Frequently Asked Questions

Why have you set up the project?

Initially we set out just to capture and release numerical data relating to age and land use relevant to energy and demolition related research within academia, but we soon realised that the opportunity existed to capture many more types of data for use in multiple applications.

Who is it designed for?

Anyone interested in London and its buildings, or in cities and in large-scale building attribute data sets

How is the data going to be used?

Our main job is to facilitate the collection, collation, visualisation and dissemination of the data. We are very excited to see how they are used. To help simulate discussion and ideas we are including a data showcase which will allow anyone to upload examples of how they are using Colouring London data, or how the same data categories are being used in other areas of the world.

Is there nowhere else you can access this type of information at building level?

Not for London as a whole. The Valuation Office Agency holds the most comprehensive records for tax purposes, but these are restricted at building level, even to academia.

Why aren’t you crowdsourcing text-based information on a building’s history?

Our remit is to collect numerical data for statistical analysis. However we will also include an area where a link can be added to take you to any web site page/pages where text based information on the building can be accessed. IHS’s ‘Layers of London’ project http://alpha.layersoflondon.org/ and The Survey of London/CASA’s Whitechapel project https://surveyoflondon.org/map/. We are working closely with both HIS and The Survey.

Why did you choose these categories of data?

We asked many groups, ranging from academics and teachers to community groups and built environment professionals and found many overlaps. We have limited ourselves to 12 main categories to keep things simple, within which there are around thity sub categories. The prototype testing period will allow us to see whether there are any key categories missing.

How will you deal with people who may want to disrupt the system? 

Quantitative data on the building stock probably/hopefully not that controversial other than for large developments. Utilities’ location may be sensitive. We think unlikely to occur other than perhaps where issues surround a particular development. Here the system allows both developers and communities to upload and edit as they like and battle it out. For ‘Like me’, users have to login and have only one vote per building.

How do you deal with people who keep entering ‘wrong’ information.

Like Wikipedia you will have to keep re-editing, however edit histories will help users see where data comes from ie if it is uploaded by a specialist body.

What about the spaces in between buildings?

We recognise importance of this but we are only, in the first instance gathering data on buildings, themselves. We do however include information building position ie mid terrace, end of terrace, semi-detached and detached

What do you do about multiple uses that the footprint doesn’t record?

We can record multiple uses but are reliant on OSMM polygons so if not subdivided (as for UCL building) we have to either do this manually or group all uses under a single polygons. Our hope is that the project will stimulate discussion with OS regarding a more user friendly open version of the building footprints. Post war estates for examples have separate polygons for balconies etc which is not ideal.

Can this be rolled out to other cities?

Yes if OS permits use of polygons. Colouring London will act as a proof of concept.

Have you involved Open Street Map in the project?

We had a discussion with OSM at an international mapping conference in Leuven last year and would very much like the OSM community to become involved project. We hope that by generating data of relevance to local areas we will also stimulate an increase interest in OSM and in building polygon generation.

How can communities download spatial information if no coordinates are given?  

This is the main reason why address detail collection is so important, is so that we can offer some spatial reference within the open tables. We will also be asking the OSM community if, as suggested by a contributor, it can help upload WGS84 coordinates.