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Support staff

Support staff

Here we try to answer questions for staff who support Digimap at institutions. We hope this page will answer most of your questions, but please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything you are unsure about.

Who can subscribe to Digimap?

How do we subscribe?

Institutions can subscribe to individual collections or select a bundle pricing option. Each collection has a separate licence agreement. All Digimap subscriptions are managed by EDINA.

Who can use Digimap?

Check our help page for information. If you are in any doubt about who qualifies as an Authorised User, contact us to discuss.

How do users access Digimap?

Digimap Collections are only accessible via the UK Federation. Each institution will operate a username and password system which will allow access to electronic resources using either their own UK federation Identity Provider (IdP), or with OpenAthens (outsourced IdP).

Each user of Digimap Collections is required to:

  • login with their institutional username and password to Digimap Collections.

  • register with Digimap.

  • agree to the terms of the licence(s).

UK Federation

Digimap Collections are only accessible via the UK Federation. This means that all users must have a username and password which will operate with their local institutional systems. Each institution will operate a username and password system which will allow access to electronic resources using either their own UK Federation Identity Provider. Identity Providers can be run “in-house” or outsourced to other organisations (e.g. via OpenAthens). Your UK Federation support person(s) will be responsible for ensuring the correct attributes are being released for user accounts. To allow access to Digimap, they should be releasing eduPersonTargetedID and eduPersonScopedAffiliation.

What is EDINA’s role?

EDINA is based at the University of Edinburgh. EDINA licenses and hosts the map data. We design, develop and support Digimap Collections. EDINA has a Helpdesk plus a support team of spatial data specialists who develop and provide support on Digimap.

Your institution’s responsibilities

In this section we refer to the Licence. When your institution subscribes to any Digimap Collection, it will agree to a Licence. There is one licence for each Collection. These are available through the Subscription Portal when you subscribe. In addition to this, every user must agree to an End User Licence Agreement (EULA). All the EULAs can be found in our copyright help pages.

Institutional Contacts

It is the responsibility of every institution to provide names and contact details for at least one Site Representative.

Site Representatives

  1. You must inform us if the site representative’s contact details change or if you nominate a different person to be the site representative.
  2. You may nominate more than one site representative. This may be particularly useful if your institution has several different campuses or sites.
  3. If you subscribe to more than one Digimap Collection, you may have one person as the site representative for all Collections, or one person per Collection, depending on your preference.

What does the Site Representative need to do?

Given the numbers of institutions subscribing to Digimap, it is not possible for EDINA’s Helpdesk to be aware of each institutons’s access arrangements and support for electronic resources in order to assist every Digimap Collections user. We rely on site representatives to have local knowledge and be able to assist EDINA in helping users to identify appropriate sources of local help (e.g. where to find large format printing facilities, what to do if a user forgets their password, location of computing facilities with particular software).

  • The site representative is EDINA’s main point of contact with the institution.
  • We expect you to follow up enquiries relating to individual users if necessary (for example to assist a user in finding the appropriate source of help within the institution).
  • Promoting use of the service locally in order that the institution makes the most of its subscription.
  • Assisting and supporting users with Digimap as far as possible. Many requests for support can be answered more quickly and more effectively face to face rather than remotely.

Data Security Responsibilities

You may wish to nominate a “Responsible Officer” for Data Security. This could be someone already with a similar remit.

  • The licence requires each subscribing institution to take responsibility for ensuring the observance of the conditions for use of the Licensed Data under the terms of the Licences by all Authorised Users of their Authorised Institution.
  • The subscribing institution also has a duty to report to EDINA any suspected security weaknesses of the Digimap Service and to advise EDINA immediately of any actual incidences of misuse of the Licensed Data. We would also expect the subscribing institution to arrange implementation of changes to policies and procedures locally to ensure that the terms of the Licence are met.
  • The subscribing institution also has a duty to ensure that action plans for resolution of incidents are implemented fully and to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. This includes the data owner (e.g. Ordnance Survey) and the service provider (EDINA, University of Edinburgh). *) In practice, it is helpful to nominate a member of staff to undertake this role when necessary. The concept of a “Responsible Officer” who is tasked with ensuring that the subscribing institution has policies and procedures in place which ensure it can meet the obligations of the Licence and that these policies and procedures are implemented appropriately, is very useful. Some examples of things that should be checked might be:
  1. the Institution should have procedures in place which terminate access to electronic resources (including Digimap) on a timely basis when individuals cease to be members of that Institution (e.g. graduating students).
  2. the institution must have in place rigorous controls for issuing and maintaining password security.
  3. the institution should ensure that students have access to secure data storage space for their academic work.

