Archive for the 'government' Category

INSPIRE driving Geospatial On-Demand data…

Published on July 26, 2010 in Data and government. 0 Comments

In case you missed last weeks press release  from PBBI, you can now read it here.

“The need for citizen self-services and increased transparency, combined with reduction around costs and inefficiency are driving wider mainstream adoption of location-based data, and fuelling the appetite for geospatial data on-demand in the UK public sector, according to Pitney Bowes Business Insight, the leading global provider of location intelligence, data management and customer communication management solutions.”

DaaS – Public Sector Driving Data On Demand

Chris M

Southwark Camera Feed – Interview

Published on June 4, 2010 in Industry and government. 3 Comments

Recently Chris linked to Southwark’s Stratus implementation that now integrates live data from Transport for London. This is generating a great deal of interest and this is a excellent example of mashing together different sources of data. Here we have real evidence that we are moving into an age where organisations can quickly share realtime information through the web quickly and effectively.

I managed to catch up with Stuart and Scott from Southwark and ask them about the great work they have been doing with Stratus.

The London Data Store

The XML Feed in Firefox

Final Live Feed On Southwark's Site

Hi Scott and Stuart, can you just introduce yourself and your role at Southwark?
SC: Hello, my name is Stuart Carter and I’m Southwark’s Corporate GIS manager
SD: Hello, my name is Scott Day and I’m Southwark’s Corporate GIS officer

What gave you the idea for the integration between MapInfo Stratus and the TFL xml camera feed?
SC: I was introduced to the London Datastore (http://data.london.gov.uk/) at a recent GLA GI forum meeting. It’s a GLA managed web portal allowing London’s public organisations to upload and download spatial data. But importantly London Datastore also provides links to spatial data feeds already uploaded to the data cloud. Data providers include London boroughs, ONS, GLA, TfL and British Transport Police.

I came across TfL’s traffic camera feed service holding spatial coordinates within the XML code. There was clearly an opportunity to link up to TfL’s data cloud data bringing the data feed into our own Stratus service.

The days of only providing spatial data held by and managed by the council have ended. The concept of open data is very important in our spatial data infrastructure (SDI) plans; moreover, it fits in nicely with the council’s overall web strategy.

SD: On top of what Stuart has already mentioned, the GIS team has a good working relationship with the CCTV camera operatives in Southwark, however until recently we have not had the tools available to integrate live CCTV feeds into the maps that they use (without a lot of specialist bespoke development). We are still a long way from fully integration live CCTV feeds into the maps that the CCTV operators use, but the data from the London Datastore is a good indication that the technology is now available (without specialist bespoke development).

How long did this integration take to set-up?
SD: Once we had a raw XML file from an RSS feed (downloaded from the London Datastore), the creation of the map was very quick (little over an hour). With the map created we could link directly to the source feed from the TFL website (all the relevant information was contained within the single RSS feed).

What level of technical understanding is needed to set this up?
SD: The main technical knowledge that is needed to do this is: A basic understanding of XML and HTML.
As far as I know MapInfo Pro cannot read an XML file without some extra work, so the route I took was to simply convert the XML into a CSV file. Once the data was in a CSV file the map could be drawn using geo:easting and geo:northing from the RSS feed. One really good feature of MapInfo stratus is that to display information into a call out bubble it needs to convert the r MapInfo attributes into HTML. So if you have HTML in your MapInfo layer MapInfo stratus will simply translate that code into whatever the HTML tells it to. When we first got MapInfo stratus I enjoyed showing potential users that the call out bubble could display anything they wanted – even a Google search engine!

Were there any challenges that you faced?
SC: I needed to check on the legality of the mash-up. But after contacting TfL directly and reviewing their small print it became clear that we could proceed.

SD: The most difficult part of the implementation was to get the XML data into MapInfo Pro. There are many tools and techniques to do this, some easier and quicker than others. As I’m not an expert in XML I chose to convert the file into CSV which I’m more comfortable with.

Do you have any future plans to enhance this mashup, or add additional feeds to Stratus?
SC: There are other spatial datasets on London Datastore that are of interest, especially those of demographic and social nature. Ultimately, we’ll move forward with cloud data mash-ups where there is a strong user relevance and system compatibility. A

We’re also looking into bringing re-rendered Open Street Map (OSM) mapping into Stratus Connect. Initially it would be direct data supply but it’ll evolve into a WMS feed bringing OSM mapping direct from the cloud.

SD: To go with the TFL traffic cams it would be great to link to other live webcams (e.g. http://www.camvista.com/england/london/trafalgarsquare_streaming.php). I’ve already toyed with integrating live video feeds from a number of tourist webcams. Although technically possible, we’d need to first check with the camera owners before we take this one further.

