Network Rail's geospatial team has begun evaluating OpenTopoMap alongside open Copernicus DEM datasets as a cost-reduction measure, potentially replacing some licensed Ordnance Survey Terrain 50 use cases for internal corridor planning work. The trial, reported at the AGI GeoCommunity conference in Stratford-upon-Avon, uses a self-hosted tile stack built on Mapnik and PostGIS. If successful, the approach could influence how other large infrastructure asset owners manage their geospatial licensing budgets.

Source: AGI GeoCommunity Proceedings