Return to East Asia for Marine SDI Course

OceanWise was invited to East Asia for a second time to deliver a course on 'Marine Data Management, Database Design and Marine SDI'.  The invitation by the East Asian Hydrographic Commission (EAHC) follows the successful delivery of a similar course in Thailand in 2011.  The course was again supported by Caris, who undertook the practical elements of the course using the Caris range of Hydrographic Production and Marine SDI software.

The course took place in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and was hosted by the Korean Hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration (KHOA) at Incheon from
5 - 9 November 2012.  Delegates came from countries throughout the East Asian region including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and The Philippines.

KHOA Director General Suk-Hyun Kim and Attendees of the MSDI Course, South Korea

Feedback from delegates was excellent, demonstrating the importance of good data management practices, not just to support emerging uses of hydrographic and oceanographic data, but also as a critical foundation for all hydrographic office activities. With continuing support, there is a much better chance of the International Hydrographic Organisation’s (IHO’s) general, and the MSDI Working Group’s specific aims being met through more effective data management, database design and organisational efficiency.

About OceanWise

OceanWise Ltd is an independent company specialising in all aspects of marine environmental data acquisition, data and knowledge management and GIS.   OceanWise personnel have been pioneering the development of marine data and software products for over 15 years, including at the UK Hydrographic Office.  OceanWise undertakes capacity building courses in the domain of marine data management, GIS and SDI in the UK and internationally.  In addition, OceanWise offers:

• Digital Marine Mapping: Raster Charts, Marine Themes and Digital Elevation Model
• Environmental Data Management and Publishing (Ocean Database and Port-Log.net)
• Sector Specific Productivity Tools (Maritime Toolbar and Workflow Extensions)
• GIS and Marine Data Acquisition, Management and Dissemination Advice and Training.

For more information on how OceanWise can improve your environmental and spatial data management capacity and capabilities, please contact Mr John Pepper, Marketing Director, on john.pepper@oceanwise.eu or visit the OceanWise website at www.oceanwise.eu.

About Caris

CARIS solutions deliver cutting-edge bathymetric innovations, seamless feature data management, product extraction and distribution to support a diverse product range. For more information, please contact Andy Hoggarth Marketing and Sales Manager on andrew.hoggarth@caris.com or visit the Caris website at www.caris.com.

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.

London Borough of Harrow Wins the Overall Exemplar Award 2012

London, 8^th November 2012 – London Borough of Harrow has been announced the winner of the Overall Exemplar Award 2012 at the annual GeoPlace ‘Everything Happens Somewhere’ Conference.

The Award, which was presented at the Central London ceremony on 25^th October 2012, is considered the most prestigious of all the Awards as it was voted for by the 320 delegates in attendance.

Asked to select the overall winner from those councils who had won individual awards on the day, the delegates considered the outcomes of the work done, the use of gazetteers, relevance to improving public service and the overall ‘wow’ factor of each winning entry.

Impressed by Harrow’s innovative approach to gazetteer integration that saw them create an intranet based LLPG (Local Land and Property Gazetteer) portal with multiple LLPG based web services at its core, the delegate vote saw them emerge victorious.

Developed in only three weeks at a cost of little more than £2,100, the new system facilitated the removal of a third party system, which will see them recognise savings in excess of £15,000 over a five year period.

In addition to these direct, cashable savings, Harrow designed the new system to increase the visibility and use of the LLPG, improving both information exchange and workflow.  Not only can other council departments now seamlessly access the data, and through that remove possible errors and the duplication of work, but these other departments are now able to feedback their own information to the central LLPG hub.

This ‘cross reference candidate process’ allows teams across the council to assign their own systems’ cross references to LLPG properties, which are then flagged to the LLPG Custodian.  Once validated and approved, these cross references can be imported into the council’s gazetteer management system with the click of a button, all done in compliance with nationally recognised standards.

Speaking of the Award, LLPG Custodian at London Borough of Harrow, Luke Studden, said, “We embarked on this project because we firmly believe that the LLPG becomes a valuable asset when it is utilised, yet becomes an invaluable one when it is integrated and when those integrations are leveraged.”

“Credit for this Award has to go to the whole of the Web and GIS teams as it has been their hard work and dedication that has seen this project become such a success.  It is because of their efforts that this council will continue to make significant savings long into the future.”

For more information, visit www.geoplace.co.uk

About GeoPlace

GeoPlace is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey.  GeoPlace’s role is to create and maintain the National Address Gazetteer and the National Street Gazetteer for England and Wales, providing definitive sources of publicly-owned spatial address and street data for Great Britain.  Through agreement with Scotland’s Improvement Service Company, coverage has been extended to include Scotland’.

