Geo-data experts pinpoint Birmingham for GeoPlace’s annual conference

Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director of GeoPlace said; “With the overall theme of ‘Linking people to places’, speakers throughout the day will demonstrate how linking data places adds value, gives better insight into an area and its citizens and allocates the provision of more targeted services. Councils across Great Britain rely on information from hundreds of different sources. Adding the location information to datasets such as social care, school admissions, council tax collection, waste management, electoral registration or planning applications can help make deeper sense of data once it's linked together.”

At the conference;

• The Director of the newly established Geospatial Commission will provide an introduction and overview on why Government views all this data as a critical national resource
• Ofcom will discuss superfast broadband and universal service
• The Department for Transport will talk about improving streetworks coordination
• Kent County Council will demonstrate how the UPRN links health and social care
• Wolverhampton Council will talk about the role of addressing in business transformation
• CIPFA will highlight the importance of addressing in identifying fraud and error in business rates
• In a double header the Valuation Office Agency and the Local Government Association will talk about the census and its impact on local government finance
• In a provocatively titled presentation ‘Why I (still) hate addresses’, the Valuation Office Agency will highlight the role of information sharing with the VOA
• The Transport Network ITS Spatial Data Deployment Platform will discuss the delivery of a European wide intelligent transport system
• Another speaker from the Department of Transport will talk about the work of councils in enabling funding allocations for streets
• Speakers from Thames Water, Western Power Distribution and Highways England will discuss how good quality streets data from councils enables them to make informed decisions
• Street Naming and Numbering is an important part of the day – a dedicated session will focus on a five-year action plan for good addressing and provide advice to councils on matters such as legislation and charging.

Councillor Ian Ward, the Leader of Birmingham City Council will present the Exemplar Awards to the winners of GeoPlace annual Awards for innovation and data quality. The conference is supported by a 15-strong exhibition from suppliers to local government, who are there to meet existing customers and impress future ones.

About GeoPlace
GeoPlace LLP is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Ordnance Survey.

GeoPlace is a world class expert in address and street information management, working internationally as well as in the UK to help our partners and customers maximise the value of their spatial information for better decision making.

GeoPlace maintains a national infrastructure that supports the address and street information needs of the public and private sectors. Its work relies heavily on close working relationships with every local authority in England and Wales. This relationship has been developed over 15 years, to build the National Address Gazetteer infrastructure and National Street Gazetteer. Ordnance Survey develops the range of AddressBase products from the National Address Gazetteer and OS MasterMap Highways Network from the NSG. Both datasets underpin efficient and effective services, bringing direct service delivery benefits to users.

The Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) are the unique identifiers for every addressable location and street in Great Britain. They are created by local authorities who have the statutory authority to name and number every street and property and Ordnance Survey who identify objects on the landscape which may otherwise not attract an address.

These unique reference numbers link datasets together and share information with other organisations who also use them. They provide a comprehensive, complete and consistent identifier throughout a property's life cycle – from planning permission or street naming through to demolition.

See https://www.geoplace.co.uk.