UK Gazetteer Best Practice Day announced for 24th February 2010

After a hugely successful event at Cardiff Council in October, the date for the second UK Gazetteer Best Practice Day has been announced as 24th February 2010.

The event, that is sponsored by Gazetteer Specialists Aligned Assets and held in association with GEO:connexion UK, will be hosted by the London Borough of Southwark and is designed for all people involved in either gazetteer management directly or those who use gazetteer data such as GIS specialists.

The Gazetteer Best Practice Day is intended to give a comprehensive introduction to best practice in gazetteering through the first hand experiences of those that regularly use gazetteers. With presentations from a variety of different organisations there will be an exploration of core management functions through to the linking of data within and between systems in order to deliver joined up services.

Those attending will gain the opportunity to explore best practice not only with the speakers but with a number of other gazetteer custodians from around the country.

Founder of Aligned Assets, Phil Gee spoke about the upcoming event, “When we were planning for the Best Practice Day in Cardiff, we had no idea how popular it would prove to be. Comments from attendees such as ‘…a welcome initiative and a useful addition to the usual practitioner events’ convinced us to hold another one. With the support of GEO:connexion UK, we are hoping that this one will be even bigger and better.”

Attendance is completely free of charge and suggested attendees include local authorities, fire & rescue services, police forces, ambulance services, national parks, passenger transport executives…indeed anyone who has involvement with gazetteers.

More information is available by emailing carl.hancock@aligned-assets.co.uk or by visiting www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events


ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software to over 90 Local Authorities as well as the FiReControl Project, the British Transport Police and Transport for London. They are the UK’s first reseller of the NLPG, providing superior address management across the commercial and public sectors. In addition to software and data solutions they can offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

GEO:connexion UK Magazine available to readers in the UK bimonthly. It includes news, features and community pages devoted to the UK's GI industry. Its special focus areas are on E-Government, Health, Public Safety, Retail, Environmental, Utilities, Surveying, Location-Based Services, Transport/Logistics and Telecommunications.

To view the magazine go to www.geoconnexion.com

The first NLPG reseller unveiled as Aligned Assets

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets can today announce the signing of an agreement with Intelligent Addressing that will see them become the UK’s very first reseller of National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) data.

Through this agreement, Aligned Assets will be bringing the huge benefits of accurate addressing and standardisation to the whole of the commercial sector, as well as public sector organisations looking to use England and Wales’ most authoritative and definitive address list.

User-friendly licensing terms for the NLPG have removed the restrictive costs associated with other datasets and has opened up accurate addressing to smaller organisations that might only require data for their specific area.

The NLPG data that is available for purchase from Aligned Assets ranges from small subsets covering local authority areas, up to regional subsets, right through to data for the whole of England and Wales. Regardless of size, all users will be in receipt of the NLPG’s greatest benefit –updates available every working day.

Unlike other address datasets, the NLPG is updated on a continual basis by every local authority in England and Wales - the bodies with statutory responsibility for street naming and numbering. What this means is that every new property built, every change of use and every demolition is filtered through the local authorities, and onto the end user.

Founder of Aligned Assets, Phil Gee spoke about their experience, “A core aspect of our business is address management within local government – the creators of the NLPG. This places us in the unique position of working directly with, and influencing those, that are responsible for the accuracy of the NLPG.

“Additionally, we work closely with emergency services that use the NLPG to support their mission critical and life saving work. Because of this we have extensive experience in providing fast, reliable solutions that we now look forward to providing to the wider market.”

Aligned Assets will be holding a series of events throughout 2010 to introduce prospective users of the NLPG to its benefits and potential applications. The first two of these events are for Housing Associations and will be held on the 20th & 21st January at their offices in Surrey.

For more information visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk


ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software to over 90 Local Authorities as well as the FiReControl Project, the British Transport Police and Transport for London. They are the UK’s first reseller of the NLPG, providing superior address management across the commercial and public sectors. In addition to software and data solutions they can offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.

LGIH Acknowledgement:
“The copyright in the NLPG is owned by LGIH”.
Royal Mail:
“The copyright in all PAF is owned by Royal Mail Group plc”
Ordnance Survey:
© Crown copyright 2009. License number 100044016.”

Aligned Assets users celebrate success at the Exemplar Awards

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are delighted to announce that 12 of their customers were recognised across 15 separate categories at the 2009 Exemplar Awards.

The Awards, which celebrate achievements in public sector use of the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) and National Street Gazetteer (NSG), saw a total of nine wins by users of Aligned Assets’ gazetteer management system, Symphony, plus three runners up and three highly commended.

