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| March 2008 Edition |

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General:

1. CORE Project
2. BERR Report on Trading Funds
3. PGA Includes Aerial Photography Data from April 2008
4. BAPCO 2008
5. Government Produces Transport IT Cash
6. Govt Confirms Overhaul of Improvement Support
7. 1 Source of Truth
8. LGC Awards
9. Call for Papers Reminder and Exemplar Awards
10. Some Recent Articles on the NLPG and NSG
11. Changes to the NLPG Gazetteer Team
12. Surrey Heath Borough Council seek GIS & Gazetteer Officer

NLPG:

1. Change Only Updates

2. Forthcoming Meetings

NSG:

1. New LSG Validation, Compliance Checks and Changes to ASD

Codes
2. Monthly Submissions
3. Up and Coming NSG Events

-----[articles]-----

[General]
**1. CORE Project**
In last month's Ezine we announced that the Electoral Commission
had accepted the
MoJ's advice to move toward BS7666 addressing and had made a
recommendation for
implementation in Great Britain. This, along with the decision
by the Police, FireControl
and Inspire (see February 2008 Ezine) further consolidates
BS7666 as the de facto
address standard for England and Wales.

Details for the implementation and roll out of the CORE project
are still being
finalised and these will be released shortly; but those
interested in reading into
 the background and looking at a summary of the Consultation
should visit [1]www.dca.gov.uk/consult/core/cp2905.htm
and/or contact [2]CORE@justice.gsi.gov.uk if you have any
questions.

[1] http://www.dca.gov.uk/consult/core/cp2905.htm
[2] mailto:CORE@justice.gsi.gov.uk

**2. BERR Report on Trading Funds**

The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
(BERR) has published
the long awaited report on Trading Funds on March 11th. The full
[1]Report can
be viewed on line on their website and those interested in
comments arising can
follow the Guardian blog [2]www.freeourdata.org.uk.

The study has analysed the impact of adopting different models

for the provision
of public sector information by trading funds. Its basic task
was to examine the
cost and benefits for society, and the effects on government
revenue, of four different
charging policies: profit-maximisation, average cost (cost-
recovery), marginal cost
and zero cost; both on their own and when interacted with
various data distinctions
such as raw versus value-added, and unrefined versus refined.

The study focused on the six largest trading funds by data

provision: the Met Office,
Ordnance Survey, the UK Hydrographic Office, the Land Registry,
Companies House
and the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency.

[1] http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file45136.pdf
[2] http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/blog/index.php

**3. PGA Includes Aerial Photography Data from April 2008**

More than 100 central government bodies will be able to access
aerial photography
data for the first time from April 2008 as a result of a
recently initiated deal.

The Pan-Government Agreement (PGA) product portfolio currently

comprises of 15 products.
The new deal extends the products available to include national
coverage of 25 cm
aerial photography and height data from Next Perspectives. This
will include a colour
infra-red layer, a digital surface model and high resolution
lidar data for most
major urban areas.
 The agreement is the outcome of a competitive tendering
exercise. As well as securing
an excellent price, PGA members will enjoy flexible license
terms including indefinite
rights to use any data created from these products.

The PGA is managed by Communities and Local Government on behalf

of over 100 central
government bodies. More information is available on the [1]IGGI
website.

[1] http://www.iggi.gov.uk/organisations.php

**4. BAPCO 2008**

IDeA and IA have taken a stand at the BAPCO 2008 exhibition
'Integrated ICT for
Civil Contingency Response' to showcase the national gazetteers.
The exhibition
is being held at The Business Design Centre, Islington London
from 22nd to 24th
April 2008.

BAPCO is a not-for-profit, user led organisation that provides a

forum for professionals
in the field of public safety communications and information
management technology
to exchange ideas, information and experiences.

