Counting Cows and Cabbages: Web-based Extraction and Delivery of Geo-referenced Data

As we move towards a 'common geographic framework' for a range of data, the concept of 'walking across' geo-spatial resources as diverse as population censuses, digital mapping data, historic statistical data, and digital boundary data, is becoming a reality, with the potential for introducing or removing 'layers' of geo-referenced data to suit the sophisticated needs of end-users. To use such data users must be able to find it and ascertain quality and suitability, thus the need for robust metadata with appropriate geographic tagging. The Agricultural Data Service (AgDS), as part of Edinburgh University Data Library, supplies geo-referenced data, derived from Agricultural Censuses from 1969, on the distribution of agricultural activity in Great Britain. For any year the data are collected for groups of farm holdings and made available as grid square estimates at various resolutions based on the British National Grid. This paper will describe the evolution from a command-line driven extraction and delivery service, to an online, web-based service complete with geo-interface allowing data visualisation and end-user interaction. Such a mechanism and resource forms part of a 'common geographic framework' that allows diverse geo-referenced data to be located by standardised common themes.