UK Location Council
The Location Council was formed following the recommendations of the UK Location Strategy which was published by the GI Panel in 2008.
Chaired by Defra, it mainly comprises board level and other senior representatives of the departments and agencies in local, devolved and central government that are significantly involved as either users and/or suppliers of location information across the UK. AGI, as representative of the geographic information community, is also a member. The UK Location Council provides leadership and strategic direction for the implementation of the UK Location Strategy and the INSPIRE Directive. This programme of work now being undertaken is called the UK Location Programme.
Two main subsidiary groups, the Interoperability Board and the Location User Group also include AGI representation as well as that of IST36, the British Standards Committee for Geographic Information administered by the AGI.
With a large and diverse range of members from the public, private and academic sector, AGI is in a prime position to represent the views and interests of a broad geographic information community to this vital government project.
AGI formerly served as a member of the GI Panel in its work to develop and publish 'Location Matters: A Location Strategy for the United Kingdom'. This formed the strategic steer for the establishment of the UK Location Council and UK Location Programme.
The work of the location Council is to implement a common framework for geographic information within the EU mandate and to achieve easier data access, sharing and re-use. The rationale being that the cost benefits, time efficiencies and contribution to effective administration are both essential and compelling. This is in close alignment with the AGI's own mission to maximize the use of geographic information for the benefit of the citizen, commerce and good governance.
Glossary
Geographic Information = digital data with a positional reference associated with it (i.e. most digital information related to real world objects).
GI = Geographic Information
Location = Surrogate word for ‘geography’ for ease of lay use
Location Strategy = The output of the UK Geographic Information Panel (GI Panel) which reported to CLG Minister Baroness Andrews. The strategy is called Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom and was published in Nov 2008.
In the Location Strategy Baroness Andrews stated:
"The Government acknowledges that a better understanding of location is an important factor in moving forward the transformational government agenda. Implementation of the Location Strategy will maximise the value to the public, government and UK industry of the use of geographic information. It will provide a consistent framework to assist national, regional and local initiatives, and service delivery for the benefit of all our people."
Location Council = The UK Location Council provides leadership and strategic direction for the implementation of the UK Location Strategy and the EU INSPIRE Directive.
INSPIRE = (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) an EU Directive developed in collaboration with Member States and accession countries. It aims at making available relevant, harmonised and quality geographic information to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Community policies. It was transposed into law in the UK in December 2009.
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