Demonstrating its commitment to the integration of spatial and non spatial solutions, SciSys Environment Division held an inaugural seminar for public sector organisations to debate the challenges and opportunities associated with making Spatial Data available in the public domain.
Attendees from a variety of organisations including the Forestry Commission, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the British Geological Society gathered to hear presentations from a number of senior thinkers in the environmental data sectors. Chaired by Professor Mike Jackson, Director of the Centre for Geospatial Science at Nottingham University and a non-executive director of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), the day provided a series of thought pieces, invoking serious discussion as well as the opportunity for attendees to network with presenters and participants alike.
Pete Green, SciSys Vice CTO
Professor Jackson commented “The SciSys Spatial Data Day was an excellent event that sparked lively debate around the real issues that face public sector initiatives such as INSPIRE, the Transparency Agenda and the challenges of sharing public data within and outside of Government. The SciSys workshop generated some real insight into these areas stimulated by excellent presentations and the depth of know-how, implementation and operational experience from the experts present !”
Hotly debated topics included (Click to open presentations, all PDF):
- Summary of discussions and issues raised during the day - Pete Green, SciSys
- The Importance of Service Oriented GIS - Bill Oates, Welsh Government
- An INSPIRE update – where is the UK Location Programme heading – Rod Kedge, UK Location Programme, INSPIRE
- Opportunities arising from the Public Sector Mapping Agreement – Peat Allan, Principal Consultant, Ordnance Survey
- Data in the Public Domain: Is anyone ready? – Steve Pennell, Director of Information & Systems, The Coal Authority
Pete Green, SciSys Vice CTO commented “A very informative day, with good debate on the innovation taking place within the geocommunity, as well as enthusiastic discussion on how new technologies such as social networking, crowd-sourcing, linked data and the semantic web will impact on GIS going forwards.”
More information on the SciSys approach to bringing value with GIS is also available.
