Welcome to the fourth edition of the RDIN Geographical Information Bulletin.
This edition has features on Centro's Corporate GIS solution, deriving an air quality index for the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, the forthcoming West Midlands GI day 2008 and more.
I'm pleased to announce that this edition is sponsored by Infoterra Ltd and includes an article on some of their exciting aerial photography and height data now available to PGA 2a members and others.
I hope you find this bulletin interesting and welcome any comments you may have, together with suggestions for future articles. Please contact me at katy.bregazzi@wmro.org.
GIS analysis has been used at Staffordshire University to produce the air quality indicator included in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 for England. Read more »
When Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive and Authority, identified the need for staff to be able to easily access, visualise, and analyse data concerning public transport routes, services and infrastructure, the solution was to adopt a corporate GIS. Read more »
Graham Smith and John Wyld from Staffordshire University are using GIS and advanced spatial analysis to study the importance of locations of independent breweries in the UK on success levels over the last 25 years. Read more »
Infoterra Ltd, a leader in the provision of geospatial products and services, has successfully concluded the first phase of the Pan Government Agreement (PGA) 2a in its role as prime contractor for the Next Perspectives consortium (including Bluesky and Getmapping).
The PGA 2a contract, managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, provides national government bodies direct access to high quality aerial photography and height data – under a uniform licence agreement and at a fraction of the cost of individual supply. Many governemnt bodies have already signed up to this including AWM. Read more »
On Wednesday 19th November 2008, Birmingham's Baskerville House in Centenary Square will host Geographical Information Day 2008 for the West Midlands. Sponsored by ESRI and linking to International GIS day, this is shaping up to be an informative, fun and varied day. Read more »
AGI 2008: Shaping a Changing World, the UK’s largest dedicated event for the geographic information community, was held on 24-25th September 2008 in Stratford upon Avon. This is the second time that the AGI Geocommunity conference has been fully residential, bringing together over 600 delegates from various professional backgrounds including practitioners, academics, policy makers and suppliers.
The conference was dominated by talk of a changing world: a changing climate, changing perceptions but perhaps most importantly the changing role of GI (Geographic Information). Read more »
In our first edition of the GI Bulletin (April 2007), we introduced the need for and development of a GI Strategy for England. Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom was submitted to Baroness Andrews, Minister responsible for the UK GI Panel in October 2007. Baroness Andrews has reviewed and is supportive of the Strategy, and in response to a written Parliamentary Question, published on 9 January 2008, the Government indicated that it expects “…to publish Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom early this year.” Read more »
Do you know there's a catalogue of geospatial resources on the WMRO website? This holds details of datasets that are suitable for use with GI systems. Read more »
Read Observations and keep up to date with the latest reports, research and policy affecting the West Midlands region, with commentary from Observatory staff.
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If you would like to contribute articles to future editions of this Geographical Information bulletin, please contact Katy Bregazzi katy.bregazzi@wmro.org at the Observatory.
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