It uses shared location as the glue that binds the different systems together, and provides a onestop- shop for general asset queries.”Īpproximately 1200 staff in Midland Heart now have access to PinPoint, some of them using the application remotely. “Rather than having to interrogate each one of these systems separately PinPoint provides our staff with a consistent front-end into all these data sources. PinPoint, in turn, presents this information using location as the key. A number of data sources feed into PinPoint, ranging from enterprise databases through to Excel ® spreadsheets. It had to be possible for me, as systems administrator, to perform any necessary customisation without recourse to programming.” A customised intranet application known as ‘PinPoint’ now serves as a single point of entry for all things geographic in Midland Heart. We needed a system that would be easy to implement, and at the same time capable of being tailored to meet our specific needs. “These were flexibility, functionality, and responsiveness. “Web Map Layers met the key requirements we set out” reported James. James Jervis, was responsible for deploying the systems in his combined role of GIS manager and systems administrator. These requirements alone begin to point to web rather than desktop GIS.”Following an extensive review of products, Midland Heart selected Cadcorp Web Map Layers as its corporate web mapping and web GIS application, coupled with a centralised PostGIS database. It means for example, that an application has to be easy to use and widely available. “Once you have accepted the fundamental importance of self-service, other components of the solution fall into place. “The need to support a self-service model, was key to the GIS procurement” notes Stephen. Midland Heart Research Manager, Stephen Russell, judged that best way forward was to employ a solution that would allow employees of the housing association to find the information they required, quickly and easily themselves. This meant that it was difficult to provide a quick and definitive answer to even the most fundamental question for a housing association, such as ‘Where are our properties?’ Geographic information was only available to a small number of people in the Innovation and Research Department, who found that instead of spending the bulk of their time on strategic work, they were being used as a bureau service responding to requests such as ‘Show me the legal extent of these land parcels’ or ‘Print me a map of our properties on this street.’ It was apparent that having to channel requests for geographic information through a single point of access was both inefficient and ineffective. With the merger of the two groups in 2006, the newly-formed Midland Heart found it had inherited data records held in different formats and across a variety of systems often of variable quality. Today, Midland Heart owns and manages more than 32,000 homes across 54 local authority areas and invests inĮxcess of £100 million each year. Its present identity stems from the merger of two large groups of housing associations in April 2006 - Keynote based in Coventry, and Prime Focus in Birmingham. It can trace its origins to the 1920s when, as the pioneering association COPEC, it was active in improving slum housing in Birmingham and campaigning for slum clearance. Midland Heart is one of the top ten housing and care organisations in the UK. All employees are now able to find the geographic information they require, quickly and easily.
Today a customised intranet application known as ‘PinPoint’ serves as a single point of entry for all things geographic in Midland Heart.
Until recently this large housing association was dependent on specialist GIS experts to provide its staff with the maps and geographic information they required to carry out their work.
0 kommentar(er)
