Overview

There is now a proliferation of digital mapping data sources available to Local Government, Central Government and the NHS. Collective purchasing agreements such as the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA), Pan Government Agreement (PGA) and NHS Digital Mapping Agreement (DMA) together with OS OpenData provide access to digital maps for the purposes of enabling member organisations to better fulfil their statutory obligations.

However, with this wealth of geographic information, together with your own asset data, it can often be difficult to provide end-users, both internal and public, with access to the right information, in the right format, on the right platform, at the right time.

Furthermore, public sector bodies are increasingly expected to do more with less, making it necessary to review the existing GI landscape and look for better value, more efficient solutions.

Challenges

Many public sector organisations struggle with the following issues:

• Legacy infrastructure – different applications on different platforms reading different formats
• Complex data translation tools – to bridge the chasm between raw data and usable product
• Different data update cycles – including full resupply and change-only update
• Onerous data hosting needs – especially when different platforms use different file formats
• Expensive licence renewals – often more expensive than initial licence fees for next generation applications
• User performance expectations – nobody wants to wait for a map to draw

Options

Fortunately, there is now a much broader range of options available for sharing geographic information with users of all kinds, and many of these support the use of a tile server to provide a Google-like slippy map experience. Not only does this provide a more responsive user experience, it also enables organisations to use a common source of digital maps to serve applications on the desktop, web and mobile. Examples of applications and API's now supporting a tile server include Bing Maps API, ESRI ArcGIS Server and Silverlight API, OpenLayers, Oracle Maps, PBBI MapInfo Stratus and others. It is also expected to be supported in the next releases of desktop applications from some of the main GIS vendors.

Our offering

Europa Technologies is offering a bespoke, managed service to render (and optionally host) a tile cache consisting of any data that you need to serve. This could include OS MasterMap, OS VectorMap Local, historic maps, imagery data, points of interest, your asset data or any other digital maps, including those in OS OpenData. Cartography can be developed to replicate the appearance of an existing map or implement a completely new style. The finished tile cache can be delivered on traditional media, a virtual appliance or hosted from our own high performance servers.

Consider the following cost-saving and delivery improvement measures:

• Use a managed service to prepare & supply digital maps ready-to-use
  - Saves time by harnessing a purpose built render farm
  - Saves money by avoiding the need for costly data translator licences
  - Improves customer service by applying updates faster
• Use a web mapping API to deliver applications
  - Saves time by utilising existing, rapid deployment tools
  - Saves money by negating expensive, proprietary software licences
  - Improves customer service by delivering an intuitive end-user experience
• Use pre-rendered tiles for all mapping apps
  - Saves time by rendering tiles in advance, optimising performance
  - Saves money by supporting users on all platforms: desktop, web and mobile
  - Improves customer service by displaying beautiful, easy to interpret maps
• Use a hosted service to serve your maps
  - Saves time by always showing the latest data
  - Saves money by avoiding hardware acquisition
  - Improves customer service by serving maps faster than most internal servers

Further Information

For further information, or to request a free sample of our tile rendering service, please contact our sales team who will be happy to help you.

Duncan Hill, Business Development Manager
Telephone: +44 (0)1932 64 55 60 (direct)
e-mail:

Warren Vick, Director
Telephone: +44 (0)1932 64 55 55, option 1
e-mail: