June 21, 2011 -- An advanced Geographical Information System (GIS) from GGP Systems is helping Luton Borough Council (UK) deliver a wide range of frontline council services. Holding more than 190 individual layers of mapped information ranging from addresses to parking zones, gritting routes, potholes and street lights, the system can be accessed by more than 3,000 staff via the Council’s Intranet.  Citizens can also access the data via the Council’s website where it can be used to report a range of defects and service delivery reports.

“We use GGP GIS to store and maintain 192 individual layers of geographically referenced information,” commented Peter Gell, GIS Officer at Luton Borough Council. “We started using GGP GIS back in 1998 when the initial map layers were compiled from old hand drawn highways maps. Over the years we have seen a rise in the number of requests from other departments to have their data added to the system and that is how we have arrived at this point with nearly seventy day to day users of the system and with access to the data from every desktop PC.”

“The geographically referenced data is also used to power our online mapping system that provides members of the public with a ‘do it online’ option,” continued Peter. “Visitors to the Council’s website can identify the location of an abandoned car, highway defect or missed bin, for example, and when they click on the map it automatically tells them who is responsible for the issue and displays contact details.” 

GGP GIS allows Luton Borough Council to maximise the potential of geo-spatial data and geographic images both internally, with partner organisations and with customers. It provides the ability to store complex layers of mapped information in an international standard format (defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium OGC). While being able to directly read from and write to spatial databases means information can be effectively shared between departments and or other organisations, eliminating isolated data silos, reducing data duplicity and improving system interoperability, as well as enabling the joining up of diverse datasets to provide a richer information resource.

CONTACTS:

Karen Barcoo, GGP Systems tel. +44 (0)20 8686 9887, e-mail: Email Contact, www.ggpsystems.co.uk