Geographic information systems

Nottingham City Council delivers community-level geographical information

Nottingham City Council's NOMAD+ (Nottingham online maps and data) is a shared intelligence and policy resource committed to sharing data effectively and making associated resources such as reports more accessible. The purpose of the website is to facilitate the sharing of data and analysis between interested parties in Nottinghamshire and the surrounding area.

The resource provides a central information repository on key matters of local interest such as health and social care, education, the economy and the environment, as well as  policing, public safety, local government, transport and streets.

Information is sourced from national datasets and local sources including Nottingham City Council and its local strategic partnerships (LSPs); district councils, the fire service, the police, NHS primary care trusts (PCTs), social services, and others.

Floor target action plans

Nottingham City Council uses the ArcGIS and ArcIMS solutions from ESRI as its corporate standard for geographical information and mapping. Using these applications, the council’s GIS team is able to present regional geographic data as high-level static maps, such as at a city and county level, to help interpretation of that data for evidence-based decision-making.

In compliance with central government directives on floor target action plans and neighbourhood action plans (both encouraging improved prosperity in deprived areas), the council and its LSPs collect and offer geographic data down to a highly granular, local level. The council sought a solution for managing and maintaining this neighbourhood data.

“To support local decision-making, NOMAD+ users wanted very local geographic data to be made available as maps, and by a range of administrative boundaries, as relevant to them,” said Mick Dunn, Corporate GIS Manager, Nottingham City Council. “We felt the best solution would be a self-service, interactive data visualisation tool where maps and graphs could be created dynamically by the user; and one which naturally complemented the capabilities of ESRI.”

Solution

Dunn evaluated several software products, for presenting geographical data online. He wanted a software product that would integrate with the council’s ESRI tool-set to provide users with a seamless experience.

“We selected InstantAtlas for ease of creating neighbourhood maps and graphs, intuitive ease-of-use, speed of operation, affordability and expected ease of implementation and integration,” said Dunn.

Dunn could also see that while his main requirement was for NOMAD+, the system could be deployed against other community-level information publishing requirements, such as for local election results and to publish performance indicators against targets set in local area agreements.

With NOMAD+, to enable a speedy launch of the enhanced service, source data was initially acquired via periodic manual export to Excel spreadsheets. Within two weeks, the new system had been linked with Nottingham City Council’s corporate GIS database.

“InstantAtlas allows standard XML links to third-party software products which meant integration was swift and painless,” said Dunn. “It took around two man-weeks of our own effort to integrate with ESRI and create the links to our Oracle database.”

Key benefits

Dunn is confident that Nottingham City Council, its partners and the community are benefiting from the additional functionality given to NOMAD+.

For example, Nottingham City PCT is a NOMAD+ partner. “InstantAtlas is enabling us to move from manually creating static reports and supporting users with queries for specific detail, to an automated service,“ said Dr. Jeanelle de Gruchy, Consultant in Public Health Medicine. “Not only will this save us time, it will better serve users by enabling them to view more timely data, by the administrative boundaries that matter most to them."

A side benefit of the deployment and its positive reception, is that since partners can see the ever-increasing value to them of NOMAD+, they feel enthusiastic about supporting it; providing data and documents to ensure it continues to be a valuable resource.

“Local maps and charts are eye-catching and easy to interact with, allowing users to explore and spot patterns and trends easily,” said Dunn. “InstantAtlas is quick, simple to understand and use; a couple clicks and you’re there.”

Ultimately, the council must ask itself whether the system is delivering a positive return on investment (ROI). “Nottingham City Council and our partners are working hard to deliver against targets for community development and ensure effective resource allocation,” said Dunn. “InstantAtlas helps policy makers interpret the data to make the right local decisions today and to show performance over time.”

Future plans

Dunn has several ideas for enhanced services that he hopes to deploy in the coming months. For example, double maps will allow similar indicators from two localities to be compared. And in response to the local area agreement, performance management indicators will show how well the city is progressing, for example towards crime reduction targets or educational achievement goals. Previously presented only in reports, the new system will make this information much more accessible.

Further information

www.nomadplus.org.uk  www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/www/elections/atlas/atlas.html