+-----------------------+

| December 2008 Edition |

+-----------------------+

General:

1. IA's Christmas and New Year Opening Hours

2. FireControl Centres Delayed by Nine Months
3. CORE Address Matching
4. Home Office Warned Over Crime Mapping
5. Managing Public Sector Information Conference
6. Luton BC Seek LLPG Custodian and RIG Officer

NLPG:

1. NLPG - A Year of Consolidation, Frustration and Acceptance

2. NLPG Search Guidance
3. NLPG NSG User Guide for the Emergency Services
4. LGIH Enrols Consultant for Authority Mergers

NSG:

1. NSG - A Year of Consultation, Documentation and Acceptance

2. NSG Uploads
3. EToN 5.0
4. NSG Ftp
5. NSG Plots

-----[articles]-----

[General]
**1. IA's Christmas and New Year Opening Hours**
IA will have staff and particularly Help Desk and IT support in
the office on December
22nd, 23rd, 24th, 29th, 30th, 31st. IA will be closed on January
2nd. However, all
our systems will be running and supported as normal in order to
take update files
etc., (as they are for all out of office hours at weekends and
on Bank Holidays).
If anyone has work on their gazetteers scheduled for January
2nd, which requires
IA assistance, please discuss the requirement with the Help Desk
(tel: 020 7747
3502).

**2. FireControl Centres Delayed by Nine Months**

The government has moved back the opening of England's first
three regional fire
control centres to summer 2010

This means that the centres, in Durham covering the north east,
Castle Donnington
in Leicestershire for the East Midlands and Taunton in Somerset
for the south west,
will open nine months later than expected.

The IT prime contractor for the £380m FireControl project, which

will replace 46
local fire and rescue service control rooms with nine regional
ones, is EADS Defence
and Security System. Its fire and rescue service transition
manager, Oliver Youldon,
told GC News that no particular organisation was to blame for
the delay.

Each FRS is setting its own service rules, such as how many
appliances to send to
a type of incident, and providing extra information on its area,
adding to the National
Land and Property Gazetteer, so the central system contains
local knowledge such
as whether roads are too narrow to fit an appliance.

The loss of local knowledge has been a criticism of those

opposing the move from
local to regional control centres, but Youldon said the project
will preserve such
knowledge and make it available nationally, such as to crews
from outside the area
drafted in during an emergency.

"If that knowledge is relevant, it should be available to

everyone in the control
room," he said, adding that better organised forces already have
projects to collect
and share local information within their own areas. "You don't
rely on it being
in someone's head.

"The people who claim this system will make things worse are
often the people who
still keep it in their heads," he added. The full story can be
seen at [1]www.kablenet.com

[1]
http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/9F8CFEAC06193EC4802575160
03EAB14?OpenDocument

**3. CORE Address Matching**

The IA Special Projects Team has received 99 files and have
returned reports on
94 of them using IA's combined software and manual matching
processes. Over 5.8
million records have been processed with an average match rate
of 96.94%. Any local
authorities interested in using IA for their CORE data matching
should contact Catherine
Teare on 020 7747 3500 or [1]core@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.

[1] mailto:core@intelligent-addressing.co.uk

**4. Home Office Warned Over Crime Mapping**

Producing accurate and useful crime maps is far harder than it
appears and does
not rely only on geographical information, the Home Office has
been warned, as the
deadline approaches for getting every force in England and Wales
to produce them.

With only a couple of working days left before the end of the
month - by which time
all the relevant forces should have crime maps, according to the
plan set out in
July by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary - Pitney Bowes MapInfo
has released a [1]white
paper on best practice.

It says problems will arise because a significant amount of

crime goes unrecorded,
location may be uncertain, and time of day, seasons and even the
activities of the
police will make figures vary.

Averaging should be avoided, and point data used, it says -

which is the reverse
of the approach being adopted by a number of police forces,
including the Metropolitan
Police. Maps should also have overlays to explain crime spikes
and have day/night
splits.

The Free Our Data campaign thinks the practices outlined in the
memo do not go far
enough: what external developers especially are looking for is
pure data feeds of
events, rather than static maps. Such a data feed, with location
and time data,
enabled the creation of the first useful crime mashup, at
Chicagocrime.org.

[1] http://gw.vtrenz.net/?HX4MZQM5SD

**5. Managing Public Sector Information Conference**

 Public sector organisations hold more information now than ever
before, from paper
archives, electronic records, maps, birth, death and marriage
certificates, through
to social care records and reports of child abuse. But how is
this information used
and how can it be joined up to create a full picture about
public sector performance,
service delivery and citizens themselves?

This conference -The right information for the right people at

the right time -
addresses the need to consolidate information in order to
realise benefits in terms
of service delivery, efficiency savings, customer service and
partnership working.
The day will focus on the areas where handling public sector
information is key,
including; Information management, integrating geographic
information, implementing
electronic document and records management and bringing them
together to create
business intelligence to measure performance and allocate
resources.

Further information is available from: [1]www.kablenet.com

[1]
http://www.kablenet.com/KE.nsf/EventsSummaryView/8380F3C009BADB108
02574CD003D90F4?OpenDocument

**6. Luton BC Seek LLPG Custodian and RIG Officer**

Luton Borough Council is looking for a new LLPG and RIG
Development Officer. This
post includes LSG Custodianship, LLPG Custodianship and Street
Naming and Numbering
responsibilities. The advert and job description will be
published on the LBC website
during January [1]www.luton.gov.uk

[1] http://www.luton.gov.uk

[NLPG]
**1. NLPG - A Year of Consolidation, Frustration and Acceptance**
2008 was a year for gazetteer consolidation with many custodians
getting to grips
with the additional data fields required under BS7666:2006 and
the corresponding
COU validation processes at the NLPG hub. Some system suppliers
continued to frustrate
and tested the patience of the most dedicated custodians.
 It was a frustrating year for NLPG advance. Whilst no formal
agreement was concluded,
Royal Mail did for the first time make payments to most
authorities to acknowledge
the importance of SNN data. It is still our objective to
conclude new licensing
terms with Royal Mail in 2009.

