Bath & North East Somerset Council Adopts Getmapping Integrated Solution

Hartley Wintney, July 25, 2011 - Bath & North East Somerset Council has adopted the Getmapping Integrated Solution (GMIS). The solution helps Authorities to save money, extend and improve the use of GIS and mapping across the organisation whilst enhancing data sharing and collaboration. The package also includes an aerial photography update programme on a three year cycle.

The Getmapping Integrated Solution solves many of the problems faced by Local Authorities today by providing a set of complimentary services and facilities under a flexible and affordable revenue model. 

GMIS consists of five modules. Firstly a Spatial Data Warehouse, which provides a single, secure repository for the Council’s spatial and non-spatial data that facilitates greater sharing. Secondly, a secure easy-to-use web-based GIS and mapping application, called District Online. This provides access to the complete range of council maps, data layers, NAG addresses and aerial photography to anyone working anywhere for the Council. 

Thirdly there’s hosting of heavy-use data including Ordnance Survey maps and aerial photography for the whole of the country. Getmapping manages the servers and takes care of the update process. Locally created data is automatically synced on a daily basis. Next there is Parish Online – a web GIS interface that allows Local Authorities and Parish Councils to share information online. Finally there’s data maintenance, which is included in the subscription price. Getmapping will undertake to re-fly aerial photography for the region on a three year cycle. No more commissioning or procurement, just new imagery on a regular basis. This can be extended to include other datasets such as height data, CIRs and obliques.

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Wycombe DC Introduce Online Mapping and Information Service

High Wycombe, 16th May, 2011 - Wycombe District Council has gone live with a new online mapping and information service supplied by Astun Technology. ‘My Wycombe’ enables local residents to use their Postcode or part address to find information about local services, locate facilities on maps and even sign up for automated email alerts. ‘My Wycombe’ provides information about councillors, next bin collections, new planning applications in the vicinity and much more.

The ‘My Wycombe’ facility comes courtesy of iShare, a software platform from Epsom based, Astun Technology. iShare is designed to provide public access to information via a Council’s website and is in use with over thirty Local Authorities in England and Wales. It uses a citizen’s address to link information pulled from a Council’s service delivery systems making it possible to do ‘my nearest’ searches, and find information on local facilities and services.

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Mike Smith Joins Astun Technology

15th September 2009 – Mike Smith has joined Astun Technology as Business Development Manager. He will be responsible for widening the take-up of the company’s growing range of web based GIS, data integration and publishing solutions to local authorities.

Smith who is a Chartered Surveyor by profession became GIS Manager for Reading Borough Council in the mid nineties before moving into the private sector working for GIS specialist software vendor, GDC. Very much a part of GDC’s conspicuous success in the local authority market he continued in a business development role throughout GDC’s takeover by MapInfo and subsequently by Pitney Bowes. Before joining Astun, Smith became Sales and Marketing Manager for Aligned Assets, a provider of NLPG Gazetteer solutions to the public sector. Once there he was instrumental in some of the company’s most prestigious contract wins including FiReControl (the company’s largest ever contract), Kent FRS and Birmingham City Council (the largest local authority in Europe).

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Astun Technology Features In New Local Government Report

8th September 2010 – A new report, ‘The Value of Geospatial Information to Local Public Service Delivery in England and Wales’ published by the Local Government Group features a deployment of Astun Technology’s iShare software platform as a successful example of ‘Channel Shift’. Channel Shift describes how savings can be made by providing applications that allow citizens, businesses and community groups to access public information and self-serve via Council websites. Using the web as opposed to traditional routes, such as call-in-centres and phone enquiries, which need to be manned, is both efficient and cost effective.

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Naveed Badel Joins Astun Technology

1st September 2009 - Naveed Badel has joined Astun Technology as Senior GIS Consultant. He will play a lead roll in delivering the company’s growing range of web based data integration and publishing solutions to local authorities.

Badel gained a GIS degree from Kingston University and then worked for a number of local authorities. During that time he developed his skills focussing on gazetteer development and maintenance, GIS deployment and training, data capture and management. Latterly Badel worked for gazetteer management specialists Aligned Assets who serve over 90 local authorities with their software solutions. Whilst there he delivered many data management and business change projects and became a highly skilled Prince 2 practitioner.

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