Woking, Surrey 2nd August 2011 – Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service and Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service are the latest organisations to select Aligned Assets as the supplier for their gazetteer management systems.
Both have chosen Symphony Bluelight, the UK’s only gazetteer system built specifically for the emergency services and compatible with the National Address Gazetteer.
Built around the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer, they will benefit from direct consultation over several years with the emergency services and through that a wealth of functionality not available from any other supplier.
As users of Symphony Bluelight, they will be joining an extensive network of users across the country including Kent, Merseyside, Cumbria and Humberside Fire and Rescue Services, along with Surrey and British Transport Police, in addition to over 100 local authority Symphony Gazetteer users.
Dinesh Thanigasalam, managing director of Aligned Assets was quoted as saying, “Since the cancellation of the FiReControl project, the majority of fire and rescue services are recognising the need to equip themselves with corporate gazetteer management systems.”
“The need to be able to be ready for the National Address Gazetteer, integrate with existing systems and manage the candidate process are fundamental considerations that Symphony Bluelight can address, but it’s our network of contacts within local government, other emergency services and 3rd party software suppliers, which is proving an unrivalled factor in developing essential links between those that use gazetteer data and those that create it.”
“The FiReControl Project tried to achieve a level of resilience, though what we are finding is that this is better achieve though collaborative working and shared services, as opposed to enforced regionalisation. Common policies and procedures via partnership and joint working is the way forward and this is clearly best achieved by the Fire and Rescue Service using not only the best gazetteer system available, but the only one designed specifically for their needs”
To find out more, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software across the public sector including over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces. They are the UK’s first reseller of the NLPG, providing superior address management across the private and public sectors. In addition to software and data solutions they can offer a complete range of consultancy, training, bespoke development and project management.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
National Address Gazetteer Event Announced For 6th October 2011
Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets are pleased to announce a new, free of charge event designed to provide both the public and private sector with information about the National Address Gazetteer.
Scheduled for Thursday 6th October 2011 at Hammersmith Town Hall in London, the event will comprise two sections, with section one dealing with the question, ‘What is the National Address Gazetteer’ and section two looking at ‘How to use the National Address Gazetteer’.
There will be presentations from GeoPlace, who are the custodians of the National Address Gazetteer, explaining how this single, definitive source of national address data will be formed, what the data will comprise and it’s relevance to all public and private sector organisations.
There will also be a presentation from a leading local authority that will explain how the bulk of the address data is created. This will demonstrate how the National Address Gazetteer will be updated daily and benefit from hundreds of people in the local government community whose sole responsibility is to maintain its accuracy and integrity.
Presentations will then be given on ways that organisations can make use of the National Address Gazetteer, including examples of real-life situations in which its use as this single, definitive source, throughout an organisation, can facilitate real efficiencies, shared services and a far higher level of joined up working.
Also scheduled for the autumn is the latest in the series of Gazetteer Best Practice Days, which will be on 29th September in Stirling. It will see presentations and debate from across the Scottish gazetteer community including local government, the emergency services, Scottish Government and the private sector.
Speaking of the forthcoming events, managing director of Aligned Assets, Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “The National Address Gazetteer is probably the biggest thing to ever occur in the gazetteer community. It’s got the potential to create huge savings and far higher levels of efficiency, not just for public sector organisations such as the NHS, emergency services and central government, for whom it will be available free of charge, but also to private sector organisations such as the utilities, banking and insurance.”
“Our Scottish Gazetteer Best Practice Day will be focusing on the specific issues affecting organisations in Scotland. In addition to those surrounding the creation and use of the One Scotland Gazetteer, there will also be a discussion and debate about the National Address Gazetteer and how through it we might one day see a unified address source covering England, Wales and Scotland.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events
Scheduled for Thursday 6th October 2011 at Hammersmith Town Hall in London, the event will comprise two sections, with section one dealing with the question, ‘What is the National Address Gazetteer’ and section two looking at ‘How to use the National Address Gazetteer’.
There will be presentations from GeoPlace, who are the custodians of the National Address Gazetteer, explaining how this single, definitive source of national address data will be formed, what the data will comprise and it’s relevance to all public and private sector organisations.
There will also be a presentation from a leading local authority that will explain how the bulk of the address data is created. This will demonstrate how the National Address Gazetteer will be updated daily and benefit from hundreds of people in the local government community whose sole responsibility is to maintain its accuracy and integrity.