The London Area saw a clean sweep for Aligned Assets with Redbridge scoping the Award for Best NLPG in Greater London and Enfield for Best NSG. The Welsh also witnessed domination from Symphony users with Monmouthshire selected as Best in Wales for the NLPG and the Isle of Anglesey collecting the award for Best NSG.

Additional victories were seen with Exeter City Council winning Best in South West Region for NLPG and Wokingham, Walsall and North East Lincolnshire each winning their respective regions for Best NSG.

This is the fourth year in a row that has seen success for the users of Symphony. Speaking after the awards, founder of Aligned Assets, Phil Gee said, “What these awards show is the consistently high level of excellence amongst our user base. Key to achieving this excellence is dedication and hard work, so I applaud all our customers who realised success.”

Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer software solutions. They supply over 90 Local Authorities as well as the FiReControl Project, the British Transport Police and Transport for London. In addition to providing GIS and address management software they can offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke solutions and project management.

Visit: www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Full list of Aligned Assets awards:

NLPG Best Business Process Transformation
- Highly Commended Exeter City Council
Most Innovative Use
- Highly Commended Canterbury City Council
NLPG FireControl Award for the Best Integration
of the NLPG by a Fire and Rescue Service
- Runner-up Kent Fire & Rescue Service
NLPG Ministry of Justice Award for the Best Implementation
of the Electoral Registration Data Standard
- Runner-up High Peak Borough Council and Staffordshire Moorlands District Strategic Alliance
NLPG Best in Greater London
- Winner London Borough of Redbridge
NLPG Best in South East Region
- Runner-up Adur District Council
NLPG Best in South West Region
- Winner Exeter City Council
NLPG Best in Wales
- Winner Monmouthshire County Council
NSG Most Improved
- Winner Isle of Anglesey County Council
NSG Best in Greater London
- Winner London Borough of Enfield
NSG Best in South East Region
- Winner Wokingham Borough Council
NSG Best in Wales
- Winner Isle of Anglesey County Council
NSG Best in West Midlands Region
- Winner Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
NSG Best in Yorkshire & Humberside Region
- Winner North East Lincolnshire Council
Best Integration of the NLPG & NSG
- Highly Recommended Monmouthshire County Council

Gazetteer Best Practice Day Hailed as a Success

On Thursday 22nd October, at the offices of Cardiff Council, 40 delegates representing more than 20 organisations from across the public sector came together for the inaugural Aligned Assets sponsored Gazetteer Best Practice Day.

They were treated to eight presentations covering a wide range of topics on all things related to BS7666 gazetteers from using web services to increase efficiency, through to issues surrounding Welsh/English bilingualism. There was even a last minute presentation about the FiReControl project after the intended speaker on street gazetteers fell victim to swine flu.

Commercial Director at Aligned Assets, Phil Gee, who acted as compère for the day explained that, “Through working with so many different organisations, it is apparent how many different ways there are of achieving very similar tasks. We organised this Gazetteer Best Practice Day as a way to get these organisations together to share these experiences.”

One of those who gave a presentation was Andrew d’Andilly, Business Analyst at Barnsley Metropolitan Council. Speaking after the event he said, “With the need for local government to increase efficiency and reduce cost, events like this give the opportunity to share best practise and show that with the right support and planning we can achieve our target.”

The event was such a resounding success that another one is planned for early 2010 in London. Anyone who would like to attend or have a story about best practice that they would like to present is encouraged to email carl.hancock@aligned-assets.co.uk or visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk.

New address management systems for the emergency services

There are many factors involved in the work of the emergency services, all of which play an essential role in their ability to not only respond to emergencies, but assist in reducing further risk.

A fundamental component underpinning all of their work is accurate address data, with the proper management and utilisation of that data equally vital. From mobilisation through to analysis, having an accurate address cannot only save lives but prevent risk long into the future.

Building on their vast experience of working within the FiReControl project, in addition to their work with the British Transport Police (BTP) and more recently with Kent Fire and Rescue Service, gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets have created three new address management solutions, designed specifically for use in the emergency services.

Collectively known as Symphony Bluelight, there are three distinct options available, Symphony Bluelight Enterprise, Symphony Bluelight Professional and Symphony Bluelight Search, each addressing the varying needs of the emergency services.

Symphony Bluelight Enterprise

Symphony Bluelight Enterprise is the complete corporate gazetteer system, which will support front line response, whilst all the while aiding in cost cutting and efficiency gains. It is based upon the gazetteer solution rolled out at Kent FRS, who had a requirement to implement a new system that placed accurate addressing at the heart of the Brigade.

