SCISYS and the Coal Authority Win Prestigous Mapping Award

The SCISYS Environment Division is pleased to announce that Inferis, the SCISYS delivered Coal Authority (TCA) enterprise information service, has been awarded the Innovation and Achievement award for Central Government by the AGI (Association for Geographic Information) at yesterday’s annual awards. 

Philip Lawrence, Chief Executive of the Coal Authority said “I appreciate the partnership that SCISYS has built with the Authority. We expect a lot from our staff and contractors and SCISYS staff have been patient, hardworking, people of their word and found solutions to change our business. Thank you all”

The award was received by members of  TCA and SCISYS as pictured. Left to right: Pascal Coulon, SCISYS, Alex Robson, TCA, Steve Pennell, TCA, Andy Cox, SCISYS and George Nelson, TCA

Commenting on the award, Steve Brignall SCISYS Chief Technical Officer said “This is a particularly important award for the Coal Authority in that it demonstrates that modern geographic information based solutions can be embedded into internal business processes and opened up to the general public in order to bring cost savings.  Inferis is a great example of how much value can be derived when matching the right technology solution to a complex business problem.  The teams have worked incredibly hard and should be very proud of their achievements.”

The awards recognise projects that use Geographic Information (GI) and offer improved levels of service through enhanced access to information, speedier responses and joined up services whilst at the same time enabling the business to reduce operational costs.   In particular, judges looked for solutions that offer:

• Good cross departmental co-operation
• Effective project management, including completion on-time and to budget
• Sound business planning, including clear identification of benefits
• Post implementation review
• Joint working with the private sector

Inferis provides a centralised spatially enabled database, serving all functions within TCA.  Previously isolated pools of data are now accessible via a set of re-useable services from a spatially enabled database. This significantly empowers the business as all information and opinion on a site is available in one system: making the most of TCA assets. The same services are re-used in all aspects of the business, from web based customer self service to forensic geospatial analysis of corporate data by TCA specialists. It has allowed TCA to take the lead in the UK Government’s “Digital by Default” programme, as report requests are made on line, and responses are received electronically.  This has become central to TCA’s business.  The Inferis solution also provides a platform for meeting INSPIRE compliance.

For Further Information

To find out more on this news story contact the Environment team at SCISYS via email:environment@scisys.co.uk or by phone on +44 (0)1249 466466.

More detail on the SCISYS environment division and Inferis can be found here.

The publication of AGI member press releases is a member service. The AGI neither approves or endorses the contents of member's press releases, nor makes any assurance of their factual accuracy.

Forth Valley GIS Receives National Innovation Award

Collaboration proves to be rewarding as Forth Valley GIS picks up “Innovation & Achievement” award for work on Scotland’s biggest rail project.

On Tuesday 27^th November, Forth Valley GIS received the “Innovation and Achievement (Private Sector) 2012” award from the Association of Geographic Information (AGI) for their work with Millar & Bryce on the Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Project (EGIP).

EGIP is a large-scale programme of improvements to the railway infrastructure in Central Scotland that will provide a major boost to the wealth of Scotland and long-term economic sustainability. Working with Millar & Bryce, Forth Valley GIS designed and implemented an innovative online system called Notification Manager. The system brings together land and property ownership information, environmental data, mapping and other location-based information from a wide range of stakeholders into a single online portal available to all project partners.

The system revolutionises the way in which data is collected and shared, providing a platform that improves project collaboration, streamlines land referencing and site assembly business processes, and improves the speed of decision-making.

It is estimated that the new system has generated cost savings of c,£250k across the project teams and saved several months of effort when compared to traditional business processes.

Alan Moore, Chief Executive of Forth Valley GIS, said “Using our unique online GIS platform as the foundation, the collaboration with Millar & Bryce has delivered a solution that not only transforms work on EGIP, but provides a new approach for any large scale, complex infrastructure development project”

Roy Arnott, Managing Director of Millar & Bryce, added "We're delighted that the combined efforts of the partnership between Millar & Bryce and Forth Valley GIS has been recognised by this prestigious award. The collaborative approach combines the business and technical strengths of each company to deliver an innovative solution for the client and is an exemplar for future infrastructure development projects"

About Forth Valley GIS

Forth Valley GIS, one of the UK’s leading GIS consultancies, provides innovative location based information services and solutions that help organisations improve operational efficiency.

Our integrated services cover the entire GIS lifecycle, from hosted services, data management and consultancy through to training and support. Our latest development is Location Centre which provides access to GIS as an online, on demand service. Location Centre allows customers to quickly and easily manage, explore and share location-based information without the need for significant investment.

