How do ambulances get to incidents? How do utilities know where to connect services to properties – making sure they get the right household in a block of flats? How do local authorities collect bins?
One thing they all have in common is that they all need to know WHERE something happens. They need to be able to reply on authoritative data giving them information about a location – the coordinates, what type of place it is and an unambiguous way of referring to that ‘where’.
We work with the people in local authorities who have the statutory responsibility for creating the data about places. On a daily basis they send us through the changes that happen in their areas. We quality assure against national and government datasets and hold it in an enormous database of 40 million records about addresses and 1.4 million streets, managing change nationally – 71 million changes in 2019/20.
The DCA community
Local authority Address and Street Data Custodians provide data under the Data Cooperation Agreement (DCA), a contract between GeoPlace and all local authorities in England and Wales. Separate agreements exist for other critical data providers including Scottish local authorities (through the Improvement Service), Royal Mail, the Valuation Office Agency and others.
The data they provide forms the bulk of the National Address Gazetteer, AddressBase products and the NSG.
Shared ownership of the DCA with its members is critical to ensure commitment by local government to GeoPlace’s work. GeoPlace balances DCA member needs against requirements from others – PSGA members in particular. Through this shared ownership, GeoPlace has worked extremely successfully in building a Participating Authority community, which is committed to the success of the National Address Gazetteer and the NSG.
Local authorities gain from this relationship through efficiencies, savings and a platform for transformation. The central collation of data by GeoPlace is at no direct cost to authorities and adds value through standardisation, quality assurance and a focus and leadership to ensure local return on investment. The wider public-sector benefits as a result, and this opens the door for service transformation and efficiency between councils and other bodies they work with.
JAG(UK)
Our sponsorship of the Joint Authorities Group (JAG)UK extends our support and advisory work to local highway authorities, helping them in their vital role of coordination and improvement of street and road works with utility companies and others.
Find out more about our partners here.