In addition to being a secure, central depository of data, Symphony Bluelight Enterprise offers a complete, embedded Geographical Information System (GIS) in order to give the data a spatial component. This GIS enables full location analysis and is an important tool in strategic planning.

Importantly, Symphony Bluelight Enterprise allows for the synchronisation of all back office systems, enabling the user to ensure that each system contains identical address data. It creates direct links to these systems so that when updates to the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) are received, these are automatically disseminated throughout the organisation.

It allows for all non-NLPG address data in other systems to be tagged with Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) so that these numbers can be used as a comprehensive system of cross referencing, giving confidence that all departments are using the same address. The same process also allows for back office data to be geocoded, by which geographical coordinates are attached to the address. This gives the data a spatial component, which in turn allows for that data to be analysed through GIS.

As well as being able to fully exploit the NLPG, Symphony Bluelight Enterprise allows for an infinite amount of user defined fields to be attached to each record within your corporate gazetteer giving the user a wealth of information essential in all emergency service activity.

Once the fields are populated, for example in the case of the Fire & Rescue Service you can see instantly if there is there a fireworks factory behind the 20ft fir trees; whether the house next door has an elderly lady who is dependant on her oxygen tanks or whether the building next door has a Black Powder or Gun powder license?

Through the use of the intuitive management console, the user has numerous options for creating and importing data from other systems and schemas, and including them alongside the NLPG. With Symphony Bluelight Enterprise, the user can derive data from a set of Oracle GIS Layers by spatial reference to a Property. This means that every time the Property geometry changes, the data created by spatial relationship is automatically updated.

Symphony Bluelight Professional

Designed for those services looking for a phased approach to implementation, at the core of Symphony Bluelight Professional is an industry leading BS7666 compliant gazetteer management system. It is a tried and tested solution used in both local government and the emergency services, is the gazetteer of choice for the FiReControl Project and is backed up by over twelve years of address management and GIS expertise.

It has been built to allow for the creation of local records, which are records that would not normally be included in the NLPG, but have significant value to the emergency services. They can be accessed alongside the NLPG data in supporting both back office analysis and frontline incident response.

To enable the further exploitation of the NLPG, Symphony Bluelight Professional is designed to allow for the validation of all your other address data against the NLPG through its address matching components. Just as with Symphony Bluelight Enterprise the geocoding functionality allows for your organisation to have a more complete usage of GIS as it will enable other department’s data to have an accurate spatial component.

Key to both Symphony Bluelight Professional and Symphony Bluelight Enterprise is the inbuilt method for creating and processing candidate records. This allows the user the ability to feedback changes in the NLPG data for future inclusions, which is yet another method by which the data can be constantly improved and kept up to date.

Symphony Bluelight Search

Irrespective of the data source and method of managing that data, the one thing that is absolutely essential to the emergency services is the need for fast and accurate. The quicker data can be accessed, the quicker it can be used and the better the emergency response.

Based on the solution designed and built for the BTP, Symphony Bluelight Search is a flexible, web-enabled search engine that allows the user to search their address database (NLPG, ADDRESS-POINT®, OS MasterMap® Address Layer 2) and return results in sub-second time.

With a look and feel that is similar to an internet search engine, Symphony Bluelight Search primarily consists of a simple, one line search bar in which the search terms are entered. It allows for ‘wildcard searches’ if the user is unsure of the complete search term and ‘fuzzy searches’ that means words will be found even if misspelt.

Symphony Bluelight Search provides a web service that gives complete, corporate access to your central address database, giving all departments access to the same, consistent data. It can be accessed via a web browser, embedded within your own application or even added as a customised search engine in Internet Explorer, so quite literally giving every member of an organisation access. All of this reduces costs, reduces the risk of errors caused by inconsistent data and ultimately allows the user to offer a safer, more efficient and higher level of service to the public.

More than just an address search engine, through the use of adaptor technology, Symphony Bluelight Search can index, compress and search a whole variety of data sources alongside your core address data. The most common use for this is to search a names database, alongside the address data, giving the user access to both names and addresses via one search, which was one of the primary requirements of the BTP.

With Symphony Bluelight Search, the user will have access to huge amounts of departmental data at the touch of button as well as a resource by which different address datasets can be search simultaneously e.g. ADDRESS-POINT®/NLPG/Bespoke Gazetteer. It could even be used to search the PRUFOS (Police Reporting UFO Sightings) database!

