The Homes and Communities Agency has developed the Spatial Intelligence Geographic Network (Signet) as a free tool for any public sector organisation to use when planning developments and making investment decisions.
Free to any public body signed up to the Public Sector Mapping Agreement, Signet brings together data from organisations such as Ordnance Survey, the Office for National Statistics, local authorities and the Environment Agency in a single place, allowing it to be viewed on a map and printed as plans or spreadsheets.
Oliver Russell, GIS project officer at Hampshire County Council who helped test Signet during the pilot phase, said, ”We obviously already know how many homes, schools or hospitals we have in the county – Signet lets us to drill-down to individual street level and present data in an easy-to-use format, such as a map that anyone can understand.
“We tested Signet and were impressed by its potential, not only as a very useful tool but also because it could save us money on buying GIS resources.”
Pat Ritchie, chief executive, Homes and Communities Agency, said, “Signet makes it easy for councils to build a picture of where buildings such as homes, hospitals or schools are in their area and identify where more are needed based on land availability and population statistics.”