Presentations will then be given on ways that organisations can make use of the National Address Gazetteer, including examples of real-life situations in which its use as this single, definitive source, throughout an organisation, can facilitate real efficiencies, shared services and a far higher level of joined up working.
Also scheduled for the autumn is the latest in the series of Gazetteer Best Practice Days, which will be on 29th September in Stirling. It will see presentations and debate from across the Scottish gazetteer community including local government, the emergency services, Scottish Government and the private sector.
Speaking of the forthcoming events, managing director of Aligned Assets, Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “The National Address Gazetteer is probably the biggest thing to ever occur in the gazetteer community. It’s got the potential to create huge savings and far higher levels of efficiency, not just for public sector organisations such as the NHS, emergency services and central government, for whom it will be available free of charge, but also to private sector organisations such as the utilities, banking and insurance.”
“Our Scottish Gazetteer Best Practice Day will be focusing on the specific issues affecting organisations in Scotland. In addition to those surrounding the creation and use of the One Scotland Gazetteer, there will also be a discussion and debate about the National Address Gazetteer and how through it we might one day see a unified address source covering England, Wales and Scotland.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/events
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Rutland County Council Set to Make Savings with New Gazetteer Management System
Rutland County Council is set to dramatically increase efficiency with a new gazetteer management system from Aligned Assets.
Symphony iManage, the gazetteer management system in use by over 100 sites across the public sector, will be used by Rutland County Council for the management of their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG), Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) and Associated Street Data (ASD).
In addition to Symphony iManage, they have opted to taken the Aligned Assets’ integration module, Symphony iExchange, which will allow them to set up automated exports of their gazetteer data into their back office systems, as well as automate their exports to the national hub.
The first integration to be established using Symphony iExchange, and one regarded as a ‘key system’, was to their Northgate (iLAP) planning systems. By synchronising these systems with the gazetteer, Rutland County Council have created a scenario through which changes to their LLPG are automatically exported in DTF 7.3, enabling the planning, building control and land charges departments to all be using the most up to date address data available.
Symphony iExchange will allow Rutland County Council to establish an unlimited amount of integrations, with each one uniquely tailored to the recipient system/department. They will be able to set the frequency e.g. daily, weekly, monthly, the format e.g. DTF, XML, CSV, the type of data sent e.g. only approved LPIs or only those with Council Tax cross reference, and will even being able to select export types right down to level 3 of the BLPU classifications.
By centralising their gazetteer and ensuring other systems can feed from it, Rutland County Council will start to make considerable savings. This was demonstrated in the 2010 report from the Local Government Group titled ‘The Value of Geospatial Information to Local Public Service Delivery in England and Wales’, which showed average benefits for local authorities using a product like iExchange to be between £12,500 and £22,732 per service.
Better working practices will also be available to Rutland County Council through their use of the UK’s most advanced software for Street Naming and Numbering, Symphony SNN. Designed to manage the complete life cycle of naming a street or numbering a property, it automates processes such as sending out correspondence and keeps a full audit trail so that anyone can easily see what stage a case is at. It allows the SNN Officer to search and extract data from the LLPG, whilst new builds can be seamlessly sent to the gazetteer for acceptance and entry by the Custodian.
“We were looking for a system that would enable us to manage the LLPG, LSG and ASD through one interface and Symphony iManage was the ideal choice,” explained Ben Catton Corporate LLPG & GIS Custodian at Rutland County Council. “We needed to replicate the gazetteer links we already had established with the iLAP planning systems, which we could do using iExchange, but what really appealed to us was the ability to start integrating with many more systems, something we had not previously been able to do.”
“Aligned Assets have shown themselves to be experts in their field and I would be happy to recommend them and their software to anyone.”
For more information visit: www.aligned-assets.co.uk
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Choose Aligned Assets for their Corporate Gazetteer
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is pushing forward in the post-FiReControl environment with a corporate gazetteer management system from Aligned Assets.
The Symphony Bluelight system will see them building on the work they did during the FiReControl project in matching their existing address data to the NLPG (National Land and Property Gazetteer) in order to create one definitive gazetteer that will be used throughout the F&RS.
The management component, the Bluelight Gazetteer, will allow them to complement the NLPG data with emergency service specific ‘local records’ and they will be using the Xtended Data Module (XDM) to create additional fields in the gazetteer to direct users to risk information held about a property.
In this phase of the project, all this data is being made available via SinglePoint, which will give every member of the F&RS the ability to search on the corporate gazetteer and show the results via a Geographical Information System (GIS).
