Nomad – a one-stop online shop enabling citizens to liaise online with Nottingham City Council has been launched.
Nomad, standing for Nottingham Online Maps and Data, allows users to report information to the council, answer their own council-related questions, and make fast, accurate decisions at the touch of button. Ordnance Survey data and ESRI GIS have put together the IT and data backbone of Nomad.
The site reflects government policy on the electronic delivery of local authority services. Two ‘priority outcomes’ for public access – the presentation of local roadworks and other environmental property information – specifically require online map-based data. Users of Nomad can directly report street lighting problems and this is set to be developed along with other council services. It also allows council officers to continually improve the quality of the data.
“It will help with a wide range of council services,” says the council’s GIS manager, Mick Dunn. “You can view information about local facilities, print out a map, view aerial photos, find your nearest council facility, and let us know about a problem. As the site is available to all, it will also help council staff with evidence-based decision making and policy forming.”
Neil Wilkins, Ordnance Survey’s Public Sector and Utilities Marketing Manager, says: “We are delighted that our nationally consistent, intelligent digital data is supporting such a valuable public resource. The site will help the citizens of Nottingham access the information they need while helping the council to pursue its e-government agenda.”
Datasets involved in Nomad include OS MasterMap, the most highly detailed and up-to-date colour, digital mapping currently available in Britain. Linked into this is the city council’s environmental, highways, demographic and leisure data.
Nomad uses a combination of ESRI software. ArcSDE is used to access the large and multiple datasets stored in Oracle. Dynamic maps and GIS data are then delivered via the web through ArcIMS.
