Transport for London is to develop its own street gazetteer to
tackle traffic congestion, writes Nick Huber.
The recent launch of London's congestion charge scheme has
highlighted the pivotal role of technology in reducing traffic
congestion.
Computer Weekly has learned that Transport for London is planning
to develop its own street gazetteer as part of a congestion-busting
drive.
A spokeswoman for TFL said it would award a contract to develop a
regional street gazetteer - drawing together local borough records
- later this month. The decision by TFL to go it alone has
highlighted long-running dissatisfaction over the reliability of
the National Street Gazetteer (NSG), which is maintained by the
Ordnance Survey, the UK's national mapping agency.
The new gazetteer will include grid references to help pinpoint
streets - a significant improvement on the current text-based
street gazetteers.
"We found that a lot of the data [from local authority gazetteers]
was not as accurate as was hoped," said the TFL spokeswoman. "A new
London gazetteer will help us co-ordinate our roadworks and in an
emergency get vehicles to the scene more quickly."
Meanwhile, the Ordnance Survey is to review how it can improve the
quality of street information held in the NSG. It will meet this
month with the Improvement and Development Agency to discuss how it
can improve the NSG. The Department for Transport is also involved
in the discussions.
The NSG comprises a complete set of local street gazetteers from
local authorities. The NSG is managed by the Ordnance Survey but
local authorities are responsible for updating their own local
street data systems and sending the files to the Ordnance
Survey.
As well as being used by local authorities, the NSG is also used by
utility companies for identifying streets and special features
before planning roadworks and giving council highway authorities
notice of jobs.
The revamp of the gazetteer follows long-running concerns from
industry experts over the quality of the data fed through to the
NSG by local authorities and whether it is updated often
enough.
The problem is exacerbated because local authorities store street
data on different systems and practices vary.
A spokesman for Ordnance Survey admitted that the NSG had faced
some "difficulties" but added it was keen to develop the service
further. "To move the NSG forward, we are formally considering
opportunities for an enhanced service," he said.
The move has been welcomed by utility companies. "We hope the NSG
will be made more consistent and more up-to-date," said Irene
Elsom, national co-ordinator of the National Joint Utilities Group,
whose members include BT, Cable & Wireless and Transco.
One source close to the street gazetteer review said it was looking
at using new hardware, software and web data standards, such as
XML. "There is no interest whatsoever in replacing the street
gazetteer but they are looking at what is necessary to improve it.
It will be presented as an upgrade because no one wants to say that
the previous one is a bit of a dog's breakfast," he said.
The NSG initiative follows the announcement of a review last year
by the Department for Transport aimed at reducing the disruption
caused by roadworks by streamlining the flow of information between
utilities and public authorities.
There are thought to be at least four million roadworks in the UK
at any one time, which exacerbate congestion. A myriad of software
packages and formats for exchanging data has resulted in confusion
over the exact number and location of roadworks underway and being
planned.
A common system for sharing information on roadworks could improve
the efficiency of road development and improve safety. Utility
companies could pass on cost savings to their customers.
The review is the first high-level attempt to tackle the disruption
caused by roadworks since the collapse of plans for a national
roadworks register more than five years' ago. A web-based portal
for sharing information could be one option, although the
government is unlikely to resurrect plans for a national register.
The review is due for completion by the summer.
What is the National Street Gazetteer?
The National Street Gazetteer is designed to be an unambiguous
referencing system to identify any "street" in the UK. The
information is available to local highway authorities and utilities
via a website or in different formats.
Required under the National Street Works Register Legislation,
data in the gazetteer conforms to BS7666 - the standard for spatial
datasets in geographic referencing.
Currently the NSG is like an incomplete jigsaw - information
provided by some councils is patchy and data standards are
piecemeal. Ordnance Survey has to aggregate the data and fill in
any gaps from other information sources.
The long-term aim is for local authorities to sell their street
data for commercial use to any interested organisation, but only
when the quality of the product improves.