This process will give all users the opportunity to become familiar with the NLPG, whilst the feedback gained will be used to enhance the gazetteer even further, with the ability to influence the NLPG directly through the candidate process. SinglePoint also allows easy access to UPRNs (Unique Property Reference Numbers), which are key to Merseyside F&RS’s Site Specific Risk Information process.
Managing Director of Aligned Assets, Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “We have always designed our software with the end user in mind so have ploughed considerable resources into Symphony Bluelight in order to make it the definitive gazetteer management system for the emergency services.”
“Merseyside F&RS has worked tirelessly to build on the NLPG to create a gazetteer database that is ideally suited for the needs of the modern fire and rescue service. By using the Bluelight Gazetteer to manage it, it will be fully compatible with the National Address Gazetteer and we look forward to working with them to integrate the data into their other systems.”
This second phase of the project will see links being created using Symphony iExchange, which will allow for exports of the gazetteer data into their Vision FX Command & Control system as well as a number of other frontline and back office systems, including Mobile Data Terminals. Key to this will be their ability to export changes within their entire gazetteer database – the NLPG and all their local records.
“Aligned Assets were selected to supply our corporate gazetteer management system following scoring against a rigorous procurement requirement specification,” explained Nicholas Cowley, Corporate Gazetteer Project Manager at Merseyside F&RS. “Our requirements were met through the functionality available in Symphony Bluelight, and their extensive experience of working with the emergency services gave us confidence in selecting them as a partner.”
To find out more, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk
The Symphony Bluelight system will see them building on the work they did during the FiReControl project in matching their existing address data to the NLPG (National Land and Property Gazetteer) in order to create one definitive gazetteer that will be used throughout the F&RS.
The management component, the Bluelight Gazetteer, will allow them to complement the NLPG data with emergency service specific ‘local records’ and they will be using the Xtended Data Module (XDM) to create additional fields in the gazetteer to direct users to risk information held about a property.
In this phase of the project, all this data is being made available via SinglePoint, which will give every member of the F&RS the ability to search on the corporate gazetteer and show the results via a Geographical Information System (GIS).
This process will give all users the opportunity to become familiar with the NLPG, whilst the feedback gained will be used to enhance the gazetteer even further, with the ability to influence the NLPG directly through the candidate process. SinglePoint also allows easy access to UPRNs (Unique Property Reference Numbers), which are key to Merseyside F&RS’s Site Specific Risk Information process.
Managing Director of Aligned Assets, Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “We have always designed our software with the end user in mind so have ploughed considerable resources into Symphony Bluelight in order to make it the definitive gazetteer management system for the emergency services.”
“Merseyside F&RS has worked tirelessly to build on the NLPG to create a gazetteer database that is ideally suited for the needs of the modern fire and rescue service. By using the Bluelight Gazetteer to manage it, it will be fully compatible with the National Address Gazetteer and we look forward to working with them to integrate the data into their other systems.”
This second phase of the project will see links being created using Symphony iExchange, which will allow for exports of the gazetteer data into their Vision FX Command & Control system as well as a number of other frontline and back office systems, including Mobile Data Terminals. Key to this will be their ability to export changes within their entire gazetteer database – the NLPG and all their local records.
“Aligned Assets were selected to supply our corporate gazetteer management system following scoring against a rigorous procurement requirement specification,” explained Nicholas Cowley, Corporate Gazetteer Project Manager at Merseyside F&RS. “Our requirements were met through the functionality available in Symphony Bluelight, and their extensive experience of working with the emergency services gave us confidence in selecting them as a partner.”
To find out more, visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Aligned Assets Take NLPG Candidate Processing to the Next Level
The candidate process, which will see the emergency services of England and Wales able to send updates for inclusion in the Country’s most definitive address database, the NLPG (National Land and Property Gazetteer), is set to be taken to the next level by gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets.
Symphony Bluelight, the gazetteer management system that is already in use across the emergency services, will contain advanced functionality that is not available from any other supplier and with it the options that will prove essential to the day-to-day operations of the emergency services.
The procedure that other gazetteer management systems on the market will use involves the emergency service identifying an inaccuracy in the NLPG, at which point that inaccuracy will be sent to the National Hub as a candidate record. At that stage it will be checked before being sent to the local custodian, who will do further checks and then either accept or reject the change. It will then be returned to the Hub and made available to the emergency services the next time they take a download of the NLPG.
This entire process can take up to twelve days, during which time the emergency service has to wait for that inaccuracy to be corrected.
