You’re probably aware that Digimap will provide you with all types of maps and map data of Great Britain. But are you aware that you can also access maps from beyond our shores?

If you need spatial data or maps beyond Great Britain, you can use Global Digimap, part of Edina’s suite of Digimap services. It includes three datasets:

Kenya/Tanzania boundary area. Created using World Panorama data. ©Collins/Bartholomew Ltd. (2019)

• Natural Earth data – small scale open data, created by volunteers, free to use for any purpose
• World Panorama – small scale data created by Collins Bartholomew (publishers of the Times World Atlas)
• OpenStreetMap (OSM) data – crowdsourced open data at various scales. This has world coverage, but the detail varies considerably depending on geographic location.  For most urban areas coverage is good, but the more remote a place, the less detail there is likely to be.

Beijing. Map data ©OpenStreetMap contributors

Two extra data sources are additionally available. When using Roam, they can be accessed through the Overlays button. They are:

• World Place Names – OSM is created by volunteers in the local language, so by adding this overlay to your map you will be given the English version of selected cities and administrative districts.
• WWF World Biomes – This was produced by the WWF to show broad vegetation/ecology groups.

You can also add your own data to Global Digimap by using the WMS Feed option. Search to find suitable feeds, or upload one of your own.

All the usual tools are available as well, so you can measure distance and area, and add your own information by using the drawing tools in the Roam interface.

For more information and support, go to the Digimap Resource Centre and the Digimap YouTube channel.

Judith Fox, Map Librarian

We now have access to a new service as part of Digimap, available both through Digimap Roam and Download.  Geomni consists of three parts, all of which can be accessed through the basemaps button on Roam.

• UKMap: a modern, highly detailed, feature-rich mapping database of Greater London. Its unique, innovative design offers users a flexible choice of integrated map features within a single geographic information source.
• UKBuildings: a unique database created and regularly updated to help you understand the age, structure, characteristics and use of commercial, public and residential buildings across GB.
• UKLand: a maintained, national land information database providing a detailed consistent breakdown of the use of land across the UK

UKMap (London)

UKMap, despite its name, actually covers London within the M25. There are several different parts. In Roam use Basemaps to find:

• Base (London) – similar to OS MasterMap but with more land use information. Includes unit information within shopping centres.
• Aerial (London) – at a resolution of 10 metres.

In addition, using the Overlay tab, you can add:

• Upper Floors (London) – shows content of upper floors of shopping centres
• Tree Canopy (London) – shows indicative canopy of trees

Download gives two more Greater London datasets:

• Terrain DTM – Digital Terrain Model
• Terrain DSM – Digital Surface Model

UKBuildings.

UKBuildings is a national database of building attributes. It includes information about building area and height, as well as relative age (eg Historic, Post War, Modern) and use (eg Residential, Religious, Retail with offices above).

UKLand is a national database of land use (rather than cover). It allows the identification types of land use eg mines/spoil areas or business and retail parks and could be used for planning and risk assessment.

UKLand

To access Geomni, go to Digimap – you will need to register and accept the licence conditions first.

Judith Fox, Map Librarian

Summon have recently informed us that they will be undertaking some updates that will result in system downtime for up to 24 hours from 02:00 Saturday 29 May to 02:00 Sunday 30 May.  

 This means that Summon will be available for searching, but some of the links may be unavailable. The E-Journals Finder will also be unavailable during this period.  

 If you have been planning to use Summon for research the weekend of the 29- 30 May, we would recommend downloading any articles or chapters you will need from Summon before the outage, so that your studies are not impacted.  

 There will still be some access to E-resources via the Enterprise Catalogue  (for eBooks) and the A-Z database (for journals, articles, eBooks and databases). However, the A-Z database list is not a definitive list of our resources, so please do access and download anything you think you will need beforehand.  

As always, please do contact the E-Team at eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk or via our e-resources problem report form, if you have any concerns or queries.  

We apologise for any inconvenience this outage may cause. 

Lindsay Warwick, E-resources Team

We will shortly be amending the process to access online material you discover via a Summon search from our homepage. The change will also affect some links in Talis and the “Find Item @ Reading” button you may see on some platforms. 

When you use these links, you will now be directed to the Item Finder page – from here you can click the prominent blue ‘Read full-text article’ to be taken through to the article. 

This change will improve the linking for some platforms which were incompatible with the Summon sidebar.

