Dotted Eyes News

Dotted Eyes has taken another step closer to offering complete desk-based GIS functionality through its web mapping platform, RMX4, with the launch of its new web-based attribute editing feature.

At the click of a mouse, this innovative new feature allows RMX4 users to easily edit attributes within the online map and instantly share this information with others. This will help make online mapping even more accessible to individuals across all roles. Instead of relying on GIS professionals to update attributes through a desktop client, it allows individuals to easily do this from an Intranet browser.

Built on top of a single, open source technology stack, RMX4 is the latest web mapping solution to be offered by Dotted Eyes, the UK’s leading GIS development house. By providing individuals with a user-friendly interface to self-serve data securely online, it is helping simplify web mapping and make it a cost effective solution for all.

Dotted Eyes has created different versions of RMX4, such as Local Government Portal, that are designed for the specific needs of individual sectors. Within the Local Government sector, in particular, it is proving to be extremely popular due to the cost savings and efficiencies it is helping these organisations to generate.

Ben Allan, CEO of Dotted Eyes, commented: “Our brand new web-based attribute editing feature is just the first step to us delivering the sophisticated and complete functionality of desk-based GIS functionality from the web. This truly innovative feature is one of many new exciting features we will be adding to RMX4 over the coming year.”

Examples of how organisations will now use the web-based attribute editing feature include call centre staff using it to highlight streets where snow clearance or gritting has been completed or specific locations where fly-tipping have been reported.

Ben added: “This feature will be of a real benefit to organisations with remote workers, especially as we plan to further develop it to enable status or task updating via tablets. For example, street cleaners would be able to use it to instantly update council staff on their progress in dealing with items like fly tipping, graffiti or even dog mess.”

To find out more, contact Dotted Eyes on info@dottedeyes.com or on +44 (0)1527 556920 or visit www.dottedeyes.com

We are pleased to announce that Dotted Eyes will be relocating from Bromsgrove into the heart of Birmingham early next year.

Less than 15 minutes walk from New Street station, our new office will be easy to reach from almost any part of the country. This is good news for the hundreds of GIS professionals who travel significant distances to receive training or work with us each year.

Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes, commented: “As the business continues to develop we’re delighted to be moving to the city centre at the hub of the national rail system. This is an exciting time for Dotted Eyes and is an important milestone in the company’s history.”

Our new office address will be announced on our website in the New Year and all of our 1,400 customers and business partners will be sent our new contact details in advance of the move.

Shoreline Housing Partnership, a provider of affordable housing in North East Lincolnshire, has rolled out Dotted Eyes’ latest intranet mapping solution, RMX4, to provide its customer service team with greater visibility of its assets whilst improving the efficiency of its workforce.

RMX4 is supporting Shoreline in building upon its current way of working to become more sophisticated in terms of accessing, analysing and using its data. With coverage of over 7,900 homes across North East Lincolnshire, Shoreline’s staff are using the intranet mapping solution to easily visualise and share information about their properties.

This is already helping it to improve the efficiency of its customer service team and reduce costs. For example, in the case of a customer complaining about fly tipping, the service team can now easily identify on a map whether the incident occurred on Shoreline’s land, enabling them to deal with it more effectively and save unnecessary removal costs.

Built on top of a single, open source technology stack, RMX4 provides the flexibility Shoreline needs to accommodate future change whilst significantly reducing the cost of multiple desktop licences.  Due to RMX4’s user friendly interface Shoreline’s staff were able to use the solution from day one, rather than having to undergo intensive training or being reliant on costly analytical resource to manipulate the data for them.

Andrew Eayres, Performance Manager at Shoreline Housing, commented:  “What’s great about RMX4 is that you don’t need to be highly skilled to use it. The simplicity of the solution makes it accessible to staff across the whole organisation. At the click of a mouse, we now have instant visibility over our properties and the data related to them on a map.”

Shoreline also plans to use RMX4 in the future to plot more detailed information about its properties. This will allow it to identify problem areas, such as areas with a higher density of rental arrears, so that they can deal with them more effectively.

