Ordnance Survey wins prestigious national award for Agile working

Britain’s national mapping agency won the award for Best Use of Agile in the public sector at the 2012 UK Agile Awards, held at The Grand Connaught Rooms in London, presented by Yoh.

Ordnance Survey’s Generic Online Ordering Service Engine (GOOSE) project team were publicly recognised for their adoption of the Agile methodology to deliver a one stop shop for customers ordering and downloading Ordnance Survey data.

Ordnance Survey is helping the public sector to break the mould as it moves into its fourth year of Agile working. Agile is seen by many in the software development industry as the pinnacle of software development practices, and in line with the Government’s ICT strategy of delivering efficient, cost-effective public services.

A variety of Agile principles were adopted by the GOOSE project team in 2009, pioneering the implementation of the methodology and paving the way for Agile transformation across the organisation. Working on a bespoke and technically complex business-to-business and business-to-government ecommerce system, the team overcame cultural barriers and introduced new working practices. In two years the team transformed the customer experience giving customers a one stop shop for ordering Ordnance Survey data, with order placement and fulfillment fully automated.

Bob Goodrich, Director of Information Systems at Ordnance Survey, said the introduction of Agile was essential. ‘We’re extremely proud to see the GOOSE project team recognised for their use of Agile. Agile was adopted at a time when we had put a lot of resource and money into developing an online ordering system,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t working and we decided to go down another path. The team have worked extremely hard to deliver the project and achieve this award despite facing many challenges along the way.’

As the Agile methodology began to be more widely adopted, the GOOSE team provided assistance and lessons learnt to the new teams. As these teams delivered successfully, Ordnance Survey adopted Agile as its delivery methodology in late 2011, instigating the Agile Transformation Programme which sees all Information Systems’ projects work very closely with the product owners and stakeholders across the organisation, sharing the vision of cross business collaboration within an Agile framework.

Director of Products at Ordnance Survey, Peter ter Haar, said, ‘The collaborative benefits of Agile cannot be overestimated. The product teams now work closely with the Agile projects, ensuring greater understanding of customers’ needs and being able to meet those needs faster. The Agile principles of delivering in incremental batches mean we are not waiting for a final fully-functional delivery and can instead be involved in testing and providing feedback along the way.’

The Agile Awards recognise the people, projects, and innovations that adopt and apply the Agile methodology in the UK. The Agile community nominates candidates based on their extraordinary contributions to the challenge of developing Agile. A Board of peers then assesses the scope, impact, and potential of each candidate. The Board are looking for how heavily nominees embraced the Agile approach and how closely Agile practices were followed and in achieving successful completion of their projects.

New dates for Ordnance Survey’s free open data masterclasses

People across Great Britain are being given the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of open data and the tools and techniques to use open datasets, through a series of free masterclasses hosted by Ordnance Survey.

The fourth series of open data masterclasses builds on the success of its predecessors, attended by over 500 people so far. Individuals, developers, community groups, social entrepreneurs, commercial and government organisations are invited to attend the masterclasses, run by Ordnance Survey and supported by Horizon Digital Economy Research.

For the first time, based on feedback from previous sessions, participants will have the opportunity to use OS OpenSpace, Ordnance Survey’s free web mapping service that allows users to display up-to-date Ordnance Survey mapping in a web page or online environment. Those attending will learn how and where to access code examples, how to use Web-Map Builder, a tool designed to simplify the process of embedding a map into a website; as well as demonstrating an interactive way to experiment with code in the new Code Playground.

In addition, the open data masterclasses will combine theory and practical sessions and provide participants with the opportunity to use and harness free-to-use open datasets, including Ordnance Survey’s own free-to-use OS OpenData.

Those attending will learn a range of techniques, from data collection and processing, to data analysis and map visualisation. The focus on the day will be guided, hands-on practical sessions, using data from Ordnance Survey and data.gov.uk.

The content of the masterclasses is suitable for a wide spectrum of participants with various levels of IT experience, although some familiarity with web browsing and Microsoft Excel is assumed.

Ordnance Survey is able to offer up to 40 places at each masterclass, running from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm each day. Locations and dates of the sessions:

14 November – Aberdeen http://odmc-aberdeen.eventbrite.co.uk/
15 November – Edinburgh http://odmc-edinburgh.eventbrite.co.uk/
20 November – London http://odmc-london.eventbrite.co.uk/
26 November – Cardiff http://odmc-cardiff.eventbrite.co.uk/
30 November – Nottingham http://odmc-nottingham.eventbrite.co.uk/

Interested participants should click on the relevant link to reserve their space and obtain a masterclass ticket.

More information on OS OpenData is available on the Ordnance Survey website: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/os-opendata.html

Licensed mapping - vital to keep up with changing face of Britain

Ordnance Survey, Great Britain’s national mapping agency, is reminding land and property professionals to ensure that they are not risking their professional reputation by using unlicensed mapping data.