If you have any questions, please contact the E-resources Team at eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk

Sophie Dorman, E-resources Team

The issue we were having with our secondary authentication system has now been resolved, and you should be able to access e-resources as normal.

If you encounter any problems, please try clearing your browser cache in case your browser has “remembered” any errors, and if the problem persists contact the E-resources

Team by emailing eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk or submitting a problem report form.

We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused you. Thank you for your patience as we worked on a solution.

Lindsay Warwick, E-resources Team

There is currently an issue with one of the authentication systems we use to authenticate users. This is not our primary authentication system and only a relatively small number of links are affected, but you may find that you encounter error messages with some links.

The links that are currently problematic, are identifiable by the prefix we are using in the weblink. It may look like this- https://login.dblibweb.rdg.ac.uk/login?url=. We are working as a matter of urgency with the company who manages this authentication system to resolve the situation and hope to find a solution soon.

The majority of our E-resources are not using this system, and you should still be able to access them via the A-Z database, in Summon and on Talis. However, if you do encounter an issue, please do contact the E-Team at eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk or via our e-resources problem report form, we may be able to provide you with alternative access.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Lindsay Warwick, E-resources Team

We have now migrated to our new authentication system, and you may have noticed that the method for logging into e-resources has changed. The University Single Sign On page will now look the same as the page you see when you log into other University services such as your emails or other Office 365 services. This also means that you will need to use a different username to log into e-resources. Where previously you only used your two-letter and six-digit username (e.g. ab123456) to log in, you will now need to add the suffix of your email address (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk). This is the same username you will already use to log into services such as Blackboard. Your password will not change.

This change will not affect how you log into your Library account to renew loans, place holds etc, this username will remain as e.g. ab123456 without the email suffix. 

We have been testing resources to ensure that they are working with our new system. The majority are now tested and working. If you do encounter any ‘Forbidden’ error messages during the holiday closure period, we do have alternative routes set up. If you are experiencing issues in Summon, you can access the majority of our E-resources using the A-Z databases list. Using the links here, you should be prompted to log in before you reach the platform. Once you are logged in you can then search the website for the resources you wish to access. Alternatively, if you search for a platform from a search engine you can log in via the institutional (or Shibboleth) login. Please see our webpage on using the institutional login for instructions on how to do this. You can then search by keyword, title or author to access our subscribed content.  

There is a known issue with EBSCO databases and Summon, so please do access those databases via our A-Z databases list. We are working with EBSCO to resolve this issue, and we are hopeful for a solution in the new year.  

As always if you experience an issue, please do report it to the E-resources Team, via our e-resources problem report form, or by emailing eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk, and we will get back to you as soon as possible after the Christmas closure period. Please do try the alternative routes mentioned above.  

Lindsay Warwick, E-resources Team

Please bear with us. Whilst transferred access to some resources has been smooth, access to others has needed fixing. Our E-Resources Team is testing all resources, but if you discover a ‘forbidden error’ message yourself, please let us know: email eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk or submit an e-resources problem report form. We’d really appreciate it!

Unfortunately this week there is also a separate security issue with Google Chrome following their security update. Publishers are in the process of updating their links but if you encounter this error, we recommend trying the link in a different browser like Edge or FireFox.

Why change servers?

The change comes because OpenAthens no longer provide support for locally hosted versions of this system and the local hardware has reached end of life status, but the change will also bring in some additional positives such as more seamless access to e-resources and a more consistent way of logging in.

What will be different?

From 14 December, you will start to see changes with how you log into e-resources. The University Single Sign On page will change and look the same as the page you see when you log into other University services such as your emails or other Office 365 services. This also means that you will need to use a different username to log into e-resources. Where previously you only used your two letter and six digit username (e.g. ab123456) to log in, you will now need to add the suffix of your email address (e.g. ab123456@student.reading.ac.uk). This is the same username you will already use to log into services such as Blackboard. Your password will not change. 

This change will not affect how you log into your Library account to renew loans, place holds etc, this username will remain as ab123456 without the email suffix. 

More info

For further information on the server migration and details of how it may affect personalisation features such as alerts and saved searches, please see our previous blog post. 

As always, if you are having any issues accessing e-resources, you can contact us via eresourceshelp@reading.ac.uk or by submitting an e-resources problem report form. We are always happy to help. 

E-resources Team