The event is aimed at communications professionals with

responsibility for public
safety and civil contingencies to exchange ideas, experience and
knowledge. With
the increasing interest in the NLPG and the NSG from the
emergency services, it
was decided to that the BAPCO event would be a good place to
discuss location issues
with civil contingency professionals. See [1]www.bapco.co.uk
for more information
about the conference and exhibition. Intelligent Addressing has
also become a member
of BAPCO.

[1] http://www.bapco.co.uk/index.cfm

**5. Government Produces Transport IT Cash**

The Department for Transport has helped to provide £8m for three
projects exploring
how IT can be used to improve the UK's transport system.

It has made the awards in cooperation with the Technology

Strategy Board and the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the
Future Intelligent
Transport Systems initiative (FITS).

The projects will involve British companies working

collaboratively with academic
institutions and network operators, with the aim of delivering
better transport
services while reducing negative environmental impacts.

One of the projects is Freeflow, which is based in London and

York aims to improve
the use of transport data using tools already used outside the
transport community,
such as military 'situation awareness' technology. It could, for
example, help drivers
to avoid congestion and network managers to reduce it.

Another is Foot-Lite, which aims to develop products which give

drivers information
- for example via an in-vehicle display system - that will help
them to drive in
a way that is safer, cuts congestion and reduces emissions and
other negative environmental
impacts.

The third is the User Innovation project, which will investigate

how transport users
are already using existing forms of IT to enhance - such as
workers using email
to organise and manage car sharing clubs. It is aimed at
identifying, developing
and exploiting new opportunities for existing technologies and
services.

**6. Govt Confirms Overhaul of Improvement Support**

Department for Communities & Local Government Local Government
Minister John Healey
has confirmed the first step in an overhaul of improvement
support for councils,
as they work to increase efficiency and improve services to
release £5billion, which
can be used to reduce pressure on council tax bills or invest in
local services.
He praised councils for being on track to make £4.2bn annual
efficiency gains this
year - well ahead of the £3bn target.

Mr Healey announced the allocation of £185m through council-led

Regional Improvement
and Efficiency Partnerships, to pioneer innovative ways to
transform and improve
services, and cut waste.
 Full story: [1]www.publictechnology.

[1] http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?
op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=14805

**7. 1 Source of Truth**

Tony Black, IA's Director of Operations, will be speaking at the
"1Spatial conference,
"1 Source of Truth" on 1st May. The conference focuses on the
transformation, management
and quality control of spatial data. Tony will present on
'Disruptions in the PSI
supply chain' - the EU and the UK Government have identified the
importance of public
sector information in creating a dynamic knowledge economy.
Despite a raft of recent
Government initiatives and reports, the full potential of PSI is
still not being
exploited. Tony will discuss why this is the case and what can
be done to help realise
the £500 billion in hidden information markets identified by the
OFT's 'Commercial
Use of Public Information' market study.

For further details about the 1Spatial conference, see

[1]www.1spatial.com/index.php.

[1] http://www.1spatial.com/index.php

**8. LGC Awards**

The [1]Winners and runners up in the LGC Awards were announced
at the Grosvenor
House Hotel, London on March 17th.

[1] http://www.lgcawards.co.uk/shortlist.asp?m_pid=0&m_nid=20635

**9. Call for Papers Reminder and Exemplar Awards**

A reminder to you all that the Call for Papers for the
'Underpinning Transformational
Government' Conference closes on 18th April. The conference
will take place in
conjunction with the NLPG NSG Exemplar Awards on 16 October at
the ICC in Birmingham.

Entry forms for the 2008 Exemplar Awards will be available from
May.

**10. Some Recent Articles on the NLPG and NSG**

Articles on the NSG and the NLPG have recently appeared in a
number of journals.
 Government IT have published a one page article on the NSG
called 'Underpinning
the Traffic Management Act’. The article can be viewed [1]here.

