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Ordnance Survey came visiting.


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I had been worrying about my final ridge height and had considered getting a surveyor in for a hi-tech mid build verification of my build elevation so far.

 

Then someone in a fancy new car turned up and started walking around holding a surveyor's pole with a white gps dome mounted on top. Apparently OS and local authorities try to cooperate and exchange information about news builds so that national maps can be kept up to date.

 

The man from OS asked permission to map my floor plinth and while chatting I asked what the current accuracy of his coordinates were having already established that the equipment uses a live differential GPS system with cross checks against known UK land positions. The answer was 2cm horizontally and 3cm vertically.

 

Anyhow the net result is that I now have some highly accurate heights for my plot reference stake, footing wall and the nearby reference drain cover in the road. It pays to be friendly to officialdom.

 

His new plots of my house position were immediately shown superimposed on an OS map system he carried around, the position looked good which was a relief having done my own setting out. I was told some commercial OS mapping services will show my house position within days though I doubt the free to view stuff online will be updated for months or years.

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This online mapping thing is interesting.

 

The Land registry maps seem to show the outline of my house, and the static caravan quite accurately, though not my shed, so that gives a window of time when that was derived.  I assume I too had "the visit" but was not present when he came.

 

What is even more interesting is the maps also show my house name.  That is even more interesting as I have not paid the council for a house name, and they tell me that updating the maps etc is part of the service I will get if ever I pay for the house name to be registered.......

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We had a similar experience, very nice chap turned up in his OS liveried Toyota Yaris Hybrid, went around with his pole and tablet and sure enough, our house appeared on the online maps within a week or two.  He told me that the OS  get automatic updates on new planning consents from the LAs, and add them to their list.

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2 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

We had a similar experience, very nice chap turned up in his OS liveried Toyota Yaris Hybrid, went around with his pole and tablet and sure enough, our house appeared on the online maps within a week or two.  He told me that the OS  get automatic updates on new planning consents from the LAs, and add them to their list.

Don't you think it is a little "creative" of the local council to tell me that getting my house mapped and added to the map databases is part of what will happen if I pay to register my house name?

 

As far as I can tell everything that they say I need to pay for has happened apart from notifying the address to Royal Mail which they won't do unless I pay them £100.

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1 minute ago, ProDave said:

Don't you think it is a little "creative" of the local council to tell me that getting my house mapped and added to the map databases is part of what will happen if I pay to register my house name?

 

As far as I can tell everything that they say I need to pay for has happened apart from notifying the address to Royal Mail which they won't do unless I pay them £100.

 

 

Definitely.  The OS chap came around here around a year or so before I registered the address.  It was still "The Plot" when he called, as we hadn't decided on a name, let alone paid the hefty fee to the council.

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1 hour ago, epsilonGreedy said:

…the equipment uses a live differential GPS system with cross checks against known UK land positions. The answer was 2cm horizontally and 3cm vertically.

 

That's mildly impressive. A decade or so ago they could only get to that level of accuracy with some fairly heavy post-processing once the data was taken back to the office.

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5 minutes ago, Ed Davies said:

That's mildly impressive

When I did my surveyors course I seem to remember that you had to get online quite quick after gathering the data to get accurate readings, that was in 2006.

Did manage to map the halls of residence at Exeter university to within 100mm. Not bad for a first go. Got over 90% in that assignment.

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16 minutes ago, Ed Davies said:

That's mildly impressive. A decade or so ago they could only get to that level of accuracy with some fairly heavy post-processing once the data was taken back to the office.

 

 

His display gave him a constant error margin. He explained the old system was dependent on a radio link with the company vehicle and at times required creative positioning of the car for optimal links to both the differential broadcast and the site pole. 

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1 hour ago, ProDave said:

What is even more interesting is the maps also show my house name.

 

 

I was able to get our chosen house name into the OS mapping system during the visit. He also plotted our future boundary hedge even though at present it is just a freshly seeded ridge of mud.

 

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

As far as I can tell everything that they say I need to pay for has happened apart from notifying the address to Royal Mail which they won't do unless I pay them £100.

 

 

I am holding out on this payment as well. Those organizations with a commercial incentive to find us have us well mapped by now.