Web: www.forthvalleygis.co.uk

The publication of AGI member press releases is a member service. The AGI neither approves or endorses the contents of member's press releases, nor makes any assurance of their factual accuracy.

Norwegian Public Roads Administration commissions BlomSTREET pilot project

During the summer Blom captured a pilot project for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA). The project comprised of approximately 25 km of county roads in Sør-Trøndelag and parts of the city centre of Trondheim, using BlomSTREET 360 degree panorama technology, powered by CycloMedia.

The objective for the pilot project was to evaluate how NPRA will benefit from the BlomSTREET data capture technology and software solutions in a typical inventory project. The location in Sør-Trøndelag was chosen as a key area with on-going inventory activities while preparing for a new road maintenance contract.

NPRA has a wealth of experience in equipping cars with advanced camera systems to be used for inspection and inventory projects. The cameras point forward from the survey vehicle and a corresponding imagery management system offers functionality to measure widths of roads.

Typically objects such as traffic signs, poles and traffic barriers are inspected and documented. The objects are then given a map-reference based on the known position of the survey vehicle. This method requires the survey vehicle to stop at every location, which means that considerable time is spent in the field, and subsequently raises associated safety risks; two disadvantages that NPRA want to resolve.

“A major advantage with the BlomSTREET solution is efficiency - the car is able to take full panorama images at 5m intervals while driving at speeds up to 80 km/h.

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Getmapping works with Harvey Maps

Hartley Wintney, UK, November 27th 2012 - Getmapping aerial photography is being used to help create and update Harvey Maps, which are enthusiastically endorsed by mountaineers, walkers, cyclists and orienteers. Getmapping also provides a WMS feed of its latest UK aerial photography to enable Harvey Maps to detect change so that its maps can be kept up to date. 

Getmapping captures aerial photography with a range of high resolution large format digital cameras. The cameras capture frames with a large degree of vertical overlap so that images can be orthorectified to correct the distortions due to topographic relief, or camera orientation during flight. Image resolution varies according to requirements. Most urban imagery is captured with each pixel equivalent to 12.5cm ground sampled distance (GSD). Rural and mountain areas are generally captured at 25cm GSD.

Harvey Maps has always prided itself on the fact that its walking and other recreational maps are made using sound map making techniques and then checked by a team of experienced field surveyors who are themselves enthusiastic walkers. As a result Harvey Maps are renowned for their accuracy, clarity and practicality with many available in tough waterproof polyethylene. Many of these maps are now available in digital format, for example on an SD card for use with the Satmap Active 10 GPS receiver.

“We get stereo imagery from Getmapping which is then fed in to our photogrammetric process,” said Robin Harvey, co-founder of Harvey Maps.

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Norwegian Public Roads Administration commissions BlomSTREET pilot project

During the summer Blom captured a pilot project for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA). The project comprised of approximately 25 km of county roads in Sør-Trøndelag and parts of the city centre of Trondheim, using BlomSTREET 360 degree panorama technology.

The objective for the pilot project was to evaluate how NPRA will benefit from the BlomSTREET data capture technology and software solutions in a typical inventory project. The location in Sør-Trøndelag was chosen as a key area with on-going inventory activities while preparing for a new road maintenance contract.

NPRA has a wealth of experience in equipping cars with advanced camera systems to be used for inspection and inventory projects. The cameras point forward from the survey vehicle and a corresponding imagery management system offers functionality to measure widths of roads.

Typically objects such as traffic signs, poles and traffic barriers are inspected and documented. The objects are then given a map-reference based on the known position of the survey vehicle. This method requires the survey vehicle to stop at every location, which means that considerable time is spent in the field, and subsequently raises associated safety risks; two disadvantages that NPRA want to resolve.

“A major advantage with the BlomSTREET solution is efficiency - the car is able to take full panorama images at 5m intervals while driving at speeds up to 80 km/h. Registration and documentation tasks are completed from the office, which considerably reduces the time required in the field. Just this factor alone should save costs”, says Ole Jostein Lefstad from NPRA. “We also realise the important safety advantage of not having to stop the survey cars on the side of the road for every required measurement. Stopping so frequently could cause dangerous traffic situations”.

BlomSTREET offers the possibility to inspect measure and digitise objects directly from the imagery in any direction from the captured point. The data overlay functionality is extremely valuable for quality control and updating vector map data. The BlomSTREET solution is based on data hosting with access to software and fast online streaming of the imagery.

This hosted service has the advantages of no local data storage required, automatic software upgrades, providing data security and minimising IT maintenance – an all-round cost saving. Local installations are available for customers who require offline data. Efficient support and project management are provided to all customers as part of the service.

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