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RSK Group has awarded a new enterprise GIS contract to Esri UK, to increase the use of geospatial technology across the business and support its ambitious growth plans. The 3-year agreement spanning 14 countries will allow RSK to deploy online geospatial technology more easily and meet a growing demand for its environmental, engineering and technical services. This includes environmental impact and biodiversity net gain surveys for the water, renewable energy, property and construction industries.

RSK is a UK environmental and sustainability specialist with 15,000 employees in 40 countries and uses GIS to assess the impact of client projects by analysing spatial data. The group wanted to increase the use of GIS to support its 2030 global growth strategy, which will quadruple revenue from this year’s £1.2bn to more than £5bn in 2030 and double its number of environmental and engineering businesses to 400. In 2023 the company acquired 34 businesses.

The new agreement will improve access to online GIS for employees, accelerate the development of geospatial business tools and allow teams to collaborate more easily using a central hub. Additional benefits include access to new types of Esri software, providing seamless workflows between drone data capture and GIS, advanced image analysis using machine learning and 3D visualisation of spatial data. Around 80% of users will be based in the UK, with others mainly located in the Netherlands, China, India, UAE, Uganda and Kenya.

RSK Group Technical Director, Mike Mason, said: “RSK was looking for a smarter and more cost-effective way to create new geospatial capabilities as it continues to expand. The new agreement with Esri UK supports our global growth strategy by increasing access to a more robust and advanced GIS. It’s an important part of our geospatial strategy and is a catalyst for innovation in our sector, allowing us to continue to help clients around the world minimise their impact on the planet.”

Previously, the company made use of separate licences from Esri UK which had grown organically over the last 20 years. This meant licences were not shareable between business teams which hampered collaborative working. The consolidation of software licences has also removed a significant administration burden.

RSK Principal GIS Consultant Anthony Jones said: “The new agreement allows us to meet the increasing demand for our environmental and engineering services and more staff will be able to undertake surveys and spatial data analysis. It opens up GIS to a much larger audience within RSK Group so more teams can reap the benefits. Now when a new tool is created, it can be made available to everyone in the group.”

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

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East Herts District Council, (EHDC) has been awarded funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Digital Planning Programme Funding under Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund. The funding enables the council to work in partnership with Cadcorp to adopt a cloud-based, digital GIS site assessment application to accelerate site assessment analysis.

The call for sites application will allow landowners and developers to propose sites for future development by drawing an area on a web map or uploading a GIS file, entering site details, and submitting it electronically. EDHC will then be able to assess the suitability of the land use change. The application will include functionality to automate constraint checking and prioritise assessments, aggregate and visualise data and documents, and enable further analysis.

Cllr Vicky Glover-Ward, Executive Member for Planning and Growth at East Herts Council commented: “We’re delighted to have Cadcorp as a technology partner in transforming how we engage with the site allocation process. Their call for sites platform will be pivotal to the department in fulfilling its aims, as the platform is easy for all to use and will also enable us to use our existing geospatial data in the assessment of sites for allocation. By streamlining this process, we will save time and money, which will afford our planning department greater access to both as valuable resources.”

As a location intelligence company, Cadcorp is working with a growing number of Local Authorities to streamline the planning process for planning departments, landowners, and developers. Providing a digital mapping platform that is both familiar and accessible, allows planning authorities to improve current approaches to land assessment and regeneration. To learn more, contact Cadcorp.

About East Herts District Council
The District of East Hertfordshire has a population of approximately 150,000 and covers about 480 square miles on the eastern side of Hertfordshire.

The District has Broxbourne to the south, Welwyn and Hatfield and Stevenage to the west and North Hertfordshire as its northern boundary. To the east, the district borders on the county of Essex.

The main centres of population are Bishop’s Stortford, Buntingford, Hertford, Sawbridgeworth and Ware. Between these main centres much of the area is open countryside, with rural communities of various sizes.

The vision of the Council is to provide East Hertfordshire residents and businesses with a future that is prosperous and sustainable. In order to achieve this, a number of strategic objectives have been developed, which allow the Council in conjunction with its many partners to focus on the key issues that concern the residents of East Hertfordshire.

About Cadcorp
Cadcorp helps organisations derive meaningful and actionable intelligence from data. We do this with an extensive range of GIS software, spatial data and consultancy services designed to better inform decision-making. With our technical knowledge and expertise, we know how to support our customers in realising the benefits of location information.

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

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The NTM data was used in a study by the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) to understand the functional connectivity of landscape features such as hedgerows and treelines. The study considered a number of features to identify key ecological corridors and stepping stones to protect and enhance them in the future. The output map also highlighted barriers to movement which would need to be addressed to support wildlife movement through and around the city.