Nominating a Responsible Officer

If we wish to nominate a Responsible Officer, who should it be?

  1. As demonstrated by the examples above, it is preferable that the Responsible Officer should be someone who has the authority to instigate changes to institution-wide policy and procedure or who can authorise reviews of policy and procedure to ensure that the terms of the Licence are met.
  2. The site representative can be the Responsible Officer for Data Security (or his/her Deputy), although this is often not practical given the different roles and responsibilities.
  3. We suggest you consider nominating your Institution’s Chief Information Officer, Head of Information Services, Information Services Operations Manager or suchlike to take on this role.
  4. It is also useful for the Responsible Officer to have a nominated Deputy with similar authority in the event that the Responsible Officer is absent or unavailable when action is required.

Security Incidents

In the event that the terms of any Licence are broken, we would expect there to be the following:

  1. A report giving details of the event or situation, to which both EDINA and the institution will contribute;
  2. Timely responses from the site representative (or the Responsible Office if one has been nominated) and any users involved regarding a resolution to the incident.
  3. We would expect resolution within 6 working weeks.

The Licences give some guidance in varying levels of detail on how incidents are to be resolved.

Technical Requirements

You do not need to install anything to start using Digimap. Digimap is a browser-based service. Your users can access it and use it in any recent web browser.

Digimap works with the latest versions of:

  • Edge
  • Safari
  • Firefox
  • Chrome

Mobile devices

Digimap works on Safari on an iPad. We would not recommend using Digimap on a mobile phone, as the display area is too small to view maps clearly.

Problems using the service?

If users do experience problems using any of the Digimap services or are have issues gaining access we would ask them to get in touch with us. When users contact us, it’s useful if they can:

  • Provide as much information as possible about the problem and how to replicate it, along with which web browser and version is being used.
  • If any error messages are being shown in the interface details of when they appear and what they say are very helpful.
  • The text of any failure message or a screenshot is also very helpful. Users who forget their passwords need to seek help locally. EDINA does not store, issue or reset passwords.
  • If a user can’t login into the service we need to know when during the login process the problem arises; this can often be a local problem.

What support is available?

Help pages

Our help pages detail how to:

  • access Digimap,
  • use our applications, and
  • adhere to copyright.

EDINA does not provide detailed guidance on using map data in GIS. We do signpost to helpful resources in this area.

YouTube

Our YouTube channel has videos demonstrating our applications and recordings of our webinars.

Webinars

We run introductory webinars throughout the academic year, which are free and open to any user. A schedule is available on our blog.

Digimap newsletter

Digimap users receive newsletters from the Digimap Support team. The newsletters detail any forthcoming events, data updates and details of new functions within Digimap Collections. Check if you are subscribed:

  1. Login to Digimap Collections.
  2. Select My Digimap > Change User details.
  3. Check the box next to the text:

I would like to receive information about other geospatial products and services from EDINA. Your details will be retained for 5 years after the last time you access Digimap but you can unsubscribe at any time.*

Note, you will still receive important Digimap service status information even if you don’t check this box.

FAQs

We maintain lists of Frequently Asked Questions on access, Data Download, Licensing and our collections.

Social media

Follow our blog and social media for event listings, service updates and links to blog posts and articles on mapping.

Help desk

The EDINA Helpdesk can take queries from Digimap users on any aspect of Digimap Collections. The helpdesk team can provide valuable assistance in the initial period of your Digimap subscription. All queries will receive an initial response with 24 hours.

Usage statistics

  • EDINA provide Digimap usage statistics each month, which detail the combined total of sessions authenticated from the UK Federation.
  • Staff can also generate their own statistics in our Digimap Statistics area. To access this area login to Digimap and select My Digimap, then Digimap Statistics.
  • This facility is available to all registered staff.
  • If you need any additional statistics, please contact our Helpdesk on digimap@ed.ac.uk.

Promotional materials

You can find a set of posters advertising each Digimap Collection under the Learning Resources section of the Help pages.