A major e-government initiative is set to provide all Government departments with access to high quality, up-to-date digital mapping information and decision support tools. This has led to the award of a contract to a consortium led by QinetiQ, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) announced today.
The "Maps on Tap" service will enhance area-based decision making across Government. This will be achieved through offering departments and agencies desktop access to a vast amount of digital geographic information and analytical tools that will be accessible from one place for the first time. In addition, public information services can be established by Government departments to provide easy access to information on a geographic basis.
The demand for geographic information from Government is huge. The ODPM, for instance, utilises information on a wide range of issues, including crime, land use, housing, health, the economy and transport, much of which is more valuable in a geographical context. Other departments and agencies have similar demand and will benefit from economies of scale brought about by the sharing of this valuable resource across the whole of Government.
The ODPM has strategically invested in a four-year framework programme that will involve the migration of its existing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications, including Ordnance Survey datasets, to a common platform. This will act as a foundation for effective sharing of any geographic data across government and provides for the development of new e-government applications by the QinetiQ team to fully exploit this shared data environment.
The service will initially host Ordnance Survey data and ODPM applications and data sets. The Maps on Tap project framework will allow all other Government departments to build on this investment. The service will be made available to Government departments and agencies over secure Government networks and in time extended to the public via an internet gateway.
QinetiQ, Europe's largest science and technology organisation, will partner with the Open GIS Consortium (Europe) Limited (OGCE), Oracle, Snowflake Software and ESRI (UK) to deliver the Maps on Tap service. The QinetiQ consortium won the contract in the face of competition from leading systems integrators.
Announcing the award of the contract, Peter Capell, Divisional Manager, Planning and Land Use Statistics at the ODPM, said: "Maps on Tap represents an opportunity for government and public bodies to deliver improvements to the sharing of geographic information and build upon existing investment in the Pan Government Agreement for the supply of Ordnance Survey data. I would urge my colleagues across Government to fully exploit this highly valuable shared resource. In establishing the service, the ODPM has covered much of the development costs, so other users can expect great value from Maps on Tap."
Using open standards, Maps on Tap will ensure that the different GIS applications used by different departments and the massive amount of varying datasets are all accessible through one managed service. By ensuring that all existing and future systems are compatible in this way the QinetiQ open standards solution will allow "best-of-breed" software to be used, increase competition, drive down prices, provide better value on existing contracts and improve levels of data sharing. Individual departments will be able to continue to deal with their preferred digital mapping product supplier if they choose to, or in future combine their buying power with other departments and opt for a shared service.
Dr Mike Jackson, Director of QinetiQ's Space Department which houses QinetiQ's GIS Centre of Excellence, welcomed the contract win and said: "We are delighted that QinetiQ has been selected for this critical e-government project. We look forward to working with the broad range of Government departments that will benefit from the Maps on Tap service. Maps on Tap will bring value to our customers and make a significant contribution to decision making across a wide range of areas where geography is a key consideration, whether it be health, housing, crime reduction or regional investment."
Access to Maps on Tap will be free to end users, with participating departments and agencies contributing towards the running costs of the service. The service will include the provision of various support elements, such as security, resilience, user helpdesk, marketing and service development.
The Open GIS Consortium (Europe) Limited (OGCE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC). OGCE's mission is promote the adoption and uptake of interoperable data and services throughout wider Europe, and is organised and operated as a non-stock, not for profit company. OGC is an international industry consortium of more than 250 companies, government agencies and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available interface specifications - www.opengis.org.
OGCE was brought on to the team to provide advisory services to QinetiQ and ODPM regarding open standards architecture and service integration practices that will be employed by the Maps on Tap team to assure interoperability in follow on program development and service deployment.
Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company - www.oracle.com.
Snowflake Software provides innovative solutions for the fast and reliable integration of geographical information with mainstream IT technologies. Snowflake's vision is, by working with partners, to bring the benefits of geospatial technology to a wider range of users than ever before - www.snowflakesoftware.co.uk.
ESRI (UK) delivers enterprise geographic information solutions to organisations in both public and private sectors in the UK. Founded 25 years ago, and with over 1600 customers, it is one of the largest and most experienced GIS companies, combining market leading products, UK specific services, applications and data, to local authorities, central government, utilities and telecoms, defence and business markets. ESRI (UK) is the sole distributor of ESRI Inc.'s world leading ArcGIS suite of products - www.esriuk.com. |
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