“The decline in biodiversity in Ireland, including Galway City, has been caused largely by habitat loss driven by changing land use,” commented Paula Kearney, Biodiversity Officer at Galway City Council. “Habitat loss not only reduces the total habitat areas, but can also fragment the remaining habitat leaving small and often scattered areas, often impacted by barriers such as fences, walls and roadways. However, connectivity can be provided by linear features, such as hedgerows or river corridors, and small habitat patches can act as stepping stones to favourable habitats.”

Galway City Council engaged with the Vincent Wildlife Trust, a mammal conservation charity, to conduct a desktop study using connectivity analysis software which borrows algorithms from electronic circuit theory to predict patterns of movement among wildlife populations. Focussing on the lesser horseshoe bat, which is found in just six areas of Ireland and is the only species of bat in Ireland which is deemed to require specialist areas of conservation, VWT was able to identify areas of high landscape connectivity.

“The bat, Rhinolophus hipposideros, is highly sedentary and relies heavily on linear landscape features to navigate whilst avoiding flying over illuminated and open areas,” added Patrick Wright, Wildlife Conservationist and Scientific Officer at the Vincent Wildlife Trust. “This makes it an ideal species to assess the impact of linear features and predict its movements according to resistance values posed by different landscapes.

“Bluesky’s National Tree Map allowed us to isolate key features, including a distance from trees variable, which we could interpret to map linear characteristics and structures within the landscape,” he continued. “From the output we were able to produce, it is clear that lesser horseshoe bat movement is likely to be restricted to narrow pathways within Galway City and that these are critical to maintain connectivity between populations.”

“The model and outputs created by VWT using the National Tree Map data have already been used to inform the Green Network for the Galway City Green Spaces Strategy,” Kearney concluded. “The purpose of this mapping is to inform strategic planning policy by identifying key ecological corridors and stepping stones to protect and enhance in order to support sensitive species and wildlife movement.”

Ralph Coleman, Chief Commercial Officer at Bluesky International, added, “Changes in agricultural practices and the expansion of urban areas are impacting not only the size and location of wildlife habitats, but also how animals navigate between them. Using the National Tree Map to identify and record habitats, and interpret movements, and then applying this information to inform planning policy, is imperative if we are to protect endangered and vulnerable species.”

Bluesky’s National Tree Map is created using innovative algorithms and image processing techniques, from the most up-to-date aerial photography and terrain data for the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. It provides a detailed reference of the location, canopy cover and height of trees 3m and taller which can be applied alongside other data to establish ownership, proximity to other features or assets, and relationships between demographic, economic or social data.

The National Tree Map data is widely used by a number of different market sectors, for example local authorities, energy and utility companies, property developers and academic and research organisations, investigating the role of trees and green spaces and their impact on health, environment and infrastructure.

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

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Cadcorp has expanded support for Environment Agency Real Time flood-monitoring within its desktop GIS and web mapping software. As part of the cloud hosted Cadcorp Data Service, users can now access regularly updated flood warnings.

Users can display flood warnings for a specific county, within a radius, and by severity (severe flood warning, flood warning, flood alert or warning no longer in force). Additional information can also be displayed, such as the locality, area name, and a detailed description of the warning.

The Flood Areas option indicates where the Environment Agency expects flooding to occur from rivers, sea and in some locations, groundwater. The data service can also be used to display historical flooding.

The Cadcorp Data Service is part of a range of cloud services available to customers who subscribe to Cadcorp SIS Desktop and Cadcorp SIS WebMap in the cloud, or as a separate licenced service for customers that still have an onsite installation. To learn more, visit https://cdcp.io/sd

About Cadcorp
cadcorp.com
Cadcorp helps organisations derive meaningful and actionable intelligence from data. We do this with an extensive range of GIS software, spatial data and consultancy services designed to better inform decision-making. With our technical knowledge and expertise, we know how to support our customers in realising the benefits of location information.

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

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

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Esri UK today announced it has partnered with Akama Fund, a charity dedicated to supporting students and facilitating accessible scholarships, to create a new scholarship programme for Black and mixed Black heritage students. Designed to support 60 higher education students, in disciplines related to the geospatial industry, the Geospatial Student Accelerator scheme will make awards totaling £30,000 in the first year.

Ten students will be awarded up to £2,500 each while an additional 50 will receive funds of £300 to buy items and clothing needed for fieldwork. All applicants will gain access to Esri UK’s mentorship network, personal development workshops and other careers resources provided by Akama Fund, aimed at enhancing their professional development. One student can also win a trip to Esri’s global user conference in California, one of the largest geospatial events in the world with over 20,000 attendees.

“The Geospatial Student Accelerator scheme has been designed to widen the scope of support for students from Black and mixed Black backgrounds, in line with Esri UK’s dedication to cultivating a more inclusive and diverse geospatial community,” explained Pete Wilkinson, Managing Director of Esri UK. “By increasing the number of financial awards and easing the burden of applying, working with Akama we want to identify and nurture a higher number of talented individuals and accelerate their journey towards a geospatial career.”