Conclusion

The needs of the emergency services vary from that of other organisations and they require specialist tools in order to function effectively and efficiently. The Symphony Bluelight systems have all been designed entirely with the Emergency Services in mind from a company who is the industry-leader in gazetteer software.

The three options are intended to give choice, with Symphony Bluelight Enterprise a full corporate gazetteer, Symphony Bluelight Professional an entry level solution to complement FiReControl and Symphony Bluelight Search giving complete corporate access to a variety of data sources.

If modernisation is key to your organisation visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight or call 0870 750 8750.

All three systems will be officially launched at this year’s Underpinning Transformational Government conference on 26th November at the Victoria Park Plaza in London. As Gold Sponsors for the event, Aligned Assets will be running a Masterclass with Kent FRS that will be exploring the use of the NLPG beyond FiReControl. This will be taking place at 13.45, whilst demonstrations of all Symphony Bluelight systems will be available by the Aligned Assets team on Stand 9.

Aligned Assets’ validation tool now contains over 1000 gazetteer checks

With the release of Symphony iValidate v3.1, the gazetteer validation and reporting tool from Aligned Assets now contains in excess of 1000 separate checks.

Designed to ensure that local authorities are fully compliant with BS7666, iValidate is a valuable part of the QA process for Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) maintenance as well as performing a complete ‘Health Check’ on BS7666 gazetteers.

With the value of NLPG data stemming from its accuracy, iValidate is useful not only for performing a complete sweep of the data, but as this data changes, allows for the accuracy to be permanently maintained.

iValidate was originally developed by Aligned Assets consultants to ensure that the work they did was consistent for each of their clients and fully compliant with BS7666. It has evolved into a comprehensive COTS tool to assist in reviewing the LLPG & LSG and assisting in highlighting areas of either gazetteer that could be improved.

The release of v3.1 sees a complete new set of scripts for the LLPG and LSG Health Checks, plus new validation and reporting options. These scripts were created in response to errors/warnings that the NLPG hub were providing as part of the LLPG Improvement Schedules sent to Local Authorities in 2008/09 and are used to monitor LLPG Improvements for 2008/09.

It enables the users of LLPGs to have their database comply with the NLPG Validation and Health Checks v1.3, whilst LSG users can now easily comply with the LSG and ASD – DTF 7.1 Submission Compliance Check Specification v1.2.

Speaking of the release, Head of Professional Services at Aligned Assets, Andy Hird commented, “The release of iValidate v3.1 is a big step toward ensuring our customers can avoid the frustrations involved in rejected submissions to the hub. By having the peace of mind that their data is clean and compliant, they can free up more time to make full use of that data.”

For more information on iValidate, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/ivalidate.

Places going fast for Gazetteer Best Practice Day

With only two weeks to go until the Gazetteer Best Practice Day in Cardiff, the list of attendees is continuing to grow.

Consisting of eight presentations on a wide variety of aspects covering the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) and all things BS7666, there has been interest from both signatories and non-signatories of the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA).

With the use of the NLPG expanding in both the public and private sector, it has become more important than ever to explore ways in which gazetteers at the local level can be enhanced and brought to the heart of organisational working.

Organising the event on behalf of Aligned Assets is Carl Hancock, who explained the purpose of the day. “I speak with so many people who work with gazetteers both in local government and the emergency services, and they all have a story to tell. The Gazetteer Best Practice Day grew out of the concept of having people come together to share ideas, discuss best practice and their varied ways of working.”

The full agenda is available online via www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events/Agenda_22nd_Oct.pdf and to reserve a place or request further information contact Carl at carl.hancock@aligned-assets.co.uk.

The new generation of Property and Asset Management Software is released

Symphony PMS, the new Property Management System from Aligned Assets was officially launched with a glass of champagne in Cardiff on Friday 18th September.

In the waterside setting of County Hall, those involved in the project gathered to celebrate the ending of a nine month development cycle, which has culminated in possibly the most comprehensive property management system available.

After a warming cup of tea, the guests, including representatives from other local authorities, were given a presentation by Phil Hall, Property information Manager at Cardiff Council and Phil Gee, Commercial Director at Aligned Assets, about the need at Cardiff Council to bring in a new system to replace their outdated Estates Management System.

Being at the forefront of Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) development, it was explained how it was an essential component to have Symphony PMS linked to the gazetteer. Having worked hard to achieve LLPG integration into back office systems and a wider acceptance of the LLPG as the council’s central address database, Symphony PMS was therefore designed to use addresses data directly from the council’s LLPG.