Contacts:

GeoPlace contact:

Gayle Gander

Head of Marketing

+44(0) 20 7630 4600

gayle.gander@geoplace.co.uk

www.geoplace.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.

Leica Geosystems Ltd partners with Irish Mapping and GIS Solutions Ltd

(Milton Keynes, UK, 7 November 2012) Leica Geosystems Ltd is pleased to announce a new strategic partnership with Irish Mapping and GIS Solutions Ltd (IMGS) in the Asset Collection and Management market segment in Ireland.

IMGS is Ireland’s leading supplier of spatial solutions for government, utility and telecommunications industries. Their software solutions enable customers to capture, manage and embed spatial data into their enterprise information systems.

This agreement will extend the relationship IMGS already has with Intergraph from the Hexagon Group to provide complete end-to-end solutions including software and hardware. IMGS will be able to offer existing and new clients, tailored software solutions running on Leica Geosystems‘ Zeno GNSS/GIS positioning products. Leica Geosystems‘ range of superior quality, reliable and accurate asset collection and management solutions will enhance the offerings from IMGS by providing high precision data positioning solutions from metre to centimetre level accuracy. The Leica Zeno GIS series combined with IMGS software offers an efficient and productive set of tools for anyone who needs more accurate and reliable data in a GIS database.

IMGS will include Leica Zeno GNSS/GIS positioning hardware such as the new Leica Zeno 5 handheld GPS and Leica CS25 rugged tablet computer as part of their solutions to their clients. IMGS currently provide a range of geospatial disconnected and connected mobile solutions from Intergraph (such as GeoMedia Smart Client) and from IMGS themselves (such as IMGS Location Publisher Mobile). Leica Zeno GIS  will enhance these solutions and allow IMGS clients to capture data more efficiently and more importantly, more accurately.

Nathan Ward, Market Segment Manager comments “This is an exciting agreement that enhances the solutions offered by IMGS with accurate positioning information and helps to strengthen Leica Geosystems‘ position in the Asset Collection & Management market segment in Ireland”.

Ciaran Kirk, IMGS Technical Director adds “IMGS are delighted to partner with Leica Geosystems, a world leader in the provision of Mobile GIS hardware to provide end-to-end mobile solutions in Ireland”.

Pictured: Leica Geosystems Market Segment Manager, Nathan Ward with IMGS Technical Director, Ciaran Kirk

Leica Geosystems – when it has to be right
With close to 200 years of experience pioneering solutions to measure the world, Leica Geosystems products and services are trusted by professionals worldwide to help them capture, analyse, and present spatial information. Leica Geosystems is best known for its broad array of products that capture accurately, model quickly, analyse easily, and visualise and present spatial information.

Those who use Leica Geosystems products every day trust them for their dependability, the value they deliver, and the superior customer support. Based in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica Geosystems is a global company with tens of thousands of customers supported by more than 3’500 employees in 28 countries and hundreds of partners located in more than 120 countries around the world. Leica Geosystems is part of the Hexagon Group, Sweden. For more information, visit www.leica-geosystems.co.uk or email: uk.assetsolutions@leica-geosystems.com

Irish Mapping and GIS Solutions Ltd
IMGS is Ireland’s leading supplier of spatial solutions for government, utility and telecommunications industries. Its solutions enable customers to capture, manage and embed spatial data and engineering documentation into their enterprise information systems. IMGS serves more than 50 customers across the island of Ireland, including Northern Ireland Electricity, Eircom, BT Ireland, Ordnance Survey Ireland, Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland, the Irish Naval Service and 34 local authorities.

IMGS have a long track record in developing and supporting GIS for national network companies such as eircom as well working Government Agencies across the country. For additional information, visit http://www.imgs.ie/.

For further information please contact:

Lisa Day
Leica Geosystems Ltd
Davy Avenue
Knowlhill
Milton Keynes
MK5 8LB
Tel: +44 (0)1908 256520
Email: lisa.day@leica-geosystems.com or uk.assetsolutions@leica-geosystems.com

www.leica-geosystems.co.uk

Amanda Donegan
Irish Mapping and GIS Solutions Ltd
8b Keypoint, Rosemount Business Park,
Dublin 11
Ireland
Tel: +353 1 885 3839
Email: adonegan@imgs.ie
 
www.imgs.ie

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.