Akama Fund is providing its scholarship application platform and student outreach, while Esri UK is funding the programme. The new scheme removes some of the stress and burden of applying for scholarships due to Akama’s proven two-stage process and its staff who support and encourage students throughout the procedure. Applications are welcome between 4-31 March 2024 from higher education students, enrolled at UK universities in relevant fields, including Geography, Earth and Environmental Studies, Landscape Architecture, Biology and Archaeology.

Thelma Onyeka, Founder and Chair of Akama Fund, commented: “Each scholarship symbolizes the start of a journey, a journey of a student who can continue their study in the field of their choice, on the road to meeting their unlocked potential. This is particularly significant during the cost-of-living crisis, which is affecting students disproportionately with 41 per cent of students contemplating dropout. We’re proud to launch this Geospatial Student Accelerator in partnership with Esri UK.

“At Akama Fund, our vision is a world where every student can pursue a fulfilling career, and in turn, help the generations after them to achieve the same. This is personal to me: my father was orphaned before his first birthday and was raised by a small village in Nigeria. Thanks to his hard work, he managed to get a scholarship which changed the course of his life – and that of me and my family.”

More information about the scheme’s criteria and application process can be found on Akama’s website: https://akamafund.org/esriukaccelerator/

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

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Award submissions can be made via the AGI Website before the 5^th of April, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony hosted by the AGI which will take place at the GeoBusiness event on the 5^th June 2024 at ExCel London.

“The AGI last ran its annual award ceremony in 2014 which attracted excellent entries from across the industry,” commented Fergus Craig, Co-Chair of the AGI. “We hope, that with the full return to in-person events, that relaunching this important feature of the geospatial calendar will attract a similar response.

“The 2024 AGI Awards are open to any individual, group or organisation as long as they can demonstrate and communicate excellence through the use of geographic data, knowledge or technology,” Fergus continued. “Awards will be judged by a carefully selected panel of thought leaders and geospatial experts from academia, commerce and professional organisations representing all aspects of the sector, and the winners will be announced at a ceremony kindly hosted by GeoBusiness.”

The AGI will draw on its wide-ranging membership, volunteers from its regional and special interest working groups and its relationships with relevant organisations such as the Royal Geographical Society, Government Geography Profession and British Cartographic Society, to ensure fair representation from across the sector during the award judging process. The AGI will also work closely with winners and nominated entries to ensure the communication of excellence and the sharing of best practice throughout the sector and the wider community.

The Association for Geographic Information (AGI) is the UK’s geospatial membership organisation; leading, connecting and developing a community of members who use and benefit from geographic information. An independent and impartial organisation, the AGI works with members and the wider community alongside government policy makers, delivers professional development and provides a lead for best practice across the industry.

Further information on the AGI Awards, including full terms and conditions of entry, can be found here

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There were over 4 million low-speed road works undertaken in the UK per year. With the planning of these works using manual systems that have changed little in the last 30 years resulting in capacity issues and turnaround times for plans measured in hours, days and even weeks.

1Streeworks has fundamentally changed this by leveraging 1Spatial’s expertise in geospatial science and digitisation. Our SaaS based solution creates a safe, compliant, and consistent traffic management plan in under two minutes. Enabling organisations to drive value for its customers and meet the demands of its regulatory targets.

UK Power Networks has 190,000km of cables and delivers thousands of streetworks every year across London, the South-East and East of England, to maintain safe and reliable power supplies to 19 million people. Our 1Streetworks software has successfully been used in a Surrey trial to quote for and connect small power connections for customers. It reduced the time surveyors spent on labour-intensive streetworks design plans from hours to just minutes, while continuing to meet the high levels of safety and accuracy required under the regulations.

The average time taken to connect new or altered power connections was reduced by a quarter across approximately 300 Surrey roadworks sites where 1Streetworks was used. The trial was so successful, the technology is now going to be rolled out on a larger Kent trial, testing if it can be used to benefit customers served by other workstreams across UK Power Networks.

Paul Dooley, streetworks performance manager at UK Power Networks, said: “Planning streetworks to the high standards we expect takes time and few have tried to revolutionise the process during my 23 years in the sector. So, I’m excited about the potential of 1Streetworks to streamline complex traffic management plans, enable better communication with customers and highway authorities and improve the speed and accuracy of streetworks plans”.

Claire Milverton, CEO of 1Spatial, added: “We are delighted that our innovative 1Streetworks application has delivered such fantastic results for UK Power Networks and its customers. We look forward to working with Paul and the team to roll out the software further across the network over the coming months. This has been a key milestone for the company and a culmination of many years of work and investment. The commercial validation brought by this contract is crucial in driving adoption across the wider industry.

“We are encouraged by current discussions with other major operators across multiple industries, who have the same challenges in producing traffic management plans.

“With our new SaaS offerings, 1Streetworks in the UK and NG911 in the US, opening up considerable additional growth markets opportunities alongside our Enterprise offerings, we believe the opportunity for 1Spatial has never been greater.”

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

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