Additional information on general Connect enhancements
The following is not actually related to the TFL traffic cams mashup but is still a very exciting future development. We now have a prototype integration into our CMS which will soon allow small map widgets to be embedded throughout the council’s website. The page owner would utilise the widget without any technical GI knowledge.

In addition to this our maps could also be embedded into external websites. Moreover, at some point in the future we will have a wizard allowing anyone to generate a map widget for their own website. A demo of this can be seen using the following HTML…

<iframe width=”480″ height=”300″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ src=”http://maps.southwark.gov.uk/connect/embedded_s.jsp?mapcfg=simple&mylayer0=TFL_traffic_CCTV&x=532037&y=178892&z=11″></iframe>

—————————————-

Many thanks to Stuart and Scott for taking the time to talk through their implementation, I’m sure you will agree their web mapping is is looking fantastic! Its also providing a great service to the citizens of Southwark. If there are other organisations would like to feature their work on the blog please get in touch.

Mark

Southwark go Spatial!

Published on May 21, 2010 in Industry, Screenshots and government. 1 Comment Tags: , .
I&DEA case study on London Borough of Southwark

I&DEA case study on London Borough of Southwark

As some of our regular readers will know, the London Borough of Southwark launched Stratus to the public a few months ago. They are continuing to enhance and develop their use of it, with some pretty cool uses coming soon which we’ve had a little sneak preview of. I thought I’d share with you a case study that was recently posted on the I&DEA website as the result of some interviews they conducted with Southwark.

Entitled “Spatially-enabled services in Southwark” the article covers:

  • Key learnings for other councils
  • Who was involved
  • Problems, and how they were tackled
  • Outcomes and Impacts
  • Next steps for Southwark and mapping

The article is pretty comprehensive and I’m sure the GIS manager will welcome any questions you have on how they have gone about tackling their spatial problems and implementing Stratus.

Click here for the I&DEA article

One of the things which they have also done is enable live traffic cam feeds into the call outs as shown below. At the risk of being sent to the “punitentiary”, now there is a good idea*…

Live webcam links into Stratus!

Live webcam links into Stratus! - to view feeds, turn on CCTV layer and select a point!

Chris M

* Pun also provided by the London Borough of Southwark!

New G-Cloud paper available here…

Published on April 22, 2010 in Industry, White Paper and government. 0 Comments Tags: , .
Digital Britain - A contradictory term or a distinct possiblility?

Digital Britain - A contradictory term or a distinct possibility?

Hot on the heels of yesterdays Whitepaper from PBBI on GIS and the cloud. I’m pleased to provide a document from the UK Cabinet Office entitled “Laying the groundwork for the Government Cloud and the Applications Store for Government within the Government ICT Strategy” – The Quick Wins Strand. Yes I know, catchy title.

PBBI was pleased to take part in this project implementing MapInfo Stratus in the G-Cloud very successfully. I’ve no doubt that while the G-Cloud is in its infancy, it will go on to have a long and fruitful life as more and more organisations (private and public) turn to the cloud. Download the paper now, and if you’d like to talk with one of our experts on the G-Cloud then please drop me a line: chris.mccartney@pb.com

Download the G-Cloud Paper here: G-Cloud Quick Wins Paper

Would be great to get your thoughts on the G-Cloud, and if you’re not reading in the UK, do you have similar scheme’s running? The UK government are not unique in setting up this kind of system so a bit of shared experience might just go  along way.

Chris M

Ordnance Survey Free Data Update

Published on April 12, 2010 in Data, Industry, Uncategorized and government. 0 Comments Tags: , .
OS OpenData - Coming in MapInfo format from PBBI

OS OpenData - Coming in MapInfo format from PBBI

At the start of the month the Ordnance Survey brought us the news of some free – yes free – data. PBBI like many of you have downloaded that data to take a look. The first thing you’ll notice is that it doesn’t come in MapInfo TAB format! So our data team have spent a few days squirreling away to convert everything over to tabs. Meanwhile our Product Manager for data, Ban Tawfik, has decided that as we’ve done that, we’d like to offer that data to you in Tab format.

So if you’d like to recieve any of the OS OpenData sets free of charge in Tab format we will be providing a link in a number of places with instructions (including here). We are expecting to have that available within the next few days so stay tuned!

Chris M

Finally, the OS data runs free…

Published on April 1, 2010 in Licence and government. 0 Comments
This ain't no fools prank!

This ain't no fools prank!

So yes, it is April fools day, and as a Product Manager I would tend to shy away from making any product announcements on this day of the year. But clearly any thought that this could be taken as a joke hasn’t stopped the Ordnance Survey of the UK from announcing one of the biggest changes in their recent history. Those who have followed various press statements, one liners in budget statements, free our data campaigns and so on have been waiting  along time for today. Some time last year I stated in an article that the IT survivors of the recession were beginning to show innovation and creativity again – with location being at the heart of it. Clearly this is further evidence to that point. John Denham, the communities secretary goes on to state that the OS OpenData initiative -

“shows the UK is at the cutting edge of a digital revolution. The move to free up public data encourages fresh thinking – people re-using information in different and more imaginative ways than may have originally been intended … increasing access to Ordnance Survey data will attract a new wave of entrepreneurs and result in new solutions to old problems that will benefit us all. It will also drive a new industry, creating new jobs and driving future growth.”

