Photos from the 2024 conference, exhibition and presentation of the Exemplar Awards are available here.
"This year's conference showed we're making brilliant progress, energizing the public and private sector through more use of the UPRN and USRN. The potential to revitalise so much of Britain's infrastructure is virtually unlimited, as shown by some of the inspiring innovation in hand and projects delivered to date. More importantly perhaps, this conference platformed the exceptional work being done by Custodians in local authorities - identifying savings, and making it easier to ensure efficiency gets delivered across public services."
Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director of GeoPlace and Conference Chair
This year's GeoPlace 2024 'Connecting People and Places' conference welcomed more than 400 delegates to the event. Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director of GeoPlace, expanded on the ‘Connecting People and Places’ theme - spotlighting ways in which location data can transform society.
A key part of the day was the presentation of the GeoPlace Exemplar Awards which reflect the outstanding efforts of Custodians, working in local authorities. Local authority Address and Street Custodians act as the central source for all address and street intelligence in their area and they are responsible for maintaining the data to agreed national standards. As well as being used in internal systems such as planning, council tax, electoral roll and asset management, this data is used by thousands of other organisations, right across the UK.
In a world in which everyone benefits in the value of location, GeoPlace works in conjunction with local authorities to innovate and transform people's lives. At this conference, it was easy to see how UPRNs (Unique Property Reference Numbers) and USRNs (Unique Street Reference Numbers) are connecting people and places, and delivering brilliant outcomes against a backdrop of disconnected, organic services and systems. The conference brought experts together, showcasing some of their most recent work, but also plans in hand. These included:
- Digitalising the Property Market
- Connecting services to customers
- Be inspired by … addressing digital planning transformation through 3D
- Delivering connections between people and places
- Healthy and green communities
- Championing excellence and presentation of the Exemplar Awards
Slides and an audio recording for each of the speakers is available:.
Welcome and introduction
Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director, GeoPlace
The Government's view on buying and selling.
Tom Treadwell, Senior Strategy Advisor Dept. of Levelling Up Housing and Communities Slides and audio
Digitalising the Home Moving Process
Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association and Deputy Chair of the Home Buying and Selling Group (HBSG)
Location Data - Underground - Delivering for Customers
Chris Chambers, Deputy Director, Geospatial Commission, Leading the NUAR Digital Transformation Programme
Reducing costs and supercharging connectivity by intelligent infrastructure planning'
Viv Beck-Infrastructure Engineering Manager, Freedom Fibre
Connecting the new build process
Anders Harrison, Data Consultancy Manager, NHBC
Delivering for Customers with a 3D Digital Twin
Mick Dunn, Business Development Specialist (GIS|3D|Digital Twins),Geographical Information Services, Nottingham City Council
Boosting location-powered innovation
Sarah Hodgetts, Director, Geospatial Commission
Ordnance Survey - Address
Nick Bolton, Chief Executive Officer, Ordnance Survey
New Operating Model - 'New Blueprint'
Graham DeAth, Programme Director, The Healthy Homes Project
Building Stock Tools - the National Buildings Database
Paul Ruyssevelt, Professor of Energy and Building Performance, UCL Energy Institute, Building Stock Lab
Driving healthy communities: alleviating congestion and minimising disruption caused by street and road works
Sam Guiver, Network Assurance Manager, Suffolk County Council
State of the nation
Cathy Coelho, Principal Chair of the DCA Regional Address Group and Hannah Brooks, Local Authority Liaison Manager (Address), GeoPlace
State of the nation
Keith Curran, Principal Chair of the DCA Regional Streets Group and Jonathan Bates, National Street Data Manager, GeoPlace
Championing the role of the Custodian
Juliet Whitworth, Head of Research and Information, Local Government Association
Addresses make the world go around
Stephen Rowlands, Head of Location Indexing, Office for National Statistics
Streets keep the country moving
Matthew Eglinton FIHE, Head of Local Highways Policy, Department for Transport
Presentation of the Exemplar Awards 2024
Claire Holloway, Head of Corporate Services, Local Government Association, (Chair of the GeoPlace Board)
Slides
and audio and view the Award winners here
GeoPlace Awards
Thanks to Address and Street Data custodians, thousands of address and streets records are created, amended curated and linked to the highest standards - enabling data users to quickly and consistently identify ways in which to use that information.
Custodians are achieving higher data quality levels than ever. GeoPlace, too, has been making significant technical advances, with the release of new tools to help share and manage this data. These include the LA dashboard, the GeoGateway, the candidates' tool, and the FindMyAddress and FindMyStreet tools. Those are all, one way or another, a means to further transform the way the community works together. This transformation has enabled greater efficiency and quality - and the GeoPlace Awards 2024 reflect the outstanding progress that's being made by Custodians, across the country.
Nick Chapallaz emphasised: "When data is at the heart of an organisation, we're all best served for the long term, regardless of what's happening with systems. We've made more than 21 million changes to the data we hold at GeoPlace - improvements, all - through an end-to-end lifecycle of collection, curation, quality control and management. At the heart of it all are the UPRN and USRN - enabling organisation to ask a single question and find multiple answers, all built on a foundation of truth. Our data bring accuracy and certainty. Precision and effectiveness, and efficiencies for everyone. Add intelligence - artificial or otherwise - and innovation, and there's no limit to what can be achieved."
See the conference website at https://www.geoplace.co.uk/news-events/events/conference.