A new map of greater London will be available from September, courtesy of a new mapping programme independent of the Ordnance Survey.
The programme, branded as UKMap, is the brainchild of the GeoInformation Group. Over the next few years it plans to map more than 500 towns and cities covering all urban areas with a population of more than 10,000. This exercise will cover some 24,000 square kilometres throughout the UK.
London will be the first complete UKMap city covering more than 1,700 square kilometres and will be available from 1 September 2009. Other areas to be published in 2010 include the West Midlands conurbation, Merseyside, Manchester and parts of Yorkshire.
GeoInformation describes its product as "a highly detailed, feature-rich mapping database, which comprises integrated map layers and attribute tables".
Based on a 1:1,000 scale, UKMap includes buildings with 3D information, road detail including pavements, lane markings, pedestrian crossings and speed humps, a full address gazetteer, inferred property boundaries, land-use coding and a wide range of points of interest. It also includes aerial photography and terrain layers.
The company said its mapping services will offer a significant amount of new and essential location information suitable for flood modelling, highway management, network planning and urban design.
GeoInformation Group chief executive Seppe Cassettari said: "The technology changes of the last few years have made the creation of UKMap not only technically feasible but commercially viable. There is a growing demand for choice when it comes to mapping."
Managing director Alun Jones said: "UKMap also offers choice with innovative licensing and flexibility when it comes to publishing and online distribution. We strongly believe that this will revolutionise the way many people think about using large-scale geospatial information."