However I consider 2008 to be the important year that finally

saw the acceptance
of the NLPG as the definitive address database. Initiatives
including Efire project,
MOJ Coordinated online register of electors and the 2011 Census
recognised the quality
and accuracy of the work undertaken by custodians and chose the
NLPG as their preferred
data set. In addition many software solution providers have also
recognised the
high quality of the NLPG and are now providing or developing
NLPG solutions as an
alternative to more established address datasets.

Without doubt none of the success in 2008 could have been

achieved without the valuable
and tireless contributions made by all authorities.

On behalf of the Regional Chairs LLPG Custodians Group a sincere

thank you to both
custodians and SNN officers for all their effort and hard work
during the last year,
proving that local government can deliver quality address
gazetteers.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

David Heyes, National Chair of Regional Chairs LLPG Custodians

Group.

**2. NLPG Search Guidance**

Documentation is now available to download from the nlpg website
http://www.iahub.net/docs/1225186333144.pdf
detailing how to use the NLPG Search Site.

**3. NLPG NSG User Guide for the Emergency Services**

Many receiving authorities who have an emergency service
responsibility are starting
to take advantage of their access to the NLPG and NSG, which
they wish to use for
operational and for internal reasons.
 This document is intended to provide an introduction and
guidance for those authorities
who are new to the use of the National Datasets and wish to
evaluate the potential
use of the National Datasets or are in the process of
integrating them within their
existing systems. The document will evolve with time to include
any new developments
and updates will be available on the NLPG and NSG websites
([1]www.thensg.org.uk
and [2]www.nlpg.org.uk) under the 'Helpdesk' section.

The document is intended to be a multi-purpose, non-technical

overview of the National
Datasets. It does however assume some familiarity with
geographical information
and data management principles. Each section includes a summary
of the key points
for ease of reference.

Any feedback is welcome to [3]helpdesk@intelligent-

addressing.co.uk

[1] http://www.thensg.org.uk
[2] http://www.nlpg.org.uk
[3] mailto:helpdesk@intelligent-addressing.co.uk

**4. LGIH Enrols Consultant for Authority Mergers**

LGIH have engaged the services of a consultant to assist
authorities with the process
of reorganizing 44 district and county authorities into 9
unitaries together with
assisting all authorities with their processes for improving
their VOA match and
submission rates to the NLPG.

[NSG]
**1. NSG - A Year of Consultation, Documentation and Acceptance**
2008 was a year for gazetteer consultation and documentation and
saw the release
of version 2.1 and will see the imminent release of version 3.5
of the DEC-NSG and
DTF 7.1 version 1.5 which are now also referenced in EToN 5.01
early next year.
The creation of these documents is a significant step forward
for the NSG and thanks
go to all members of the working group, national chairs group,
LGIH, IA, the EToN
Developers Group (EDG), DfT and all consultees involved.
 Work nationally by all LSG custodians has resulted in
significant steps forward
in both the quantity and quality of Streets, geometry and ASD
records in the NSG
and also in bringing the street elements within the NSG and NLPG
closer together.

Submissions to the hub are increasing following difficulties

early in the year as
a consequence of gazetteer maintenance upgrades and thanks go to
all for making
the effort during what for some were difficult times.

I would on behalf of all custodians like to take this

opportunity to thank Nick
Turner for his work over the years on the NSG and wish him well
in his new role
within IA. I look forward to working with the new NSG custodian
when appointed.
I am sure we will give them the same support we gave Nick.

Next year will be a very challenging year for LSG custodians

with both the Unitary
authority changes from March the 31st and the changes to support
BS7666:2006 on
the NSG. These two changes will undoubtedly challenge our
patience and sense of
humour.

On behalf of the Regional Chairs LSG Custodians Group a sincere

thank you to both
custodians and SNN officers for all their effort and hard work
during the last year.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a not too stressful New Year.

Glenn Dobson, Chair of Regional Chairs NSG Custodians Group.

**2. NSG Uploads**

NSG Uploads have steadilyy increased over the last few months.
However, under a
third of NSG creating authorities are still not able to submit
on a monthly basis.
I would like to ask all of you to upload your gazetteers in
January. If you require
any assistance with your upload during this month please contact
the NSG Coordinator
or the Helpdesk on 0207 747 3502.

**3. EToN 5.0**

 A reminder to all of you that EToN 5.0 comes into effect from
12th January 2009.
Those of you that are required to be EToN 5.0 compliant by this
date should have
submitted this month an EToN 5.0 Operational District Data
(ODD)file for inclusion
in the December Publication of the NSG.

**4. NSG Ftp**

The NSG will be launching an ftp site for the NSG,
'ftp.thensg.org.uk', in the next
month. More information will be made available to ALO's and LSG
Custodians over
the next couple of weeks regarding access. Your monthly health
checks will be made
available from the ftp site.

**5. NSG Plots**

Here at IA we are mapping your published LSG on a monthly basis
in an attempt to
follow processes undertaken by utility companies and statutory
undertakers. We will
be providing the results of this exercise back to you on a
monthly basis for your
review. These files will be made available in MapInfo format
initially and you will
be able to download this information from the NSG ftp site from
January 09 onwards.
More information will be circulated to you individually over the
next couple of
weeks