to scale then check your print settings. You need to ensure that the ‘Auto-rotate & centre’ option is unchecked & that page scaling is set to ‘None’. Also make sure that the ‘Scale to Fit’ option on the Effects tab of Printing Preferences is unchecked.
link to top I don’t need to see actual buildings but I do need the mapping to be quite detailed. What are the options?
1. Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey maps & data will almost always be sold under a 12 month usage licence, customers should bear in mind that when they purchase OS map data they are not purchasing the data itself but a licence to use the data.
Essentially there are 3 main types of licence - Paper Map Copying Licence (PMCL), Internal Business Use (IBU) & Plan Design Build (PDB). Under the PDB licence, OS CAD data can be purchased with a licence between 12 & 30 months use.
Maps & Data purchased through Stanfords Portal are provided under the IBU licence. Vector data with the PDB licence can be ordered from our service centre.
Further details on OS licensing can be found at
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/bestpracticemaps/
2. UKMap®
The GeoInformation Group's UKMap data is sold as standard with a 12 month licence but can be ordered with licence between 1 & 4 years.
The licence includes archiving, sharing & derived data rights, for more details please contact our Service Centre team.
link to top What is UKMap?
UKMap® is a modern, highly detailed and feature rich mapping database. Its innovative design offers users a flexible choice of integrated map layers within a single geographic information source. Based on 1:1,000 scale topographic mapping, UKMap® accurately locates buildings, garages, property boundaries, roads, trees and a multitude of other features. What’s more, it comprises addresses, a retail database including above ground usage, building heights, a wide range of places of interest as well as aerial photography and digital terrain model layers.
UKMap data is available for Greater London areas & is supplied in 1km2 tiles in a range of common industry formats such as ESRI, MapInfo and Oracle for GIS users. For CAD users, Stanfords can translate the data into dwg / dxf formats.
Stanfords’ CAD Compatible UKMap data includes either DXF or DWG:
Lines file – Styled as typical Planning VectorMap data with additional layers including Address, Points of Interest, Contours & Building Heights 3D.
Land Use Themed Areas file –Coloured & styled by Land Use (in line with NLUD 4.4 land use classification).
Themed Areas file – Coloured & styled by land & building use.
3d Surface & Points – This file contains 2 elements; a regular spaced grid of X,Y,Z points & a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN) surface stored as a single block feature.
Aerial Photo Data – Delivered in ECW compressed file format.
UKMap data is licensed for unlimited use across the purchasing organisation (additional licensing may be required to use data for Commercial publications, resale or use over the Internet). The data is sold as standard with a 1 year license though data can be ordered with 1 to 4 years license.
UKMap is provided with ‘Derived Data Terms’ enabling users to keep data they create using UKMap as a base and share it with partners. UKMap is also provided with an archive license.
link to top What height products do you offer? What software do I need to be able to use them?
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is high accuracy, high resolution elevation data derived from airborne sources. A laser is used to measure the distance between the aircraft and ground and between the aircraft and the vegetation canopy or building tops.
LiDAR Digital Surface Model (DSM) – is a topographic model of the earth’s surface that includes buildings, vegetation, roads, and natural terrain features. The key benefit of the DSM is that it provides a geometrically correct base map.
LiDAR Digital Terrain Model (DTM) – is a topographic model of the bare earth that has had vegetation, buildings, and other cultural features digitally removed, enabling users to infer terrain characteristics possibly hidden in the DSM.
There is only coverage for most of the major cities. For towns and rural areas our 5m height data may prove sufficient.
5m Digital Terrain Data is produced from aerial photography in the form of a regular grid of points at 5m intervals with +/- 1.5m vertical accuracy. Each point has X, Y, and Z coordinates in British National Grid represented as 6 + 2 digits.
Customers will require either CAD or GIS systems to use this data. Basic CAD systems will allow you to view the grid of points & look up the Z (height) value in the properties of the points. 3-D CAD systems can combine LiDAR with map data to produce 3-D models & contours.
link to top I have bought a CAD file (dxf/ dwg) but when I load it into CAD no mapping is visible. Why is this and how can I resolve the problem?
Occasionally when customers open map data in CAD it appears that there is no data in the dwg/dxf file. This is usually due to the CAD system not zooming correctly to the extents of the mapping. Although the screen may appear blank the data will be present but the view is zoomed out so the data appears as a small point.
To bring the data in to view, use the Zoom Extents or Zoom All command in CAD. If the data still isn’t displaying correctly check your layers to see if more than one bit of data is in the workspace & delete any additional features other than the map file.
link to top What is GIS?
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) is a system that incorporates geographical features with tables of data in order to map features & points of interest, record information linked to these features & points and analyse this data.
The key word to this technology is Geography – the data (or at least a portion of the data) is spatial, i.e. data that is in some way referenced to locations on the earth. Coupled with this spatial data is attribute data. Attribute data is additional information about each of the spatial features & is usually held in tables / databases linked to features & points on a map.
link to top What is Stanfords GIS?
Organisations looking to implement GIS face a range of technological & organisational challenges, the key barriers being - installation & maintenance, in-house IT knowledge & data storage / hosting and high up front costs.
Stanfords GIS overcomes these challenges:
Simple system –
Web based (no need to load or manage complicated and expensive software).