The importance of this was explained by Phil Gee, “With Cardiff’s LLPG being of such a high standard, it seemed nonsensical to build a property management system in which address data would have to be manually entered, when all that property information already existed.

“By sourcing the addresses directly from the LLPG, Cardiff can now enjoy tremendous gains in efficiency though BS7666 standardisation, the avoidance of double entry and the ability to be 100% certain of the accuracy of the address data used.”

Following on from the reasoning behind Symphony PMS, the guests were treated to a full demonstration of the system’s wide and varying functionality. They were shown how it is capable of the full management of a property portfolio including social housing, schools, commercial assets, investment property, leisure centres, industrial estates and parks – it was even shown to be capable of managing farms.

Complete management of all the sales, acquisitions, maintenance and legalities involved in property and asset management were shown and how all the management features are intuitively accessible using a simple graphical user interface. Feedback indicated that the audience were especially impressed by the way that Symphony PMS can link into any mapping engine making the entire property portfolio visually accessible, utilising either points or polygons.

Phil Gee concluded by saying, “Cardiff Council had huge specifications to go alongside their huge property portfolio, so Symphony PMS is an all encompassing system designed to meet all those requirements. With its official launch, we look forward to rolling it out to the wider market.”

To find out more visit the Symphony PMS Pages

Aligned Assets announce Gazetteer Best Practice Day

Gazetteer Specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce the date for their upcoming Gazetteer Best Practice Day.

On Thursday 22nd October at County Hall, Cardiff all signatories to the Mapping Service Agreement (MSA) including local authorities, fire & rescue services, police forces, national parks, conservation boards and passenger transport executives are invited to attend demonstrations on Gazetteer Best Practice.

With technology infusing every aspect of our working lives it has never been more essential to make sure that the software we are using is the very best available. Efficient software however is only part of the equation and it is the understanding and use of that software that lies at the very heart of 'Best Practice'.

The Gazetteer Best Practice Day is designed to give a comprehensive introduction to the Aligned Assets' suite of address management solutions through the first hand experiences of the people using it. With several presentations from different local authorities there will be an exploration of core management functions through to the linking of data within and between systems in order to deliver joined up services.

Those attending will gain the opportunity to explore best practice not only with the speakers but with a number of other multi-discipline, gazetteer custodians from around the country.

Phil Gee, Commercial Director at Aligned Assets explained the purposed of the day. “We have run demo days in the past and the feedback we received was that people wanted to hear real user stories. For this event we have asked our users if they would be happy to tell the audience about their experiences on how they have implemented and what they use our software for. I’m pleased to say that they all agreed.”

Speakers on the day include Phil Hall, Property Information Manager at Cardiff Council, Martin Laker, GIS Team Leader at Bath & North East Somerset Council and Richard Healy, GIS Manager at Monmouthshire County Council.

Attendance is completely free of charge and more information is available by emailing carl.hancock@aligned-assets.co.uk or by visiting www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events.

Another local authority turns to Aligned Assets

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are today pleased to announce the formation of a new working partnership with the supply of the Symphony Suite of gazetteer solutions.

With a focus on system integration and placing their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) at the very heart of the council, Barnsley MBC have chosen to implement the Symphony gazetteer management system (iManage), along with data matching module (iMatch), back office integration tool (iExchange) and authority-wide web services (iSearchWeb).

Due to the limitations of their previous system, Barnsley MBC found themselves with a requirement to carry out large amounts of data cleansing work. Because of this, the ease at which Symphony iManage can carry out bulk updates was a one of the key reasons for moving to Aligned Assets.

In addition to the tools within iManage, they will be using Symphony iMatch in order to check other address data (such as Council Tax) against the LLPG. Once the cleansing work is complete, iMatch can then be used to bring all departmental address data in line with the LLPG and ensure that they are all assigned a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN). It is through the use of the UPRN that every department can be assured that each and every time they are consistently referencing the same property.

The final piece to the jigsaw will be the use of Symphony iExchange, which will allow these departmental systems to be synchronised. Initial integrations that are planned are waste management, regulatory services and education services and with the links established, Barnsley MBC will then have a need to only ever update the one address database with those changes in the LLPG being automatically exported to the other systems.

By centralising the LLPG in this way they can achieve considerable returns on investment through the significant efficiency savings it will create in all departments using the data. To further these savings, Symphony iSearchWeb will allow for departmental users of address data to directly access the LLPG via web services and ensure they’re using the most up-to-date data.