Geographic data leads the way to better healthcare - 2500 organisations signed up to PSMA

More NHS organisations than ever before are using innovative mapping technologies to help improve local health services.  From reducing obesity in Birmingham to plotting hotspots of low immunisation take up in Essex, Ordnance Survey’s intelligent geographic information is being used in a wide range of settings to inform healthcare decision-making.

Accessing digital maps has never been easier thanks to the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA) – a centrally funded licensing agreement between Government and Ordnance Survey which allows geographic data to be widely available, free at the point of use and shared between all public sector organisations across England and Wales.  

A record 2,500 public sector organisations have now registered for the PSMA, including around 100 hospital trusts, all 12 ambulance trusts and more than two thirds of NHS authorities. With responsibility for public health due to move across to local authorities in April 2013, the availability of open and shared geographical data through the Public sector community is making a real difference to collaborative working and effective health service planning. 

James Brayshaw, Ordnance Survey’s Customer Director, says:

“There are many examples from around the country which provide powerful evidence that geographic information not only helps the NHS do more for less but it helps deliver real improvements to local health services.  With new technologies making mapping and reference data easier to use and the public sector agreement allowing information to be shared between all public sector agencies, we hope that more healthcare organisations will start using Ordnance Survey data to underpin their services and create a real momentum for GIS in the NHS.”

In the Midlands, Birmingham NHS is using Ordnance Survey geographic information to map hot food takeaways near schools in a city wide programme to reduce soaring obesity rates. By overlaying data on to interactive digital maps, public health officials found that 71 per cent of all primary and secondary schools in the city have a hot food takeaway within 400 metres. As a result, the city council has now introduced new rules to control the number of unhealthy fast food outlets located near a school and within local centres.  Several applications have been refused on these grounds already.

“Obesity is a major public health problem in Birmingham.  While the determinants of obesity are complex and inter related, social and environmental factors clearly have an influence.  The city has a large number of hot food takeaways close to schools and local centres. The use of maps helps us to accurately describe where they are located and to tackle their spread,” says Dr Iris Fermin, Head of Public Health Information and Intelligence at Birmingham Public Health.

Other examples of how geographic information is making a big difference in service planning and delivery include:

In North Essex, digital maps are widely used by the local health authority to improve access to services and recently pinpointed low use of immunisation and vaccinations.   The information identified where resources should be targeted more effectively.

In the North East, up-to-date and accurate Ordnance Survey digital mapping is helping call centre staff to quickly and accurately identify the correct locations of incidents as well as supporting the region’s new 111 non emergency service.

For more information and to join the PSMA, visit the public sector section of the Ordnance Survey website at www.ordnancesurvey.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.

Aligned Assets Customers Dominate for Second Year Running at the GeoPlace Exemplar Awards

Woking, Surrey 30^th October 2012 – After dominating the 2011 Exemplar Awards, users of the Aligned Assets gazetteer management system have received countless accolades at the 2012 Awards.

At a ceremony in London to recognise outstanding achievement in the use of local authority address and street gazetteer data, Aligned Assets customers won four out of the six major awards, including London Borough of Harrow being announced the winner of the Overall Exemplar Award.

The London Borough of Harrow had earlier in the day won the Integration Award for their innovative project that saw the use of gazetteer data significantly increased across the authority.  In a vote by all 320 delegates, it was this project that was considered to have achieved the most in terms of gazetteer usage and so awarded the top prize.

Other victories included Worthing and Adur Councils who won the Best Example of Street Naming and Numbering Policy Implementation Award, Bath and North East Somerset Council who won the Services Award and Inverclyde Council who were Highly Commended in the Scottish Gazetteer Custodian of the Year category.

The London Borough of Enfield was Highly Commended for Street Naming and Numbering Policy and was also recognised as Best in Region for both Address and Street data.  In addition to Enfield, Aligned Assets customers won a further six Best in Region Awards and a total of 34 were given Gold Awards for either their address or street updating. 

“All of us at Aligned Assets are delighted for those customers whose hard work and dedication over the past twelve months has been formally recognised,” said Managing Director of Aligned Assets Andy Hird.  “Although we would acknowledge that having great software helps, it really is down to the people using that software to make the difference.”

The Exemplar Awards took place during the ‘Everything Happens Somewhere Conference’, which was organised by GeoPlace and held on 25^th October at Friends House in London.

To find out more, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk

About Aligned Assets

Aligned Assets are an industry leader in AddressBase, gazetteer and address management solutions.  They supply software across the public and private sectors including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces.  In addition to software and data solutions, they offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

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.