No maintenance required –
We update all map data and manage the web application.
Straightforward set up –
Following agreement, we supply a set(s) of secure log in details giving users instantaneous access to Stanfords GIS website.
Extremely easy to use –
If you can use a website you can use Stanfords GIS - there is no need to be GIS trained.
Aside from the simplicity of implementation and system use, and the management of data hosting & system maintenance, Stanfords GIS delivers real benefits to any organisation managing property, land portfolios or assets:
•Visualise the location & spread of your property portfolio and, if you wish, produce screen prints for meetings or reports
•Upload, view and manage attribute fields linked to properties containing property details, tenancy details, leases & licences & title documentation
•Link photos & planning/design documents to a property
•Create your own additional geographic layers & points to specify Estate Boundaries, Grounds Maintenance areas, Land ownership & Tree locations
•Create, view and edit attribute fields linked to your additional data layers including titles, maintenance works & contractor details, tree types, graffiti hotspots, risk assessments & works required.
•Build and run multi-layered reports and export the results either as a csv, a pdf or on to the map window itself to illustrate trends/ patterns or geographical groupings
•Purchase additional data for new portfolios/ development opportunities.
As Stanfords GIS is web based, you have access to the system from anywhere in your organisation & when on site. Any updates made to your portfolio information will be updated & available to all immediately
link to top Do you offer a trial site for GIS?
Yes we do. A free trial account can be provided showing a sample of your property portfolio to enable you to evaluate our GIS. We can also provide an on-site system demonstration for you & your colleagues - please contact our service centre to discuss your requirements.
link to top Do you offer a digitization service of old paper maps?
Yes we do. Using Stanfords GIS, we can take delivery of a customer’s paper map archive of out of date plans/Land Registry title deeds and re-draw this information & save as a live and active series of layers within the site. We will then give you access to Stanfords GIS allowing you to view & edit the plans over the web & have access to the data across your entire organisation.
Prices for this service are dependant on the area of mapping required to cover the extents of your paper map archive – please contact our service centre to discuss your requirements.
link to top What on-site training do you offer?
Stanfords offer free onsite training for customers on how to use Stanfords Portal & GIS sites.
Our CPD training programme has modules covering the range of geographic data products available, technical specifications & accuracy, product licensing, sourcing data & how to order, combining datasets & associated cost savings. In 2010, working in partnership with a specialist CAD training provider, our training workshop modules will extend to using & combining data products in CAD, producing terrain & surface models, using vector height data to produce 3-D models.
For further information please contact our Service Manager on 0845 880 37360 or email mailto:digital@stanfords.co.uk
link to top Do you offer any discounts?
Discounts may be offered to customers with multiple offices and/or a large mapping/data requirement. Please contact our Service Manager to discuss your requirements.
link to top I would like to be able to pay on account. Is this possible?
Credit accounts are available for repeat business customers with a large mapping/data requirement. To discuss your account & invoice options please contact our Service Manager
link to top Are the faq s available for download?
Yes, there is a pdf incorporating all faq s on the Stanfords Portal userguides page:
http://www.stanfords.co.uk/business-mapping/userguides
link to top
Where are asset owners requested to respond too? (How will asset owners respond to my request?)
All Asset Owners are requested to respond directly to you. Responses will vary from actual asset plans being sent, the asset owner informing you they don’t have assets in the area, or some asset owners will ask you to forward payment for the Asset Plans before they are issued.
link to top What is the Caller Confirmation used for?
The Caller Confirmation is a record for you outlining all of the Asset Owners who have been contacted on your behalf. A Plan Request has been sent to each Asset Owner with your contact details. When you receive correspondence back from the Asset Owners you should tick them off the list. It is very important for you to make sure you receive information from All Asset Owners on the lsit provided before commencing any digging activity.
link to top
How long do i have to wait to receive confirmations?
In most cases Asset Owners respond to you within 10 working days of you submitting your Plan Request. In some cases where postage is required, plans may take longer to arrive. If you need to follow up a Request for Plans you can contact the relevant Asset Owner as listed on the Caller Confirmation page.
link to top
An Asset Owner has not responded, what can i do?
You should contact any Asset Owners who have failed to respond to your asset plan request within 10 days by using the phone number sent to you on your beforeUdig confirmation advice.
link to top
Which reference number do i use when calling an Asset Owner?
If you need to contact an Asset Owner you should refer to the "Caller Confirmation" sheet for that particular job and quote the Job Number to the Asset Owner.
link to top
How long is the information valid for?
The information provided to you by Asset Owners will normally explain how long that information is valid for. However usually it tends not to be valid for longer than 30 days.
link to top
Does beforeUdig hold asset plans on behalf of Asset Owners?
No, beforeUdig does not hold any asset plans.
link to top
Some Asset Owners charge for plans, will i be automatically charged?
No, all Asset Owners are requested to supply you with a quotation for any chargeable plans they might have for your area of interest. Please note that often Asset Owners do not have plans and, if they do, sometimes they don't levy a charge for them. I.e 20 Asset Owners on your Caller Confirmation list will very rarely result in 20 chargeable plans. Indeed the proportion is more often than not significantly less than half. You are also not compelled or committed to purchasing any chargeable plans from the Asset Owners under the beforeUdig service, although we would recommend that you do.
link to top