In Symphony Bluelight, at the same time that the inaccuracy is identified and the candidate record is created, the emergency service can override the NLPG record so that the inaccuracy is instantly corrected. The process of updating the NLPG will still proceed through the National Hub and the local Custodian, but those using Symphony Bluelight will no longer have to wait.
Once the candidate record has been formally processed, Symphony Bluelight will show which records have been accepted and which rejected giving the emergency service the option of accepting the change, or if the candidate was rejected by the Custodian, the override can be kept in place.
Speaking about the candidate process, managing director Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “By giving the emergency services the ability to forward address inaccuracies, it is providing another set of eyes and ears on the ground, which will help every user of the NLPG and when released, the National Address Gazetteer.”
“As Symphony Bluelight was designed and built specifically for the emergency services, in consultation with them, we made the decision that the current process was just too slow for their needs. No one would deny that change intelligence needs to be properly validated, but we were told that if an inaccuracy was identified, it needed instant remedying, so this is what Symphony Bluelight does.”
To find out more visit: www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
Symphony Bluelight, the gazetteer management system that is already in use across the emergency services, will contain advanced functionality that is not available from any other supplier and with it the options that will prove essential to the day-to-day operations of the emergency services.
The procedure that other gazetteer management systems on the market will use involves the emergency service identifying an inaccuracy in the NLPG, at which point that inaccuracy will be sent to the National Hub as a candidate record. At that stage it will be checked before being sent to the local custodian, who will do further checks and then either accept or reject the change. It will then be returned to the Hub and made available to the emergency services the next time they take a download of the NLPG.
This entire process can take up to twelve days, during which time the emergency service has to wait for that inaccuracy to be corrected.
In Symphony Bluelight, at the same time that the inaccuracy is identified and the candidate record is created, the emergency service can override the NLPG record so that the inaccuracy is instantly corrected. The process of updating the NLPG will still proceed through the National Hub and the local Custodian, but those using Symphony Bluelight will no longer have to wait.
Once the candidate record has been formally processed, Symphony Bluelight will show which records have been accepted and which rejected giving the emergency service the option of accepting the change, or if the candidate was rejected by the Custodian, the override can be kept in place.
Speaking about the candidate process, managing director Dinesh Thanigasalam said, “By giving the emergency services the ability to forward address inaccuracies, it is providing another set of eyes and ears on the ground, which will help every user of the NLPG and when released, the National Address Gazetteer.”
“As Symphony Bluelight was designed and built specifically for the emergency services, in consultation with them, we made the decision that the current process was just too slow for their needs. No one would deny that change intelligence needs to be properly validated, but we were told that if an inaccuracy was identified, it needed instant remedying, so this is what Symphony Bluelight does.”
To find out more visit: www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Surrey Police Select Symphony Bluelight From Aligned Assets
Woking, Surrey 6th June 2011 – Surrey Police have selected gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets to supply them with software from their Symphony Bluelight suite of emergency services products.
Similar to Aligned Assets’ SinglePoint solution that is well-established at British Transport Police, Surrey Police will be using the advanced web services in SinglePoint to act as a bridge between their gazetteer data and names data, pulling them together and giving access to both through their new enterprise-wide IT solution.
The new IT system, provided by Memex, a leading global provider of Public Security Solutions, will link all recorded information and intelligence across the force. Key for Surrey Police was the ability for existing data to become universally accessible and through SinglePoint they can have all gazetteer and names data accessible via a central source.
"At Surrey Police we were looking for a way of making our existing gazetteer investment available to a major new application,” explained Greg Brown, Application Lead for Surrey Police. “Aligned Assets SinglePoint solution was a clear fit for our business need and will allow us to add gazetteer access to other systems incrementally. Aligned Assets have been a pleasure to work with, they understand our needs and the cost of software as a subscription makes it all affordable."
“SinglePoint has been developed for one clear purpose,” said Dinesh Thanigasalam, managing director of Aligned Assets, “and that is ensure data is accessible to all whether in the Police, the Fire Service or indeed any public sector organisation. For Surrey Police, what this means is that they will be saving money by removing the need for multiple deployments and gain significantly from all officers using identical data.”
Surrey Police are the forth emergency service to select Aligned Assets’ gazetteer solutions in the past few months. On this, Thanigasalam went on to say, “Our Symphony Bluelight suite was built specifically for use in the emergency services and is designed to not only give full gazetteer management and integration functionality, but importantly, is available with a pricing structure that is reflective of an increased need for cost savings.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
Similar to Aligned Assets’ SinglePoint solution that is well-established at British Transport Police, Surrey Police will be using the advanced web services in SinglePoint to act as a bridge between their gazetteer data and names data, pulling them together and giving access to both through their new enterprise-wide IT solution.