 

Royal Mail even deliver to the wrong road on the other side of the plot for our convenience even though we chose the other road name bordering our plot for address purposes because it sounds far more posh.

 

Edited by epsilonGreedy
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2 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

Royal Mail even deliver to the wrong road on the other side of the plot for our convenience even though we chose the other road name bordering our plot for address purposes because it sounds far more posh.

 

Watch that one... when you go to get a formal address, you may well find they use the principle elevation and the road it faces. Had significant issues with this before !!

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7 minutes ago, PeterW said:

Watch that one... when you go to get a formal address, you may well find they use the principle elevation and the road it faces. Had significant issues with this before !!

 

 

I think we are lucky on that score, the principal elevation is towards the posh road even though practical access is the other side. I had to negotiate with our postman because his walking route preference is to enter the self build plots via the tacky road name, he explained that if we chose the other road he would have to shuffle our post manually across to delivery walking route. I dug my heels in and we are still friends, he stops for regular building progress updates.

 

The main problem is that the planning permission shows a gated front door access path and this will require a 2m hole in a hedge I would rather retain since no one will want to approach the house on foot from the official front door side. I have discussed with planning at the duty desk and the body language was not positive, "the problem is you got planning permission on the basis that your house would be engaged with this road".

Edited by epsilonGreedy
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30 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 Those organizations with a commercial inventive to find us have us well mapped by now.

 

Yes it is surprising how many databases I have found our new house on. It seems to be on everything except the PAF which it seems it will only ever get listed on if I pay the £100.  In spite of not being listed, Royal Mail have no difficulty delivering to us.

 

It is definitely on the local council's internal street name database, they have told me that on several occasions, but whenever challenged officially they then deny that it is there.

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I had ordnance survey turn up here a few years ago (on his push bike) at the request of council, really nice chap who spent a long time recording everything. All went well and nothing out of the ordinary he said. I wonder how I can access what he recorded ? 

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22 minutes ago, Cpd said:

I had ordnance survey turn up here a few years ago (on his push bike) at the request of council, really nice chap who spent a long time recording everything. All went well and nothing out of the ordinary he said. I wonder how I can access what he recorded ? 

 

FOI?

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31 minutes ago, Cpd said:

I had ordnance survey turn up here a few years ago (on his push bike) at the request of council, really nice chap who spent a long time recording everything. All went well and nothing out of the ordinary he said. I wonder how I can access what he recorded ? 

 

 

The consensus evolving here is that Ordnance Survey employ jolly nice chaps.

 

You might find an outline of your home at this zoomable OS map online: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk Put your postcode in the search box.

 

My newly plotted house outline is not showing up yet.

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^^ That map link shows an outline of my house, though not that detailed.

 

If I search the "Registers Of Scotland (Land Registry for England and Wales) I get a much more detailed map, showing a much more accurate outline of my house, and the house name shown next to it.

 

This land registry map seems to me the most detailed one available to view for free.

 

 

willow_burn.png

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55 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

 

You might find an outline of your home at this zoomable OS map online: https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk Put your postcode in the search box.

 

 

Very interesting - just searched for ours and found it to be recorded along with stand alone car port. They must have visited whilst we were away as we had no idea this had been done until this thread prompted us  to search - [Time line involved - April 2018 foundations down - moved in in Nov 2018]

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They appear to have missed my substantial outbuilding but have got my chicken run which was built later and is just a fenced area.

 

Pity I never met them. I would love to have asked them to GPS my boundaries :-)

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This one is fun.

 

This is where I used to live - the centre one not the Google pin. It is Grade II listed.

 

The thing in the red circle is a 40ft refrigerated lorry trailer that dad parked up in 1995 for storage ie 320 sqft ish on plan, with a row of former pigsties behind it. It was dismantled and removed in 2010 by me. Presumably in 2009 I could have turned it into a row of haysheds if no one could see the difference, and then into a house under Section whatever later.

 

That pond was filled in in the 1970s.

 

The path across the fields does not exist, but the one by the LH fence is a public footpath.

 

So I think this was updated from aerial photos.

 

old-house-map-2.jpg.5712f190655d343e9d995b55ac3578eb.jpg

 

Ferdinand

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