Improving Public Service in Chichester

Problem

Chichester District Council want to improve public services and meet tough central government targets

After a pilot project using an externally hosted service, Chichester decided to implement their own web-based mapping system to let them tailor the site to their own requirements and enable closer integration with back-office systems such as their Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG).

Solution

Mapping Chichester DisrictChichester chose GeoWise Internet Map Framework (IMF) for two main reasons

  • It can be easily customised to meet their precise requirements
  • It includes a rich array of functionality that would otherwise require expensive bespoke development

GeoWise developed Local search and Property search pages for Chichester. These provide users with easy to use text interfaces that use IMF's geographic functionality to retrieve and display information from Chichester’s Amenity Database and their Property Database.

The Property search allows users to find out about a particular address. The results page includes:

  • information about the property eg electoral ward, conservation areas etc
  • nearby amenities - eg schools, recycling sites
  • details of council services provided in the area. eg refuse collection

Where appropriate each of these items is accompanied by additional information eg

  • address,
  • link to further information -  can display eg list of schools and distance to each one
  • link to a map

Dynamic maps are embedded in the results pages and there are also links to an interactive map showing the selected property and/or nearby amenities. However, these maps are simply an additional way of presenting information that has already been displayed in text form.

Screenshot of Chichester Property Search results showing information about planning, administration, services and amenities relating to a particular address. Where appropriate links are provided to further information eg what is a conservation area, show more schools etc

The Local Search pages allow users to easily find particular types of amenity in particular locations eg wireless hotspots within 2km of chichester. The results page lists all the nearby amenities and additional infomration such as address, distance, links to the operators website etc. Links are also included to display a particular amenity (or all listed amenities) in the interactive map. Again though, this is an entirely optional step that uses the map as just another way of presenting content that has already been displayed in text form.

Because all these pages have been implemented within IMF, it was easy to also make the same data and functionality available in an advanced viewer application, along with additional functionality such as measure area etc. as new data becomes available it can be easily added to the site just by editing a few XML configuration files. In this way the application should continue to grow and develop without the need for further bespoke development.

Screenshot of Chichester Local Search results page showing list of wifi locations within 1km of chichester. For each address the results include an address, the operator name, a link to the operators website, a link to a map showing the location and the distance of each location from Chichester. There is also the option of seeing all locations on a single map

Verdict

“This is a really exciting development, as it makes a wealth of information very readily available. I think it will prove to be useful to many different people, whether they are interested in a particular property, or a larger area of the district. In the future the web mapping pages can be updated with even more information, including listed buildings and historical mapping.” 

Councillor Alan Cartwright, Portfolio Holder for Performance Management

Background

Local authorities in England are subject to a Best Value Performance Indicator for e-government. BVPI 157 requires all local authorities 'to measure the number of types of interaction that are enabled for electronic delivery ... including providing information"

Local authorities are also expected to deliver specific priority outcomes by December 2005.

  • Priority outcome G5 states that councils should provide "Public access to corporate Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for map-based data presentation of property-related information"
  • Priority outcome G20 states that "all pages published on council websites should conform to level AA of the W3C accessibility standards."
    Recognising that this is not always possible with digital maps, the accompanying guidance adds "When there is no other way to make the content accessible, a text-only page with equivalent information or functionality should also be provided."

Further information

To find out more about how IMF can help your organisation,