The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom
The preparation and submission to the Minister of a Location Strategy for the United Kingdom has beeen a key focus of the GI Panel.
In June 2006, the Panel announced that it had commissioned the consultancy Know Edge Ltd to undertake the research work to develop a GI Strategy. The Panel appointed four of its members to form a Strategic Development Group led by the Chair of the Panel, to liaise with and supervise the work of the Consultants on behalf of the Panel.
The preparation of the Strategy has involved a number of phases.
Industry stakeholder consultation
As one of the early stages of developing the strategy, Know Edge Ltd conducted a workshop to gather views from the GI community. The workshop took place on Friday 23 June 2006, hosted at the Ordnance Survey Business Centre in Southampton.
Around 90 members of the GI community participated in the workshop. The workshop comprised a series of structured discussions around topics: you can download the slides presented at the workshop.
- Presentation by Robin McLaren of Know Edge Ltd (PDF, 415kb)
- Presentation by Vanessa Lawrence, Chair of the GI Panel (PDF, 930kb)
The consultants also held two stakeholder consultation workshops in July with invited stakeholders. These stakeholders were invited in a personal capacity because of their knowledge and expertise.
- List of invited stakeholders (PDF, 53kb)
The Know Edge team also set up an email address to allow members of the community to contribute views to the consultancy team.
Preparation and Drafting
The Consultancy team presented their findings to the GI Panel in the form of a draft Strategy. Over the following months the GI Panel developed and refined the document, consulting widely within Government, to prepare a final document agreed by the Panel.
Government Stakeholder Consultation
The initial consultation and development of the GI Strategy concluded that the primary focus should be directed towards public sector datasets and the beneficial role of geographic information in providing a locational dimension to aid in their effective use and correlation. During subsequent consultations on the emerging strategy within government it became clear that this focus should be reflected in the title of the Strategy – Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom.
Submission
Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom was submitted to Baroness Andrews, Minister responsible for the GI Panel in October 2007. Baroness Andrews has reviewed the Strategy and on 17 December 2007 issued the following statement:
“I wish to place on record my thanks to the UK Geographic Information Panel for their excellent work in preparing the UK Location Strategy. Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom is a thoughtful, authoritative and important document and has my support.
"The Strategy’s recommendations are closely aligned to the delivery of government policy in many areas. I am now discussing with Ministerial colleagues how we can best build on the reality, recognised by the Strategy, that ‘everything happens somewhere’. A better understanding of location will be an important factor in moving forward the transformational government agenda.
"I would hope we could publish the document in a few weeks time."
Next Steps
In response to a written Parliamentary Question, published on 9 January 2008, the Government indicated that it expects “… to publish Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom early this year.”
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