Post by Jane, Geography and Technology, Welsh Government
Darllenwch y dudalen hon yn Gymraeg
DataMapWales, the main source for geographical data in Wales, is getting a major upgrade to give a better experience for users. Whilst we are upgrading you won’t notice any change or reduction in service and DataMapWales geographical information and tools will still be available for all our users.
Why upgrade?
All systems need an upgrade to make sure they take advantage of enhancements and improvements. This is the case for our DataMapWales service. The upgrade will help ensure DataMapWales remains at the forefront of geospatial applications.
What improvements will you see?
The upgrade makes several crucial improvements available to DataMapWales. It will bring a modernised user experience for improved data navigation, search, and visualisation through:
- improved search and filtering options, for easier dataset location;
- more sophisticated data management tools which allow better organisation and categorisation for people who use the service;
- support for more geographic data formats and improved performance with large or complex datasets; and,
- better working with the data catalogue and other data services.
And there are lots of other ones which you won’t see
Under the bonnet, this upgrade will bring with it enhancements in security, performance and interoperability (the way in which the service can interact with other systems). While you may not notice these changes, they are important so that DataMapWales will be a more powerful, secure and user-friendly tool that ensures Wales stays connected to the latest data and digital advances.
How long will it take?
Upgrading DataMapWales requires a careful approach to minimise the impact it will have on our large user base. The upgrade work has already started and is expected to be completed by the end of March. As part of the upgrade, we will be working through a number of different phases, including significant testing and checking of the new service before we migrate and go live. There may be some disruption to the service when we do migrate and we will make users aware of this via the service, social media and existing contact lists.
If you have any questions about the upgrade or want to know more details, please contact the DataMapWales team via DMWSupport@gov.wales.