Over the last 10 years the use of digital location-based information has changed significantly, from being used by only a small number of organisations to becoming an essential business decision-making tool. This increased reliance on, and recognition of, digital mapping data has also resulted in customers demanding the most up-to-date information available. Ordnance Survey makes up to 10 000 changes to the master map database of Great Britain every day, reflecting the rapid developments in the nation’s environment. However, it is not only important for organisations to have the most up-to-date data, but also vital that they have the appropriate licence to effectively use it. The use of older, unlicensed data not, only has legal and cost implications, but also risks damaging professional reputations, which may have taken many years to build.

Dan Hughes, Sector Manager of Land & Property at Ordnance Survey comments: “It is incredible how quickly the face of Britain changes, with even small adjustments to buildings and boundaries able to have far-reaching consequences. Never has it been more important to ensure that you are using the very latest licensed data, allowing you to rely on the fact that it will be accurate and consistent, but more importantly that your company’s reputation is secure.”

The use of properly-licensed data can also represent significant time and cost savings. Thames Valley Housing estimates that investing in the very latest data is enabling the housing provider to save £200 000 in grounds maintenance costs each year, without impacting on its quality of service - a total saving of £2 million over a typical 10 year maintenance contract.

Commenting on the campaign, James Kavanagh of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: “It is vitally important for all associate and chartered members of RICS to work within the bounds of RICS regulation and to provide the highest levels of service and professionalism to clients. This requires the use of the best and most up-to-date information available, which in the context of Ordnance Survey mapping and information can only be achieved by making sure that you are correctly licensed and using the latest mapping data.”

Jan Boothroyd, Chief Executive at Land Data, added: “It’s important to use the most up-to-date mapping information, because maps change, and if you’re using an out-of-date map, it may be that the boundaries you use when you submit your search cover the wrong piece of land. It may mean you get information back that is incomplete, and that could damage the client’s transaction, so from a reputational point of view we would always advise that people use fully licensed up-to-date Ordnance Survey mapping.”

Those who are in doubt as to whether their location data licence is up-to-date should contact their data supplier or Ordnance Survey directly for guidance.

For more information visit www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/licensing

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Scisys and Ordnance Survey Join Forces

SCISYS is proud to announce that it has become an Ordnance Survey Licensed Partner. Specialists in providing IT solutions within government, environment, utility, space science and defence markets, SCISYS joins Ordnance Survey’s Licensed Partner programme at a time when public and private sector organisations are increasingly relying on location data to deliver their business services.

Steve Brignall, SCISYS CTO commented, "SCISYS is excited by the opportunities brought about by this partnership. Having worked already with Ordnance Survey and its data products we are more than aware of the potential. Ordnance Survey data is used by organisations across a broad spectrum of industries and increasingly this data is used to deliver key business services. Matching our systems integration and service provision expertise with Ordnance Survey’s world class data creates a strong joint offering”.

Ordnance Survey is the recognised market leader in its field and is relied on for its mapping expertise. Together with its partners, it provides a wide range of internationally renowned products for government, business and the individual – from complex digital information to traditional walking maps.

At the heart of Ordnance Survey is a vision that, together with its partners, it will be the content provider of choice for location-based information in the new information economy.

For more information contact the Environment team at SCISYS UK:  +44 (0)1249 466466 or via email at environment@scisys.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.

OS OpenSpace is putting medal winners on the map

Ordnance Survey data is being used to celebrate the success of Great Britain’s medal-winning athletes this summer.

Following the enormous success of Team GB earlier in August, where Ordnance Survey’s medal map became a sea of gold, silver and bronze markers, it’s now time to support medal-winning Paralympians.

Great Britain’s national mapping agency is continuing to track where medal-winning athletes come from, to find out whether there are hotspots around the country that produce medal-winning people.

As with the Team GB medal map, the map has been created using OS OpenSpace and is being updated daily. Whenever a member of the ParalympicsGB team wins a medal, a marker will be added to their place of birth as identified on the ParalympicsGB website. For team events, each member of the team will be added individually.

As the national mapping agency for Great Britain, the organisation’s data covers England, Scotland and Wales, while the ParalympicsGB team includes athletes from Great Britain, Northern Ireland and crown dependencies. To ensure every athlete can celebrate their success on the medal map, Ordnance Survey are adding any ParalympicsGB team member born outside Great Britain by instead adding their marker to their current home town. Where this is also outside Great Britain, the marker will be placed at the spot they won their medal.

OS OpenSpace is a free service that allows users to embed maps, covering the whole of Great Britain, into their web applications, if they are free to consumers. OS OpenSpace uses a JavaScript application programming interface (API) and does not include any advertising in the maps.

Robert Andrews, Head of Corporate Communications at Ordnance Survey said:

"OS OpenSpace is perfect for showing the birthplaces of our medal winners. It’s really simple to use and our web-map-builder tool makes it easy for anyone to access high-quality mapping, even if they are not familiar with the technology."

See the latest medal map: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/gbmedalmap

See the original medal map: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/medalmap

Find out more about OS OpenSpace: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/osopenspace

http://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.