“Our primary reason for choosing the Symphony Suite was to maximise the use of available resources in maintaining our LLPG, offering better value to the taxpayer. We therefore chose the system which offered the best functionality for updating the database,” explained Riley Marsden, LLPG Custodian at Barnsley MBC.

“We emphasised from the very start the desire to work in partnership with our supplier, seeking their input into the data management process. Aligned Assets were the only company whose focus was entirely on supporting us (and working with us) to improve our data. Furthermore, the Symphony Suite offers a level of interoperability which perfectly complements our corporate enterprise architecture.”

To find out more about how Aligned Assets can help your organisation visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk or call 0870 750 8750.

Aligned Assets release Advanced ASD Management Solution

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets can today announce the new release of their Symphony Associated Street Data (ASD) management system.

Packed full of the latest technological features, including many that are not available in any other system on the market, this new version builds upon their EToN 5 compliant release from March of this year.

Called ASD Plus, and structured as an addition to the existing Symphony ASD module, the key to it is its highly advanced and flexible display options, designed to make the visualisation of all ASD data much simpler and user-friendly.

The user now has the ability to apply and customise the colours and patterns of their ASD layers in order to make street information more visually identifiable. These new identifiers can be used to pick out each Elementary Street Unit (ESU) and specifically show where restrictions apply.

This could be used to instantly see which streets are closed for a carnival, the location of all low bridges, privately maintained roads, the traffic direction of streets etc. In fact, with ASD Plus all ASD data can be assigned a visual identifier and simply turned on or off depending on what needs to be seen.

In addition to the display features, ASD Plus gives the user the opportunity to enter details about the height, width, and weight restrictions on streets (Type 64 records) and details of ‘One Way Exemptions’ (Type 65 records) i.e. which vehicle types can travel the wrong way down a street. Not only does this information provide valuable data to the emergency services and transport firms, but if the entry of these records became compulsory then ASD Plus users will have a distinct advantage.

“This new module is the biggest development in our product range since the migration to BS7666:2006,” explained Carl Nunn, Managing Director of Aligned Assets, “With it comes a suite of features we have been eager to introduce for some time now, including the ability to accurately display ASD on the map for short road sections and providing complete flexibility in terms of lines styles, thickness and colouring for each different type of ASD data.”

He went on to say, “Over two years ago we held a workshop to determine how ASD should be displayed and more recently contacted all our street gazetteer users to receive their input. Since there have been no central developments with display standards, we instead have provided complete display flexibility.”

“We have seen the richness of the data being managed truly lifting the NSG and ASD to a whole new level and I look forward to seeing the changes in the industry over the coming years. With the increasing usage of this important information we intend to continue to be at the forefront of producing industry-leading street gazetteer technology.”

To find out more about how ASD Plus can help your organisation visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/asdplus or call 0870 750 8750.

Herefordshire Council join the Aligned Assets family

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets can today announce Herefordshire Council as the latest customer of its Symphony Suite of Gazetteer Solutions.

Birth place of the historic Lady Godiva, Herefordshire boosts a population of 178,000 covering 13,000 square kilometres and is one of the most rural and least densely populated counties in England.

As a Unitary Authority the council has responsibility for the management of both Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) data with a total of 108,000 records requiring maintenance.

To facilitate this, the council have replaced their old, inefficient gazetteer management system with Symphony iManage from Aligned Assets. This technologically advanced, yet user-friendly system provides them with all the tools they require to create, maintain and analyse their BS7666 compliant Street and Land & Property Gazetteer.

They will also be using Symphony iManage for the management of Associated Street Data (ASD) that will allow them to maintain information on the ownership of the streets, height and weight restrictions, streets with special surfaces and traffic sensitive streets. Importantly, the Aligned Assets ASD module will enable the council to be fully compliant with the Traffic Management Act EToN 5 Technical Specifications and avoid any fines that come with non-compliance.

Street Naming and Numbering (SNN) plays an important role in Herefordshire Council’s Building Control Department and requires close consultation with the Parish Councils. In order to achieve significant efficiency savings in this fee-generated process, the council have chosen to use Aligned Assets’ SNN module. Fully customisable to the user’s requirements, this flexible tool will allow them to manage the complete SNN lifecycle, including the automatic distribution of letters or emails, saving considerable amounts of time and so increasing productivity.

The final piece to the gazetteer jigsaw is the installation of one of Aligned Assets’ most recent developments call the Xtended Data Module, which allows the user to add additional user-defined fields to their BS7666 gazetteer.

