Web mapping to support the National Forest’s 25-year vision

The contract includes a variety of services such as application management, support, and training.

The National Forest covers 200 square miles of the Midlands. Since 1995, over 9 million trees have been planted across hundreds of woodlands increasing forest cover from c.6% to 22% of the area. The NFC is working with stakeholders to develop a new 25-year vision to accelerate climate change mitigation, create adaptation measures, and deliver opportunities for more sustainability. Regeneration projects for continuing to grow the Forest include creating woodlands with public access, extending wildlife habitats, and improving connections using hedgerows, orchards, and gardens.

To realise their vision, the NFC identified the requirement for a new GIS and web mapping application that would be robust in holding multiple datasets relating to the creation of a multifunctional National Forest. It had to centralise these datasets, consume recording information, and undertake complex spatial queries. The application had to be simultaneously accessible from multiple devices, users, and locations.

The NFC selected SIS WebMap as it is an easy-to-use web mapping application designed for sharing map-based information with a community of users. While providing advanced capabilities for presenting and interrogating spatial data, it is easy to access, without users requiring advanced GIS skills. SIS WebMap can be set at defined user levels and the Edit option will allow users with appropriate permissions to edit data. As it can be run on PCs and mobile devices, it will be made available to users working remotely as well as in the field.

The NFC holds a vast amount of data on individual sites that are located within or close to the National Forest boundary. This includes access points such as paths, gates and stiles, and planting areas and wildlife habitats. To assist the NFC in managing this data, Cadcorp installed and set up a secure, cloud hosted database for storing a wide range of data which SIS WebMap and SIS Desktop can directly connect to. The spatial database will allow the NFC to centralise key data and increase the level of detail that can be recorded including grant statuses and activities. It will allow them to easily search, query and cross-reference within the database and via the GIS. Results can be displayed both visually as a map and downloaded as a table. SIS WebMap allows PDF and print outputs in a number of formats using templates that can be set by the NFC administrators. These templates will be made accessible to all users. The NFC administrators will be able to monitor and validate database changes via SIS Desktop with the option to roll back if required.

Dr Heather Gilbert, Research & Evidence Manager at the National Forest commented: “As we looked towards the future of the National Forest, we recognised that we required a GIS that could handle vast data, complex analysis, and provide accessible reporting. Cadcorp fully supported our requirements, and we are confident that their cloud hosted web mapping and data management services will help us achieve our sustainability goals.”

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