UK Geographic Information Strategy Moves Ahead

Plans to encourage more effective use of digital geographic information (GI) across business and public services have taken a significant step forward today, with the commissioning of a team of consultants to assist the GI Panel to create a UK-wide GI strategy.

 

The challenge is to formulate a consistent, national strategy that supports regional strategies and other GI initiatives, taking in a wide range of stakeholder views. The GI Panel – a group of senior individuals representing key interest groups that provide ministers with medium- to long-term advice on GI issues of national importance – has awarded the contract to the consultancy Know Edge Ltd following an S-CAT procurement process.

 

Robin McLaren, Director of Know Edge Ltd (www.knowedge.com) says: “There are different strategies and initiatives at varying stages of evolution across the country, but without direction at the UK level there is a risk of divergence in key areas. There is a need for greater consistency and cohesion so that the benefits of GI can be shared and exploited more readily.”

 

Panel chair Vanessa Lawrence, Ordnance Survey’s Director General and Chief Executive, says: “A UK strategy has the potential to bring substantial benefits for the public and the private sector in helping to develop, implement and monitor evidence-based policies which are based on place or ‘where something happens’. Businesses’ applications and public web technologies can also be supported by greater consistency at the national level. Developing a UK strategy is a key part of delivering the aims of the GI Panel.”

 

Among the main aspects of the strategy set by the GI Panel is the need to enable significant economic, social and environmental benefits in both the short and longer terms. It should also reflect EU information requirements, be compatible with the UK’s public- and private-sector cultures, and create a model for voluntary participation and cooperation. The strategy is to focus on the uses and applications of data rather than on the data itself.

 

(Credits SpatialNews)