Andrew continued: “Like most organisations we’ve had to tighten our proverbial belt. As a result, we need to work more efficiently. RMX4 is helping us to do this by better targeting our resources for maximum impact.“

Ben Allan, CEO of Dotted Eyes, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Shoreline as one of our customers, especially given its highly respected reputation as an innovator in the housing association sector. Following the popularity of our mapping solutions within the local government sector, this sector will become another focus for Dotted Eyes, especially as RMX4 delivers a real return on investment for Housing Associations.”

Mapping solutions caught the attention of senior politicians this year when Dotted Eyes Chairman, Jamie Justham, demonstrated how GIS techniques could help redraw the political map in response to recent legislation. Following his plenary speech on the subject at the AGI GeoCommunity ’11, Jamie will present a keynote speech at the AGI Cymru conference later this month.

From the current 650 Members of Parliament (MPs), 50 are due to be cut at the general election in Spring 2015. This means that around 85% of constituencies are likely to have new boundaries, which will transform the political landscape in terms of safe seats and marginal ballots.

When the Boundary Commissions published their initial proposals for England and Northern Ireland, there was criticism from members of the press that there was no single map of the UK in a user friendly format. Dotted Eyes created and released BoundaryMap™ free of charge for download at www.dottedeyes.com/boundarymap, using the Open Government licence.

Jamie’s keynote speech at AGI Cymru, on the 29^th November at City Hall in Cardiff, is proving to be timely as Wales will be the final part of the UK to publish its initial proposal. Jamie will discuss what lessons can be learnt from other parts of the UK. He will also extend this discussion to show how GIS could assist in analysing the proposed changes to electoral registrations proposed in the new white paper.

Jamie Justham, CEO of Dotted Eyes, commented: “I am delighted to be asked to speak at the AGI Cymru annual conference, especially as it provides excellent timing for a sequel to my presentation at AGI GeoCommunities ’11. Political boundary change is such a topical subject and it offers the perfect opportunity to catch the ear of senior politicians, especially as fifty seats of Members of Parliament will be disappearing. The legislation governing these boundary changes means that it is no easy task but digital mapping solutions enable it to be done more simply and consistently.”

With more and more councils now shifting their costly face to face and phone transactions online, Herefordshire Council announces it has chosen Dotted Eyes’ web mapping solution to enable residents to instantly visualise planning applications in their area, replacing legacy technology.

Residents within Herefordshire will soon be able to use the council’s website to easily pinpoint the locations and details of both live as well as historic planning applications on an online map. This will help free up the resource required for dealing with these queries, enabling them to work on more things, whilst improving the service Herefordshire council provides to its residents.

Herefordshire will be implementing the recently launched web mapping application, Local Government Portal by Dotted Eyes, one of the UK’s leading GIS development houses. Local Government Portal is specifically designed for the needs of councils and for this reason it was identified as the perfect choicefor Herefordshire’s requirements.

The council’s key requirements included the need to integrate with in-house software such as CRM, EDRMS and planning systems, be cost effective and deliver a refined user experience across the Herefordshire Public Service and its partner organisations.

Built on top of a single, open source technology stack, Local Government Portal provides the flexibility the council needs to accommodate future change whilst significantly reducing the cost of multiple desktop licences.  The public facing planning application is the first in a series of modules to be delivered by Dotted Eyes for Herefordshire.

Duncan Trumper, GIS Team Leader for Hoople Ltd (formerly The Shared Services Partnership), Herefordshire said: “With the drive from central government to cut costs in local authorities, Local Government Portal could not have come at a better time, as it provides us with an affordable and user-friendly solution for driving our channel shift from phone to web.”

Duncan added: “The fact that Local Government Portal was based on Open Source technology was also seen as very desirable simply because it fits with our drive to reduce costs. In addition, the managed, secure environment it provides will help in pre-empting the requirements from the INSPIRE directive.”

Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes commented: “Our new Local Government Portal is proving to be hugely popular with councils because it specifically addresses their web mapping needs.  Using Open Source software in our development means that we can offer Herefordshire Council a simple, flexible and most importantly, in today’s climate, affordable tool that integrates into a number of functions across their shared service.”

Residents in East Staffordshire can now get instant, online access to planning applications – current and historic – at the click of a button as the Council launches a new web-mapping solution from Dotted Eyes.

