We experienced some issues with the download dialog for anonymous users at around 3:30-4:40pm this afternoon (New Zealand standard time).
The issues have now been fully resolved, and we apologise for any delays or problems experienced trying to download geodata from Koordinates.
Following on from our search upgrade of three weeks ago, we’ve added better support for region-based searches.
Searches for “San Francisco geology” will now return layers which cover California and are relevant to the San Francisco region. And a search for “California transport” will return layers for the San Francisco region which are relevant to the all-of-California level.
You can now embed layer maps within your own webpages. Just copy-and-paste the ‘embed’ code visible on a layer page into your blog post.
The example embedded below is a Californian hillshade layer, otherwise known as a “terrain” layer.
California Hillshade (30m) on Koordinates
Wordpress.com update: Blogs hosted on Wordpress.com unfortunately filter out all iFrames, therefore the embed code won’t work for any blog with an address like ‘myblog.wordpress.com’. We’ve filed a support request for Wordpress to add support for embedding Koordinates maps, like they recently added for Google Maps.
A workaround for Wordpress MU is discussed here (h/t Dave Moskovitz).
A big problem with downloading and purchasing GIS data over the Internet is the size of the files to be downloaded.
Koordinates tackles this problem by:
The size estimates are generated ‘on the fly’ based on the layers you’ve added to your Cart and the area you’ve defined. In the example below, the Cadastral Road Network for half of New Zealand is estimated at 37Mb (Zipped).
The size estimate offered in the cart is based on assumptions of Shapefile and GeoJPEG as the download file-type. The Download and Checkout dialogs allow for more precise estimates of download sizes, based on file-type choice. The example below shows Transit Routes and USGS fault-lines for the Bay Area of California.
The default size estimate in the Cart: 22MB of Shapefiles
File-type set to MapInfo TAB: 14MB
File-type set to KMZ: 15MB
File-type set to DWG w/ GIS attributes: 110MB
Koordinates currently has a 1.5Gb-per-Zip download and purchase limit based on the estimated size. The DWG file-type has a lower download limit of 100Mb worth of vectors.
Commercial layers on Koordinates can now be sold with breakpoint (or tiered) pricing.
Buyers of such layers pay less per area (or feature) the more they buy.
How does it work?
The seller of a layer adds ‘breakpoints’ at which cheaper prices apply. Breakpoints are cumulative, so the total sale charge is the total of (Breakpoint 1 to Breakpoint 2) plus (Breakpoint 2 to Breakpoint 3) plus (Breakpoint 3 to Breakpoint 4), depending on which breakpoints apply.
Example
Imagine a commercial layer covering 80,000 Ha.
The seller of the layer decides on these breakpoints:
| Breakpoint – Area (Ha) | Price | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 0.1c per Ha | Buyer gets charged 0.1c per Ha for areas up to 1,000Ha. |
| 10,000 | 0.08c per Ha | Buyer gets charged 0.1c for the first 1,000Ha, then 0.08c per Ha from 1,000Ha to 10,000Ha. |
| 50,000 | 0.05c per Ha | Buyer gets charged 0.1c for the first 1,000Ha, 0.08c per Ha from 1,000Ha to 10,000Ha, then 0.05c per Ha from 10,000 to 50,000. |
| Above 50,000 | 0.04c per Ha | Buyer gets charged 0.1c for the first 1,000Ha, 0.08c per Ha from 1,000Ha to 10,000Ha, then 0.05c per Ha from 10,000 to 50,000, then 0.04c per Ha from 50,000Ha to 80,000Ha. |
Which looks like this when the seller creates the breakpoints in Koordinates:
These breakpoints then equal the following sale quotes for some example purchase areas:
| Purchase area | Quote | Effective cost |
|---|---|---|
| 500 Ha | $0.50 (but minimum $1 sale applies) | .1c per Ha |
| 3,000 Ha | $2.60 | 0.87c per Ha |
| 25,000 Ha | $15.70 | 0.63c per Ha |
| 75,000 Ha | $38.20 | .051c per Ha |
Koordinates now features enhanced search, which searches through the layer title, description, supplier, category, geotags and other relevant information.
Searching for “Auckland contours” will give you results like this:
We’re still working through some issues for certain region-based searches and hope to have them resolved soon.
Some new ways to follow Koordinates on Twitter:
And our personal Twitter accounts:
Koordinates has a variety of Atom feeds available for new layers. The feeds are split into categories, geographic areas and suppliers.
Some useful examples:
You can also mix categories, geographic areas and suppliers, for example:
Generally every page listing layers on Koordinates has an associated feed, except for search results.
Koordinates has added some new file formats to our download file format list:
They join our existing formats:
You can read an explanation of the Koordinates download system here.
Koordinates now supports large quantities of high-density vector data priced “Per Feature”. For those unfamiliar with GIS, a ‘feature’ is a line, point or polygon.
So a portion of a Koordinates layer with millions of points, polygons or polylines can now be purchased via simple pricing such as ‘1 feature for 0.1c’.
The initial type of data we aimed to support with this feature was cadastral or property data, which in New Zealand alone adds up to 2.5 million property parcels.
GIS consultancy Ollivier & Co is the first company to sell cadastral data on Koordinates. You can browse it here, or visit some of the layers directly:
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