Published by Blakes for more
than a quarter of a century
than a quarter of a century
Black & Veatch
GIS DOES IT JOINED UP
The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is leading the charge to deliver accessible, joined-up information throughout the public sector. In doing so, it is becoming widely seen as a key enabler of joined-up government.
This is no surprise to the GIS professionals at Black & Veatch (B&V) who know that around 80 per cent of all data can be geographically referenced. They also know that maps, the defining feature of all GIS systems, are a powerful mechanism for combining, manipulating and presenting data from many different sources. Within a GIS, maps are transformed into dynamic, intuitive data windows, revealing connections and relationships between different sets of data and providing new insights to decision-makers and stakeholders. At B&V we agree wholeheartedly with the idea that a map is an executive summary in visual form, and would add that a fully functioning GIS gives access to the whole report, including the annexes.
In just the last few years, public-sector organisations and their private-sector partners have developed the National Land Use Database (NLUD), the National Land Information Service (NLIS), the electronic Property Information Mapping System (e-PIMS), Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC), the Maps on Tap portal and the GIgateway.
Led by the Intra-Government Group on Geographic Information (IGGI), standards have been established for geographic metadata, GIS strategy development, and data sharing and trading. The Ordnance Survey (OS) have delivered on their vision for joined-up geography through development of the Digital National Framework, as well as signing the Pan-government Agreement for provision of OS data throughout the public sector. A recent survey estimated that the geographic data provided by the OS supports ?100bn of Britain's economic activity.
This activity has been encouraged by rapid technical innovation and improvements in the quality and availability of geospatial data. It has also been supported by initiatives such as the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF). For example, web-enabled GIS technologies give solution providers, such as B&V, the power to develop GIS systems that are accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere, while the adoption of the XML standard will greatly facilitate system integration.
At B&V, we also believe it is important to recognise that GIS is more than a set of technologies and standards. It is also a science. Sometimes referred to as Geomatics, this science describes the character and structure of spatial information and its methods of capture, classification, analysis, management and display. For example, it affects the choice of the algorithms to use when combining land-height and flood-depth data to derive flood maps. Implementing a GIS without taking the Geomatics fully into account carries two risks: first, the system may not realise the full benefits that GIS can offer and second, it carries the risks associated with inappropriate use of data, analytical methodologies or cartographic design.
GIS in practice
The Information Solutions Group (ISG) at B&V is a group of GIS specialists with over 400 man-years of experience in Geomatics and GIS technology (www.bvl.bv.com). We are currently putting this experience to use through our work with the Countryside Agency to deliver maps of open country and registered common land (RCL) under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 ('Right to Roam'). When completed, this project will provide maps of land in England that together form the basis for a new public right of access.
The project to date has involved looking at 13 million ha of England, mapping 1.8 million ha of land and identifying 0.9 million ha of mountain, moor, heath and down. This, combined with the mapping of 370,000 ha of RCL, means that a total of 10 per cent of England has been mapped.
Whilst the mapping itself is a huge technical task, the consultation stage is possibly even more challenging as it needs to consider the aspirations of multiple stakeholders. For this reason B&V, working with the Countryside Agency, developed a mapping process that is open, transparent and consistent.
Our next step was to consider the Geomatics. For example, we considered the scale and quality of the data that was available for mapping open country, and the way in which this data would be presented to the various stakeholders. We decided to use OS MasterMap as the mapping base data, exploiting the 'intelligence' inherent in its data structure and ensuring that the maps can ultimately be joined to the National Topographic Database
We then built an integrated GIS to support the mapping process from end-to-end and join up all stages of the project. The GIS currently holds around 3.5 million records and uses over 650Gb of geographic data.
As well as providing a manned helpline, we developed an interactive GIS website that generates unique maps from user-defined location information such as postcodes, place name and co-ordinates (www.ca-mapping.co.uk). The website allows the public to view and query the maps, submit comments on-line or print off their map and post it to us along with a completed comment form. The comments are stored in a central database and are accessible by the whole project team. The site was designed and implemented in accordance with the W3C web-content accessibility guidelines, and some sections of the website are available in eight minority languages.
We believe this is the first statutory, national consultation exercise carried out on the web using maps in this way.
Over the past two year this application has accommodated 25 million hits from over 430,000 visitors and generated nearly 2.1 million unique (visitor defined) maps.
In the future, we aim to help other public-sector organisations meet the challenges of delivering joined-up information. In the longer term, we see initiatives such as the Infrastructure of Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) helping GIS to join up geographic information and government across Europe. We believe that GIS will continue to play a major role in the modernisation of public-sector services and that it will remain at the heart of information age government.