In the case of Herefordshire Council, they had a need to hold addresses in a way that was both suitable for internal and external uses. The use of BS7666 addresses was ideal for the internal workings of the council, but as explained by Herefordshire Council’s GIS Team Leader, Duncan Trumper, “The BS7666 address is not suitable for public interaction in all cases. We had a need for postal addresses as well since they enable better efficiency with the data exchange from the public especially in the Social Care and CRM systems.”

To achieve this they added six additional fields to their LLPG using the Xtended Data Module, which held these postal addresses, enabling them to have ‘the best of both worlds’ – fully standardised BS7666 data, plus an easy-to-use postal address, all linked with a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN). By doing this they achieve not only the internal efficiencies that come from standardisation, but better data exchange with the public and so reducing unnecessary contact.

Speaking of their switch to the Aligned Assets system, Duncan went on to say, “We are very impressed with the level of service we have had from Aligned Assets and it makes me happy to know that I made the right decision, which was a big one to make! I look forward to a happy working relationship with Aligned Assets long into the future.”

To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Aligned Assets boost their customer support with new recruit

Continuing their ongoing commitment to providing first class customer support, gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce the appointment of Melvin Lindsay as Support Analyst.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology, Melvin’s previous experience includes working as an IT Project Manager and IT Analyst. His new role at Aligned Assets will see him working on issue prioritization and management for the support department, as well as providing first line support for all Aligned Assets products.

He will be working closely with the internal support team and also directly with Aligned Assets’ customers including those from local government, the Fire and Rescue Service and the Police.

Speaking of the appointment, Carl Nunn, Managing Director of Aligned Assets said, “We take our customer support very seriously and I strongly believe that investment in people is key to achieving this. Melvin is a determined, helpful and focused individual and will become a real asset in helping us to provide the highest quality support and customer service.”

www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Symphony User Group turns out in force

Thursday 21st May 2009 saw the latest meeting of the Symphony User Group (SUG) with forty users of the addressing solutions provided by Aligned Assets coming together at the historic Albert Halls in Bolton.

The delegates, who came from as far south as Worthing and as far north as Perth, were treated to several presentations throughout the day as well as an opportunity to help shape the future of the Aligned Assets products.

Simon Bailey, the NSG Custodian came from Intelligent Addressing to give an update on the new DTF 7.1 standard and answer questions related to street gazetteers, EToN 5 and the Traffic Management Act.

Representatives from EADS gave a well received presentation on the FiReControl Project, explaining how local authority gazetteer data was integral to the future of the English Fire & Rescue Service. They also demonstrated the new Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) from Imass that will give fire fighters access to the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) whilst on call.

Showing the latest product from Aligned Assets was Cardiff Council who presented on the new Symphony Property Management System (PMS). This innovative new system that links directly with a local authority’s Local Land and Property Gazetteer allows users to manage the acquisitions, sales, maintenance and legalities involved in property management.

Phil Gee, Commercial Director at Aligned Assets speaking after the event said, “Each year the SUG goes from strength to strength and it was great to welcome some of the newest members to this Spring’s meeting. It is vitally important to us as a company to meet with our customers and hear their feedback. They use the software on a daily basis so no one is going to know better than them what we need to be doing.”

The Symphony User Group is open to all users of Aligned Assets products. They meet twice a year and are a vibrant, independent community that allows members to network, share hints and tips, and directly influence the direction of their gazetteer software.

To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk.

Aligned Assets showcasing Gazetteer solutions at BAPCO

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets invite members of the Police and Fire & Rescue Services to visit them on the EADS stand at the upcoming BAPCO 2009 Conference and Exhibition held between 21st and 23rd April 2009 at the Business Design Centre in London.

They will be available to demonstrate their advanced gazetteer management solutions that have been rolled out to all 46 fire services across England as part of the FiReControl project.

In addition to providing the Gazetteer solutions for FiReControl, Aligned Assets have been working closely with their clients at brigade level, including the two most recent implementations at Kent FRS and Humberside FRS, and continue to work with the British Transport Police in providing their national gazetteer solution.

Through their adoption of Aligned Assets’ Symphony Suite they can be assured that all aspects of local, regional and national operations will be speaking the same language as well as the opportunity to utilise National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) data across their organisation.

The gazetteer management solutions offered by Aligned Assets allow for sub-second multi-gazetteer searching, the ability to add external data to your gazetteer, back-office integration, data matching and validation, and fully integrated web services.

All the solutions are designed to increase efficiency and save time by removing error and duplication, whilst all the while allowing the data to remain consistently accurate and constantly up to date.