The new IT system, provided by Memex, a leading global provider of Public Security Solutions, will link all recorded information and intelligence across the force. Key for Surrey Police was the ability for existing data to become universally accessible and through SinglePoint they can have all gazetteer and names data accessible via a central source.
"At Surrey Police we were looking for a way of making our existing gazetteer investment available to a major new application,” explained Greg Brown, Application Lead for Surrey Police. “Aligned Assets SinglePoint solution was a clear fit for our business need and will allow us to add gazetteer access to other systems incrementally. Aligned Assets have been a pleasure to work with, they understand our needs and the cost of software as a subscription makes it all affordable."
“SinglePoint has been developed for one clear purpose,” said Dinesh Thanigasalam, managing director of Aligned Assets, “and that is ensure data is accessible to all whether in the Police, the Fire Service or indeed any public sector organisation. For Surrey Police, what this means is that they will be saving money by removing the need for multiple deployments and gain significantly from all officers using identical data.”
Surrey Police are the forth emergency service to select Aligned Assets’ gazetteer solutions in the past few months. On this, Thanigasalam went on to say, “Our Symphony Bluelight suite was built specifically for use in the emergency services and is designed to not only give full gazetteer management and integration functionality, but importantly, is available with a pricing structure that is reflective of an increased need for cost savings.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Aligned Assets Release the UK’s First NAG-Compatible Gazetteer Management System
Gazetteer specialists Aligned Assets can today confirm the development of a prototype of the UK’s first gazetteer management system to be fully compatible with the recently released alpha version of the National Address Gazetteer.
Officially launched at the Emergency Services Gazetteer Best Practice Day in Sheffield, the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer will enable Fire & Rescue Services, Police Forces and Ambulance Services to fully exploit this definitive, national database of addresses.
With this development, upon the formal release of the National Address Gazetteer BS7666 database, the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer with be capable of managing all 30 million records in the National Address Gazetteer and will provide a wealth of functionality to give real power to the data.
All the data can be accessed corporately either via web services or through the automated export into other systems, whilst the data itself can be expanded with additional information such as security classifications and access points.
The emergency services will also have the option to complement the National Address Gazetteer with their own records, which can also be accessed and utilised by other systems. Full management of the candidate process will also be made available so that the emergency services can influence the development of the National Address Gazetteer.
Dinesh Thanigasalam, managing director of Aligned Assets said, “High quality addressing is essential in the emergency services and it is the combination of the National Address Gazetteer with the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer that will provide this quality.”
“We understand that mobilisation is essential to the emergency services, but also that it’s not just about response. The Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer is designed to sit at the heart of an organisation, feeding both front line and back office systems with the most accurate and up to date address data available. Through this, the emergency services can begin to recognise greater efficiencies, cost savings and a reduction in error.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software to over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services, Police Forces and National Parks. 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.
Officially launched at the Emergency Services Gazetteer Best Practice Day in Sheffield, the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer will enable Fire & Rescue Services, Police Forces and Ambulance Services to fully exploit this definitive, national database of addresses.
With this development, upon the formal release of the National Address Gazetteer BS7666 database, the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer with be capable of managing all 30 million records in the National Address Gazetteer and will provide a wealth of functionality to give real power to the data.
All the data can be accessed corporately either via web services or through the automated export into other systems, whilst the data itself can be expanded with additional information such as security classifications and access points.
The emergency services will also have the option to complement the National Address Gazetteer with their own records, which can also be accessed and utilised by other systems. Full management of the candidate process will also be made available so that the emergency services can influence the development of the National Address Gazetteer.
Dinesh Thanigasalam, managing director of Aligned Assets said, “High quality addressing is essential in the emergency services and it is the combination of the National Address Gazetteer with the Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer that will provide this quality.”
“We understand that mobilisation is essential to the emergency services, but also that it’s not just about response. The Symphony Bluelight Gazetteer is designed to sit at the heart of an organisation, feeding both front line and back office systems with the most accurate and up to date address data available. Through this, the emergency services can begin to recognise greater efficiencies, cost savings and a reduction in error.”
To find out more visit www.aligned-assets.co.uk/bluelight
ABOUT ALIGNED ASSETS
Aligned Assets are an industry leader in gazetteer and address management solutions. They supply software to over 100 Local Authorities, Fire & Rescue Services, Police Forces and National Parks. 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.
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