In addition to the free data sets (listed below) the Ordnance Survey has also been tasked with taking on the “technical delivery role” of INSPIRE for the United Kingdom, using Open Source software and the G-Cloud to deliver the infrastructure required. The use of the G-Cloud for this kind of project to me seems very logical. PBBI has been actively engaged in this program and currently is running an instance of Stratus Connect  to test the performance and usability of such a set up.

All Change at the Ordnance Survey?

All Change at the Ordnance Survey?

The complete list of OS data being made available for free – without restriction on reuse (and yes that means the removal of derived data as an issue!) is:
• OS Street View®
• 1:50 000 Gazetteer
• 1:250 000 Scale Colour Raster
• OS LocatorTM
• Boundary-LineTM
• Code-Point® Open
• Meridian™ 2
• Strategi®
• MiniScale®
• OS VectorMap™ District (available 1 May 2010)
• Land-Form PANORAMA®

Data will be made available shortly both directly from the Ordnance Survey and from http://data.gov.uk/

You can read the full Government response here

Be sure to post you thoughts on the matter!

Chris M

It’s SaaS Jim, but not as we know it!

Published on March 29, 2010 in Industry and government. 0 Comments
There aint no Clouds around here

There aint no Clouds around here!

Last month I posted an article on Software as a Service (SaaS) which prompted a few replies to me both from customers and our own internal staff. It’s clear that as we look to move into life in cloud (GIS or not) there are a number of key issues. The article that was linked to from intellect still serves as a great little guide to getting started in SaaS. There are many “new” things going on with SaaS. There are articles and theories about SaaS pricing – some say it needs to get creative, there are articles about data security and what country it resides in, encryption methods and so on. But I wanted to look at another area which you will find opinion divided over – where the software and data lives – your place, or mine?

The pure theory of SaaS suggests that everything resides in the cloud – both data and application. So when we live in the theoretical Utopia that we’re all online 24/7 and no one gets Internet access outages, or travel for periods without access to a network – then we’re all good. However back to today and that doesn’t always ring true. If someone were to ask me what is my favourite – or most useful application that is SaaS, I wouldn’t hesitate to say dropbox. A free or paid for subscription of online data storage which you can access from the browser or mobile device. But as anyone knows who’s signed up for this – or many other “SaaS” applications, the first thing you do is download something for your machine. Yes that’s right, you download and install something. But, this is SaaS??

Once I’ve installed that component I’ve got something which sits right into the “My Documents” folder and permanently tries to back everything up to the cloud in there. But the critical point is that it also keeps a copy of the document on my PC. Now when we’re talking about web based applications – and web based mapping applications then it may be appropriate to keep that central system on the cloud server, and reap the benefits of such a system. But as GIS becomes more and more integrated throughout an organisation it looks like some data will live in the cloud, some data will reside on a customer site, and some data will do both with automatic backs ups for changes.

When we look at where data lives today, we have to ask ourselves some questions.  We must all force ourselves to look at where the optimum place for that data is, and that can mean changes in the way we do things for a greater long term benefit. 5 years ago we held all our data on premise. Some had centralised data campaigns, within house, some let data run free through an organisation, some kept an organisations entire spatial data on a portable hard drive feeling it was then “safe”, (on occasion taking it outside an organisations buildings on a sort of road trip!).

Today, we have much greater choice, and with that comes responsibility to not just do things the same way again, but to truly validate why we do, what we do.

Ultimately much like many things, we’re not heading for a world where everything lives in the cloud, and we’re not heading for a world where everything lives on premise. We’re heading for something in the middle where the data and software lives where it should – and that might just mean we install something.

Chris M

Every Silver Lining has a Cloud…

Published on February 8, 2010 in Industry and government. 1 Comment Tags: , , .
Stratus - more than in the cloud - it is a cloud.

Stratus - more than in the cloud - it is a cloud.

It’s odd that for an industry as advanced and “cutting edge” as GIS and Location Intelligence is, that we have yet to truly embrace what is already a major trend in other IT areas. Perhaps we’re too busy squabbling around neo and paleo - two terms I particularly despise. But while there are a few people out there flying the flag of the future in GI, large parts of the IT industry has already got its “aas” into gear and is moving to SaaS. That’s – Software as a Service. If you’re new to this area, I’ll give a clear warning now – there’s a LOT of new acronyms heading your way. Not only that but you’ll find as people talk about data and software residing in “the cloud” they also develop some kind of hand twitch generally raising it in the air.

