Malcolm Gorton Senior Scientist Environment Agency Science - Technology Group Lower Bristol Rd Bath BA2 2QS United Kingdom malcolm.gorton@environment-agency.gov.

Malcolm GortonSenior Scientist

Environment AgencyScience - Technology GroupLower Bristol RdBath BA2 2QSUnited Kingdom

malcolm.gorton@environment-agency.gov

Part 1: WIYBY

Part 2: Other information services

Part 3: Next Steps

Part 4: Workshop

This session will consist of:

• Non Departmental Public Body responsible to UK Governments Department of the Environment - (Defra)

• Wide range of duties and powers relating to environmental management

• 11,000 staff across England and Wales

• 8 Regional Offices, 26 Area Offices

• Approximately100 staff respond to >350,000 requests

• We place a high priority on the provision of information in achieving environmental goals

the Environment Agency

Part 1: WIYBY

What’s in Your Backyard?- (WIYBY) a GIS, Internet based national web application (www.environment-agency.gov.uk).

Users can find information from a national level, right down to their local environment: locating areas of interest, displaying data to a chosen scale, formulating individual queries on the datasets, gaining background on information of interest, and downloading data for their own use off line.

What’s in Your Backyard

51% of map requests are flooding related

What’s in Your Backyard

Local communities

Students

Schoolchildren

Teachers

Consultants

Solicitors

Business

Data WIYBY

WIYBY: One service fits all

Part 2: Other information services

Purpose

To provide public register informationin a modern electronic mannerthat befits the environment, our customersand our business

Driver

Government modernising targetsDefra Legislative Review groupRequirement to operate openlyReduction of travel to our Area offices

Public Registers

Application

Advert

ConsultationResponses

Licence

Monitoring

Action

Public Register

Public Registers: …the process

• Are people aware?

• Are paper files convenient?

• Is the information presented meaningfully?

• Is location in offices convenient?

• Do we reach a wide cross-section of society?

• Could we do better?!

Public access: does it work?

request

Customer Contact

Log andtrack

AcknowledgeDistribute for answers

Up to 12

functions

Send outand log

Finance

• it costs a lot of time and money

• to provide inconsistent information

• at the wrong time

Compileresponse

Cheque Reconciliation ExceptionsRe-allocation of resources

ReceiptConfirmation of payment

Property Search: our old approach

GeospatialDatabase

Application Server

Control Logic

Feature Services

Map Services

Internet

Analysis - Mapping

Property Search: a new approach

Property Search system

Property Search system

Old Service New Service

• 6 week response 6 minute response

• Cost recovery €75 Service charge €37

• Resource drain Income stream

• Adhoc replies Tailored reports

• 30,000 requests Possible 1M+ requests

Property Search system

Environmental Facts and Figures

Aims of EFF

National overview of the whole environment to meet statutory duty under the Environment Act 1995

Live and up to date state of the environment reporting on the web

Steps back from Agency to report state of the environment through facts and figures

130 pages covering a range of environmental topics

EFF Content

• Outline the issue

• Plain English based on sound science

• Facts & figures not opinion

• Results at top of page

• How it is changing over time

• What is being done, but avoid selling the Agency

• Brief details of legislation (if appropriate)

• Where to find out more

EFF Approach

• Interested lay people

• A-Level/GCSE students

• Undergraduates

• Journalists

• Agency staff

• Local authority officers

• Councillors

• MPs

• Environmental consultants

• Businesses

Intended audience

Reasons for visiting

• work 36%

• personal interest 31%

• study 23% (mainly higher education)

Did you find what you wanted?

• yes fairly easily 59%

• no 32%

• yes with difficulty 9%

Results of a user survey

Part 3: Our next steps

• Electronic access to actual documents

• Real time ‘flagging’ of live decisions

• Research into social aspects of engagement

• Partnerships with local community groups

• Electronic ‘open forums’

• Record interests and provide relevant information

• Assess impacts on our own organisation

Our Way Forward

• Make information relevant to everyday lives

• Link Information Systems to Participation Systems

• Provide access without effort, where and when required

• Use novel techniques to reach all of society

• (Please tell us how to do it!)

Engaging Citizens

Data WIYBY

Data Flood Warning

Data Reporting

Data Internal

...from singular information systems

Reporting

WIYBY V2 Education - What’s happening/have your say, local data to analyse, etc.

Communitiese.g. libraries - what’s happening in your area

Individuals

Publications Local Government

Insurance, Consultancies and other spin offs

Land Development

Commercial

Company identifier

Financial Investment

Financial Services

...to Integrated Information Services

Residential

Data

Property Search

eDecisions

Documents

Interoperability

Interoperable GIS

Data - Standards

Architecture and Standards

• Interoperability:

– ‘capability to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among various functional units in a manner that requires the user to have little knowledge of the unique characteristics of those units’ [ISO 2382-1]

Interoperability - What is it?

• In other words:

– ‘the ability of systems to talk to one another in an agreed manner’

• Adoption of standards is the keystone to interoperability (SOAP, WMS, WFS, SQL, HTML, XML)

Interoperability - What is it?

• Interoperable GIS

– Spatial components and standards that allow the communication described above

• A standardised manner of discovering, querying, retrieving, and disseminating digital geographic information.

Interoperable GIS - What is it?

Routes and Timetables(MapInfo)

Local Maps(ESRI SDE)

Registers(ORACLE)

Mobile

Work

Home

Hazards(Intergraph)

Local Government

Environment

al Services

Transport

Services

Central

Government

School

Standar

ds

Standar

ds

Standar

ds

Standar

ds

Network

Interoperability-What does this mean

• Greater access to decision support information.

– Opening-up isolated data islands.

• Better customer/citizen service.

– Real-time access and delivery of a wider range of data sources and services.

Why do we want interoperable GIS

• More efficient system implementations

– No re-invention of the wheel

• Reduced reliance on proprietary/vendor specific platforms, data sources, and components

– Ability to swap-out components in best-of-breed architectures

Why do we want interoperable GIS

• Interoperability can be the glue that binds multiple, complex resources into more simple views

Data ProvidersCommercial

ServicesN.G.O’sSchools

ServiceAgencies

GovernmentDepartments

Local Authorities

Interoperability SOAP - XML - GML - WFS - WMS - HTTP - ISO Interoperability

Planning

Portal

INSPIREGI Gateway

Drivers - Simple Accessibility

Data interfaces that conform to defined model standards allow diverse systems to...

Data - Standards

Part 4: Workshop

• EA/UNEP collaboration since 2000

• Building upon experience

• Senior Support

EA/UNEP Project: Background

• Capacity Building

• Develop pilots/proof of concepts

• Deliver a framework

– common requirements

– engender consistency

– identification of funding streams

– identification of user needs

– … linked to EU ‘INSPIRE’ initiative

Project Proposal

• ‘Seedcorn’ funding

• Bid to UK FCO funding

• Seeking Partners

• … and advice, comments, information ...

Project: Current Status

EA/UNEP Project Framework

• Reference Data and Metadata

• Architecture & Standards

• Environmental Thematic Data

• Implementation Structures & Funding

• Impact Analysis

• Data Policy & Legal Issues

From Inspiration to practice ...