guidance pages / documents for using maps

[AndyPorter]

a place for us to curate a list of good documents about using maps in public services...

primarily for the purpose of pre-reading for the services week - maps in services work - during which we'd like to create a guidance page for the Government service manual. So a good set of guidance to pre-read would allow us to start the week with a good idea about what are the common principles / things are that should go into a Gov service manual page

[AndyPorter]

https://hmlr-design-system-staging.herokuapp.com/guidance/maps/

At HM Land Registry we've drafted this 'preliminary' guidance for teams:

• Its on our design system staging server so available to anyone with the link
• by 'preliminary' we mean - its not tried and tested by anyone yet, it's our first go at having guidance for our teams, but it is based on work we've found across government and our experiences in 1 or 2 of our services
• Note: the page linked here has been updated following our content review, so looks different and reads better than what we showed on Wed 5th March

[AndyPorter]

Sources used at HM Land Registry to inform our work

DEFRA public wiki page on using interactive maps
DEFRA Design standards for maps
Digital Land – Map component
Transport for West Midlands, Map style
Ordnance Survey Labs contains tools and information for using maps. Of note is the GeoDataViz Toolkit, including their Cartographic design principles

Published on 27 Feb 2025 by MHCLG is Recommended standards for local authorities for their local plan policies maps including what themes to use, and what visual elements and symbology styles to apply.

[egil1978]

Thanks for sharing the GDV Toolkit and OS Labs pages @AndyPorter.

We also have More than Maps which is about a year old now but contains some great information about everything related to Geo but there are some great chapters on Map and Data Viz design.

[egil1978]

We are also in the process of creating our own Design System/Language that embodies every internal and external output from OS.

[KAllen-beep]

https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/dc97ff4d-403f-4d02-b719-f68aa8d1cd63/city-intelligence-data-design-guidelines

[harriacb]

Does anyone have any guidance on data maps such as Choropleth? There are a lot of questions I have and it would be good to share thoughts and practices.

[egil1978]

We have some thoughts on thematic maps that you can access through More than Maps Thematic Maps

[egil1978]

Might be worth thinking about where the best place for putting questions might be?

[harriacb]

Thank you

[AndyPorter]

https://service-manual.ons.gov.uk/data-visualisation/chart-types/choropleth-maps

[harriacb]

Please would you kindly send me today's Zoom link. I'm having problems getting in. Anna Harris | Geography Operations Manager Data Architecture Location & Integration | Data Growth & Operations Office for National Statistics | Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol +44 (0)1329 444842 ***@***.******@***.***>| www.ons.gov.uk<http://www.ons.gov.uk/> | @ons<http://twitter.com/ONS> | @ONSFocus<https://twitter.com/ONSfocus> From: Paul Naylor ***@***.***> Sent: 18 March 2025 09:41 To: alphagov/govuk-design-system ***@***.***> Cc: Harris, Anna ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [alphagov/govuk-design-system] guidance pages / documents for using maps (Discussion #4531) You don't often get email from ***@***.******@***.***>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> Caution: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. Might be worth thinking about where the best place for putting questions might be? - Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#4531 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A6O3CRPIC7AJKXNXQJQQZET2U7S4TAVCNFSM6AAAAABYPIQJMSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENJTGU4TMMA>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.******@***.***>>

[harriacb]

The Maps in Services call has been moved to Google Meet https://meet.google.com/bis-dkkc-crn Anna Harris | Geography Operations Manager Data Architecture Location & Integration | Data Growth & Operations Office for National Statistics | Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol +44 (0)1329 444842 ***@***.******@***.***>| www.ons.gov.uk<http://www.ons.gov.uk/> | @ons<http://twitter.com/ONS> | @ONSFocus<https://twitter.com/ONSfocus> From: Paul Naylor ***@***.***> Sent: 18 March 2025 09:41 To: alphagov/govuk-design-system ***@***.***> Cc: Harris, Anna ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [alphagov/govuk-design-system] guidance pages / documents for using maps (Discussion #4531) You don't often get email from ***@***.******@***.***>. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> Caution: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe. Might be worth thinking about where the best place for putting questions might be? - Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#4531 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A6O3CRPIC7AJKXNXQJQQZET2U7S4TAVCNFSM6AAAAABYPIQJMSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTENJTGU4TMMA>. You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.******@***.***>>

[alextea]

MHCLG have pulished this guidance on creating a policies map: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-present-your-policies-map

[mcoulthurst]

https://service-manual.ons.gov.uk/data-visualisation/chart-types

[AndyPorter]

for example: https://service-manual.ons.gov.uk/data-visualisation/chart-types/choropleth-maps

[dannyleech]

Some resources that we have used to help with improving accessibility of interactive maps

Map styles
ESRI - work on a high contrast basemap
https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-living-atlas/mapping/working-with-enhanced-contrast-basemaps-to-improve-accessibility/
Ordnance Survey Accessible styles sheets for deuteranopia and tritanopia
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/colour-blind-friendly-mapping

Keyboard interface
ESRI Keyboard interface concept
https://github.com/Esri/a11y-map
Google maps
Keyboard interface and some screen reader notifiactions
Azure maps - keyboard, screen reader and map styles
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-maps/map-accessibility

[KAllen-beep]

General guidance on maps in public services on the Scottish Government Design System site: https://designsystem.gov.scot/guidance/maps

[AndyPorter]

this looks good. i like the be cautious, accessibility, provide other ways for users, what to check in discovery, the colour advice

[stevenjmesser]

A good chat between @dannyleech, @mcoulthurst and some folks at Natural England this week. Both helpfully shared their map components, which we’d like to fork and start using. Here’s the map components from HM Land Registry and from Environment Agency.