To find out more, visit them on the EADS stand at this year’s BAPCO exhibition or visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk.

Aligned Assets bring enhanced gazetteer management to the South Coast

Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce Worthing Borough Council as their latest Symphony Suite gazetteer customer.

Representing a population of 100,000 people, Worthing Borough Council had the requirement for a robust, yet user-friendly gazetteer management system. After considering several options they decided that the solutions offered by Aligned Assets were clearly leagues ahead of the competition.

Speaking of the decision, Gill Van-Eetvelt, Corporate Information Manager at Worthing Borough Council said, “Once we had decided to bring in a new gazetteer management system we established our selection criteria including cost, integration, efficiency and expertise. Aligned Assets excelled in them all so our decision became easy.”

In addition to the iManage gazetteer management system, Worthing Borough Council also purchased iMatch to enable them to quickly and easily match all of the Council’s addresses to their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and assigned them all with a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN).

iSearchWeb will offer authority-wide access to the gazetteer data, allowing people from across the council to all use the same address data. With iSearchWeb linked directly to the LLPG, changes in the gazetteer will automatically be reflected in the data being searched, resulting in it being consistently accurate and constantly up to date.

The use of iSearchWeb will also form the foundation of a Joint Working Partnership between Worthing Borough Council and Adur District Council. With the two councils working to provide more services together, the sharing of address information is critically important. iSearchWeb will facilitate this sharing by allowing both councils to access each other’s data via a simple, easy to use web service.

With a 15 - 20 year regeneration ‘Masterplan’ now in place for Worthing, accurate property information has never been more important. With the solutions provided by Aligned Assets, the Council’s LLPG can now be at the forefront of providing the essential addressing component to all of these plans today, tomorrow and long into the future.

www.aligned-assets.co.uk

Kent Fire follow the FiReControl model and adopt Aligned Assets

Kent Fire and Rescue Service is the latest emergency service provider to embrace the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) with the announcement that they will be adopting the gazetteer solutions provided by Aligned Assets.

As the gazetteer provider into the new nine Regional Control Centres across England via the FiReControl project, Aligned Assets were the clear choice for Kent FRS to adopt at brigade level. This allowed them to use not only the same data with the NLPG, but also the same, fully compatible software from Aligned Assets.

The new system will allow for full data management with the ability to not only receive regular updates from the National Hub, but also to integrate the NLPG data into other internal systems. In addition to this, through the use of Aligned Assets’ Xtended Data Module (XDM), Kent FRS will have the ability to add additional, user-defined fields without losing BS7666 integrity, greatly enhancing the power of the data.

One of the most powerful tools to be implemented is Aligned Assets’ SinglePoint and will allow Kent FRS to search the entire 32 millions records of the NLPG in sub-second time. With the additional option to ‘plug in’ other gazetteers and its link into 3rd Party GIS applications, SinglePoint will enable the full exploitation of the data.

As one of the largest suppliers of gazetteers into local government, and as the only UK company to specialise in gazetteers solutions, Aligned Assets have both the knowledge and expertise to provide all gazetteer and GIS-related requirements. Its work with FiReControl has positioned it as an expert in providing data tools for the emergency services, keenly understanding the necessities required.

Aligned Assets offer a new way to achieve CORE compliancy

With the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) deadline for the matching of Electoral Registers to the NLPG getting ever closer, gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are offering a new service to help local authorities gain CORE compliance.

Their intuitive data matching software, Symphony iMatch, is to be made available for loan at a price lower than the funding offered by the MoJ. This will enable local authorities to not only run the automatic matching process themselves but also can use iMatch for the process of interactive matching.

Having been the first supplier of gazetteer solutions to be granted accreditation to the BS7666:2006 standard, Aligned Assets are well known as experts in the field of data quality and compliance. They have the experience of working with over 80 local authorities and are the suppliers to the FiReControl project in which their solutions are being used to ensure that mission critical address data is accurate.

Commercial Director at Aligned Assets Phil Gee said, “After speaking with many of our clients, there was a sense that offering automatic matching services wasn’t enough since it would still leave them with a tremendous amount of manual matching to do with no easy way to achieve it.”

“They wanted a way to have the automatic matching done but also tools to make the manual matching easier, all within the MoJ’s funding. That is why we are offering iMatch in this way.”

Available for £1700, Aligned Assets are able to not only offer iMatch on a three month loan, but the offer also includes a full day of onsite consultancy to offer advice and assistance.

To find out more call 0870 750 8750, email sales@aligned-assets.co.uk or visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/imatch.