Contingency Today, is a web-based magazine dedicated to the

challenges and opportunities
of Critical National Infrastructure protection. It has recently
published an article
'Safety in numbers', based on Dartford's award winning entry to
the NLPG NSG Exemplar
Awards 2007. The article can be seen at
[2]www.contingencytoday.com.

Local Government IT In Use have published a one page 'round-up'

on news relating
to the NLPG. It can be viewed on the [3]NLPG website.

[1] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1206702360631.pdf
[2] http://www.contingencytoday.com/online_article/Safety-in-
numbers/1023
[3] http://www.iahub.net/docs/1206702113536.pdf

**11. Changes to the NLPG Gazetteer Team**

It is with regret that Nazit, who has been with IA for 4 years,
has decided to leave
to pursue a career in community work in her local area. Whilst
with IA she has provide
a friendly and authoritative voice to the local authorities and
offered invaluable
advice to all during a challenging time for IA and authorities
alike. Nazit has
kindly agreed to work until the end of March 2008 to help us
through the final migration
process before commencing some study and courses in relation to
community work.
We wish her all the best in the future.

IA is recruiting for a replacement for Nazit. See February issue

of the Ezine for
details.

**12. Surrey Heath Borough Council seek GIS & Gazetteer Officer**
Surrey Heath are seeking a GIS practitioner to fill a new role
within its progressive
ICT department. Salary £23,646 - £27,830 + benefits.

Primary responsibility will be for the management and promotion

of the Council's
Land and Property Gazetteer. You will be responsible for
technical management of
the LLPG, street naming and for taking a more strategic view,
ensuring use of the
 LLPG is maximised throughout the Authority.

You will support the GIS Manager in the delivery of corporate

GIS systems and projects
and will assist in maintenance of various software systems such
as our Intranet
mapping system, corporate databases and document management
systems. You'll be comfortable
working with a range of GIS systems, database server systems,
open source software
and web technology.

For an application pack, apply on line at

[1]www.surreyheath.gov.uk/council/vacancies
or, alternatively, e-mail your request to
[2]recruitment@surreyheath.gov.uk, please
quote reference ECT020.

Closing date: 18th April 2008.

[1] http://www.surreyheath.gov.uk/council/vacancies
[2] mailto:recruitment@surreyheath.gov.uk

[NLPG]
**1. Change Only Updates**
The NLPG hub received over 2,600 COUs during February with
almost 70% of these being
processed automatically. Many of the errors being sent to the
hub are software
related; vendors have been made aware of these by the hub and
are working towards
resolving the issues.

**2. Forthcoming Meetings**

There are LLPG RCG meetings on the following dates:

Yorkshire & Humberside - 16th April - Goole

[NSG]
**1. New LSG Validation, Compliance Checks and Changes to ASD
Codes**
A reminder the new version of the Compliance Test document can
be downloaded

from the following link:

[1]www.thensg.org.uk/docs/compliance_check_v2.pdf
[1] http://www.thensg.org.uk/docs/compliance_check_v2.pdf

**2. Monthly Submissions**

Please remember Highway Authorities now require street data
monthly and for this

reason the Regional Chairs LSG Custodian Group and IDeA have
agreed that all LSG

Custodians must update within the first 10 working days of each

month.

Submissions after the 10th working day will not be accepted and
will need to be

made in the following month.

This will allow other Highway Authorities to create ASD against

the latest LSG and

data and the hub to conduct extra validation and consistency

checks.

Please note that the set of mandatory files from 1st April 2008
onwards

is:
Street File (xxxx_01.csv)
ASD 21 (xxxx_21.csv)
ASD 22 (xxxx_22.csv)
ODD (xxxx_OD.xml)

LSG Custodians will not be able to start testing any data until
all these files
are

present in your bin.

**3. Up and Coming NSG Events**

A member of the NSG team will be attending the following events:
London HAUC EXPO - 2nd April 2008
LSG Regional Chairs meeting - 7th April 2008
East Midlands Regional LSG Custodians Group - 21st April 2008