Plans for a National Spatial Address Infrastructure were announced on 26 May 2005. Scott Sinclair of Ordnance Survey talks about the new project and its expected benefits, which could transform how public services are managed and delivered.
News that key partners are joining forces to produce Britain’s first geographically referenced national address infrastructure offers a range of benefits to the public sector.
The plan is to create and maintain a resource that will enhance service delivery across local and central government and throughout the knowledge economy.
The National Spatial Address Infrastructure (NSAI) is expected to improve the address base for the processing of benefits claims, the management and collection of local taxation, the next population census and the delivery of services such as police, fire and social care.
Announcing the project, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said the NSAI would boost the quality and efficiency of vital public services and “support closer information exchange across national and local government, and between government and business”.
A prospectus issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister explains that Ordnance Survey is to develop and operate the infrastructure in partnership with local and central government.
Our data collectors make on average 5,000 changes a day to OS MasterMap
|
As the national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey supplies highly detailed and maintained geographic data. We are constantly improving the quality of our address data as part of our integrated geographic framework which also includes topography, aerial imagery and a national transport network.
Our data collectors make an average of 5,000 changes a day to OS MasterMap, the latest generation of our digital map data - designed to be managed as a fully integrated corporate and business resource. Our consistent maintenance regime offers an essential support for the creation and operation of the NSAI.
Heads of terms for the development of NSAI have been signed by Ordnance Survey and Local Government Information House, a subsidiary of local government’s Improvement and Development Agency.
The NSAI prospectus invites interested stakeholders to make comments on the plans by the end of June. A final agreement between Ordnance Survey and LGIH is expected by the end of July. A first cut is due eight months later, paving the way towards a full infrastructure after 18 months.
So what are the benefits?
Subject to the final agreement, the NSAI will become the definitive, maintained and up-to-date spatial address infrastructure for the nation.
As major creators and users of address information, local authorities have a vital role to play in NSAI. It offers them the opportunity to link local land and property gazetteers (LLPGs) with a nationally consistent infrastructure based on work already undertaken by Royal Mail, Ordnance Survey and the National Land and Property Gazetteer.
The collaborative approach has the potential to resolve anomalies and inconsistencies in addressing based on collective industry experience. Duplication and discrepancies are widely accepted to exist among addresses in Britain, costing business and government millions of pounds each year in mismatched data.
The NSAI will support a host of vital business activities
|
By minimising errors and misunderstandings, the NSAI will enable easier and more efficient interchange of address data between computer systems.
In the public sector, the greatest benefit in securing NSAI will be fit-for-purpose address data that drives the modernisation of local and central government through more effective information management and service delivery.
The development process for NSAI is designed to build data quality assurance into all stages. Ordnance Survey is tasked under the direction of the ODPM with managing the new infrastructure based on a governance structure that reflects the interests of all stakeholders.
As well as being a valuable resource for frontline public services, the NSAI will support a host of vital business activities including utilities, home and office deliveries, and customer profiling.
The NSAI will incorporate addresses of multiple occupation, both residential and commercial, and properties without letter boxes such as utilities plant, community halls and churches. Non-addressable properties are of no use for postal deliveries but can be vital information for emergency response, asset insurance, planning issues, repair and maintenance, and many other activities.
As the lead supply agency for NSAI, Ordnance Survey will provide a comprehensive and publicly available cross-referencing table to enable greater integration of the various digital address datasets.
The NSAI will initially relate to England and Wales. Longer term, the plan is to create a UK-wide infrastructure by consulting with data providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Across both the public and private sectors, the development of the infrastructure has the potential to put renewed impetus into the improvement of data management and the quality of customer service.
The prospectus, Towards the Spatial Infrastructure, is available on ODPM's website - click here to download.
For more about Ordnance Survey visit its website at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk
