South Tyneside Council has mapped a clear path to meeting e-government targets by making council information and maps widely available via the web. It has implemented iShareMaps, a web-based mapping system from Aligned Assets, who supplied the Council's previous geographical information systems (GIS). The council's existing MapInfo GIS was restricted to 125 of the council's 8900 employees. Now the new GIS is on the council's intranet most employees have access to it, as well as the region's 151,700 residents, via the internet. To provide maximum accessibility, the web maps will eventually be rolled out to a network of kiosks and PCs at sites such as community centres.
Dave Bowman, South Tyneside's information manager, said: "Initially, iShareMaps will give people access to information about local facilities such as GPs and schools. They will be able to find out what is in their areas."
By the end of 2006 the council plans to extend its service to include road safety information and planning applications. "We will meet the government's e-government priority outcomes by the end of the new financial year. Then we will be embedding mapping into all other areas," Bowman told IWR.
South Tyneside is also renewing its council-wide mainframe systems to improve accessibility to information. The council has set up a BS7666 compliant Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) which forms a central dataset that will be linked to iShareMaps, allowing address lookup and location on maps.
Autor: Tracey Caldwell
Quelle: IT Week, 08.03.2005