Whether SaaS is a solution fit for you or not – it is coming. And it’s almost guaranteed that some of your IT systems are already SaaS, and new ones you’re purchasing – there’s a good chance there will be a SaaS provider bidding.  It could be your email, your CRM or your asset management system.

As with everything there are pro’s and cons. Cost savings on infrastructure will be weighed up against how comfortable you are letting your data off site. Recently I read this article publish by the UK organisation Intellect which offers a great guide to the business benefits of SaaS. I highly recommend you download and read it. Perhaps moving on from that Matias Woloski published a great taxonomy for all thing SaaS related. Although initially daunting number of terms, it does relate to some of the names you may be more familiar with, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and a crop of Social Notworking site – Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Certainly “the Cloud” and “SaaS” are terms you’ll be hearing about with a number of governments starting up their own cloud environments, whether this is being done to alleviate security fears, or as a way of centralising and cost cutting is unclear but it is happening.

Either way Software as a Service is now a viable option, and of significant benefit to the GI industry. Our ever increasing demand for data – with less desire to manage and maintain it, and the increasing ability to consume up to date data via WMS or other tile servers, or even live information through feeds means we should be thinking long and hard about how we consume our applications. Our ever increasing needs for software to be upgraded quickly at low costs across many geographies again points to life in the clouds. I recall discussing with a customer many years ago who had a problem with a piece of technology. I told him that the problem was fixed and all he had to do was upgrade the software. The customer response was “I don’t want to upgrade my software”. That I believe is a catch 22!

I have no doubt that Software as a Service will transform the traditional GI industry, just as it already has transformed other areas already and with good reason. At a time where we all want low entry cost, lower total cost of ownership, lower risk, but higher functionality and more software vendors more responsive to our needs, there’s only one way to go.

I should warn of one other side effect of talking about this stuff and it seems to be some kind of 60’s throw back.

Life is looking pretty good in the Cloud – Man.

Chris M

Download the Intellect Paper here: Intellect Report

Companies run on Information. Leading companies run on Location Intelligent Information.

Published on August 12, 2009 in Industry and government. 0 Comments Tags: , .
Location Intelligent Information Finds You

Location Intelligent Information Finds You

The astute among you will notice I’ve adapted the latest advertising campaign from Thompson Reuters to suit our industry a little more. But the campaign really did hit home a message, that for leading companies, location intelligent information is business critical. In tough times such as these, those businesses who are going to emerge from the economic haze, location Intelligence is essential. The Reuters advert led me to an earlier campaign they had run – interestingly the first time (April 2008) that Thompson Reuters had ever run an advertising campaign – which equally applies itself to our industry. Indeed, “Location” intelligent Information finds you. The re-emergence of LBS, and the seemingly endless supply of GPS enabled devices, shows location intelligent information really will find you. You can also check out how things like GPS and digital compasses are bringing augmented reality to a location device near you soon here. In the database world, recent indications from Microsoft show that it’s adoption of spatial capability with the SQL Server database is coming on nicely, Open Street Map is being touted as a credible alternative and geospatial cloud computing has probably just edged past Web 2.0 as a buzz word/phrase.

Whether your business is in the public or private sector, you will have a finite amount of information (and less money to acquire more information), so now is the time to exploit that information and make it work harder for you with location bringing a critical dimension.  In understanding your customer, the “who, what, where” questions have never been more relevant. According to some articles, IT spend will rise towards the end of the year, but how they spend, and what they spend on will be interesting.

As the world (sooner or later) drags itself out of the doldrums of this crisis, the IT survivors are beginning to show fruits of innovation and creation (with PBBI no exception) to help you make the most of your organisations greatest asset – data.

Location is taking centre stage in that innovation.

Chris M

Stratus Blog Confirms the way forward…

Published on April 6, 2009 in Industry and government. 0 Comments
Add the Confirm blog to your RSS reader

Add the Confirm blog to your RSS reader

We’ve had a lot of great feedback from you about the blog, and some of you have posted some comments which is great as we look to build up a community area around it. We also have talked a lot about the benefits of this forum internally so some of our colleagues have followed suit.

If you noticed the twitter feed last week we saw that the “Confirm” team had set up a page. On Friday they made their first post and it can be found in the link below. I’ve added it to our “Blog Roll” (doesn’t pay to spell that wrong), so you can always find it from our page too.

I’m sure a lot of you in the UK are familiar with Confirm even if it’s a different department that manages that system, so please point your colleague to it (and of course to our blog). And if you’re not sure what Confirm is, then head right over there and have a look at their introductory post.

We’re also working closely with the Confirm team in forming closer product ties between Stratus and Confirm. If you want to know more about this, then just get in touch.

Confirm Blog: http://confirm.pbbiblogs.com/

Chris M