This is no surprise to the GIS professionals at Black & Veatch (B&V) who know that around 80 per cent of all data can be geographically referenced. They also know that maps, the defining feature of all GIS systems, are a powerful mechanism for combining, manipulating and presenting data from many different sources. Within a GIS, maps are transformed into dynamic, intuitive data windows, revealing connections and relationships between different sets of data and providing new insights to decision-makers and stakeholders. At B&V we agree wholeheartedly with the idea that a map is an executive summary in visual form, and would add that a fully functioning GIS gives access to the whole report, including the annexes.
In just the last few years, public-sector organisations and their private-sector partners have developed the National Land Use Database (NLUD), the National Land Information Service (NLIS), the electronic Property Information Mapping System (e-PIMS), Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC), the Maps on Tap portal and the GIgateway.
Led by the Intra-Government Group on Geographic Information (IGGI), standards have been established for geographic metadata, GIS strategy development, and data sharing and trading. The Ordnance Survey (OS) have delivered on their vision for joined-up geography through development of the Digital National Framework, as well as signing the Pan-government Agreement for provision of OS data throughout the public sector. A recent survey estimated that the geographic data provided by the OS supports ?100bn of Britain's economic activity.
This activity has been encouraged by rapid technical innovation and improvements in the quality and availability of geospatial data. It has also been supported by initiatives such as the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF). For example, web-enabled GIS technologies give solution providers, such as B&V, the power to develop GIS systems that are accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere, while the adoption of the XML standard will greatly facilitate system integration.
At B&V, we also believe it is important to recognise that GIS is more than a set of technologies and standards. It is also a science. Sometimes referred to as Geomatics, this science describes the character and structure of spatial information and its methods of capture, classification, analysis, management and display. For example, it affects the choice of the algorithms to use when combining land-height and flood-depth data to derive flood maps. Implementing a GIS without taking the Geomatics fully into account carries two risks: first, the system may not realise the full benefits that GIS can offer and second, it carries the risks associated with inappropriate use of data, analytical methodologies or cartographic design.
GIS in practice
The Information Solutions Group (ISG) at B&V is a group of GIS specialists with over 400 man-years of experience in Geomatics and GIS technology (www.bvl.bv.com). We are currently putting this experience to use through our work with the Countryside Agency to deliver maps of open country and registered common land (RCL) under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 ('Right to Roam'). When completed, this project will provide maps of land in England that together form the basis for a new public right of access.
The project to date has involved looking at 13 million ha of England, mapping 1.8 million ha of land and identifying 0.9 million ha of mountain, moor, heath and down. This, combined with the mapping of 370,000 ha of RCL, means that a total of 10 per cent of England has been mapped.
Whilst the mapping itself is a huge technical task, the consultation stage is possibly even more challenging as it needs to consider the aspirations of multiple stakeholders. For this reason B&V, working with the Countryside Agency, developed a mapping process that is open, transparent and consistent.
Our next step was to consider the Geomatics. For example, we considered the scale and quality of the data that was available for mapping open country, and the way in which this data would be presented to the various stakeholders. We decided to use OS MasterMap as the mapping base data, exploiting the 'intelligence' inherent in its data structure and ensuring that the maps can ultimately be joined to the National Topographic Database
We then built an integrated GIS to support the mapping process from end-to-end and join up all stages of the project. The GIS currently holds around 3.5 million records and uses over 650Gb of geographic data.
As well as providing a manned helpline, we developed an interactive GIS website that generates unique maps from user-defined location information such as postcodes, place name and co-ordinates (www.ca-mapping.co.uk). The website allows the public to view and query the maps, submit comments on-line or print off their map and post it to us along with a completed comment form. The comments are stored in a central database and are accessible by the whole project team. The site was designed and implemented in accordance with the W3C web-content accessibility guidelines, and some sections of the website are available in eight minority languages.
We believe this is the first statutory, national consultation exercise carried out on the web using maps in this way.
Over the past two year this application has accommodated 25 million hits from over 430,000 visitors and generated nearly 2.1 million unique (visitor defined) maps.
In the future, we aim to help other public-sector organisations meet the challenges of delivering joined-up information. In the longer term, we see initiatives such as the Infrastructure of Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) helping GIS to join up geographic information and government across Europe. We believe that GIS will continue to play a major role in the modernisation of public-sector services and that it will remain at the heart of information age government.
Ian Bush, Technical Director, Black and Veatch
Copyright © 2005 Blake.