Welcome to the Local Public Services SIG - Hendrik Grothuis of Cambridgeshire County Council (SIG Chair)

And a hello from me. My name is Hendrik Grothuis and I am the Chair of the newly formed Local Public Services Special Interest Group (LPS SIG). This SIG was set up in early 2010 to bring all local public service GI under one umbrella group and it is here to represent the interests of GI professionals working in local government, Health and Emergency Planning.  In fact, it represents everyone working with geospatial information in public services of all shapes and sizes. There is no ‘one fit’ anymore and as government restructures and rebrands, we must evolve with the needs and demands that this puts upon us. This is where this group can assist: in helping each other share knowledge and develop solutions for best practice in the utilisation of GI and raising awareness of the potential of GI in tackling so many of the issues that the public services encounter.

From our side, we are not sitting on our laurels. We are busy organising the upcoming seminar, putting together the web pages (thanks especially to Kristin and Aphrodite), faq and case studies (coming soon).  Speaking of which, what additional case studies and examples of best practice can you share with us? What should we be commenting on that matters to you? Is there a GI issue concerning local public services that we are not tackling? Let us know through Twitter or the LPS blog. This SIG has a dedicated team of volunteers to run it but this group is for you so we need your contributions and suggestions to really make an active public services community

'More with less' is a phrase that is bandied about quite regularly these days but what does it actually mean. More efficiency? More work? More analysis? Working smarter? To be frank, I'm not 100% sure myself but, shameless plug time, if you'd like to try and find out then check out our LPS seminar, 'Share to Save: How GI can equip the public sector to do more with less', on the 29th of June and we can see if we can find out the answers together. Check out the AGI events calendar for more details and to book a place.

We have some big challenges ahead of us in the public sector in the near and distant future. Potential budget cuts, a new government, the rise of cloud computing and open data, all the while doing more with less with an ever more expectant and knowledgeable customer base.

Here's looking forward to a productive year in a time of change and challenging circumstances. We need to think differently about GI and in doing so we can change not just the way we work but how the public services can embrace GI intelligence and consolidate it into the mainstream of our public service activities.

Finally, I may have mentioned this before, but above all get in touch and join in the conversation!

Talk soon.

Hendrik