The new software, which can be found on the Council’s website, should significantly reduce the amount of time the Council’s planning officers spend dealing with phone enquiries received regarding planning.

The web-mapping application provided by Dotted Eyes, one of the UK’s leading GIS development houses is built on its new Local Government Portal technology stack and enables the public to self-serve information by clearly displaying data taken from the council’s Northgate system on an online map.

Users can quickly visualise the locations of live planning applications, examine the outcome of historical planning applications, including appeals, and view the sites of listed buildings and trees subject to preservation orders.

Philip Somerfield, Head of Regulatory Services at East Staffordshire Borough Council, commented: “This is the ideal solution to enable us to deal with residents queries much more efficiently whilst also helping us to reduce costs. It instantly brings our data to life, allowing people to easily pinpoint planning application locations and further improves the usability of our website.”

Ben Allan, MD of Dotted Eyes, commented, “The planning application is just one part of Local Government Portal, our new flexible web mapping platform that helps councils to provide information tailored to different groups of stakeholders in a way that is easy to search and understand.”

Philip added: “Following its success, we expect to extend the internet mapping capability to cover other service areas, making a wider range of our services and assets viewable on a map.”

To view the site, visit http://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/services/mappingsystem/

We are pleased to announce the launch of MapChest – the ideal mapping data that works with your web-mapping application to enable you to interpret your data significantly faster.

Over the last 10 years mapping applications have become increasingly effective and user friendly, yet backdrop mapping has remained the same. 

Ordnance Survey’s background stack is renowned for its accuracy and quality but its feature density and variation of styling between zoom layers requires concentration to understand and interpret.  For example, the colour schemes between the different scales can vary significantly and almost every possible feature is shown. Users therefore waste time understanding the background instead of the business information it is supporting, and GIS Managers spend time adapting and altering the maps to support the data.

We have released MapChest to solve these problems by creating one comprehensive set of data files across all scales, with a single clear uncluttered style. This makes interpreting information across organisations consistent and straightforward, enabling individuals to make decisions significantly faster.

See the difference between a traditional OS Raster and MapChest below.

OS 1:250k Raster

MapChest 1:250k Raster

MapChest is available in a wide range of formats and supply feeds that ideally match customer requirements – internal, external, CRM and project based.  Derived from the full range of PSMA supported Ordnance Survey data, formats can include SHP, TAB, Tiff, Tile Cache and WMS. Take one or take all.

Finally, the map matches the technology.

Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes, commented:  “We realised that there was a gap in the market for a complete data stack when we developed our RMX4 web mapping application. People are used to the simplicity and consistency of Google when zooming in and out of maps so it can be a real frustration when some local authority and healthcare provider web mapping solutions fail to offer the same. Whilst we loved our new application we realised something wasn’t quite right – it was the data.  We couldn’t find an ideal alternative to the standard OS stack so we developed one from scratch.  Our customers saw it, wanted it and so MapChest was born. ”

To find out more, contact us at info@dottedeyes.com or on +44 (0)1527 556920.

The biggest shake-up in UK Parliamentary constituencies in modern times has just taken a major leap forward with the publication of the Initial Proposals from the Boundary Commissions for England and Northern Ireland. Those for Scotland and Wales will be following soon.

In his opening keynote address to the AGI GeoCommunity ’11 conference Jamie Justham, the founder and chairman of Dotted Eyes, described the background to the Initial Proposals and discussed the changing landscape of MP constituencies.

The Initial Proposals contain images of maps along with the names of wards making up each constituency. The public consultation on these proposals requires in-depth analysis to keep the electorate for all mainland constituencies within 5% of the national average. Political parties and administrators will therefore want to use a Geographic Information System (GIS).

To meet this need we have created a set of proposed constituency boundaries for England and Northern Ireland. Both Shape and Tab formats are supplied, making the data ready for use in almost any GIS application. These are now available for downloading free of charge from our BoundaryMap page.*

The constituency boundaries are derived from the ward boundaries in the OS OpenData Boundary-Line and Land and Property Services (LPS) Medium Scale Vector data sets. The terms of use are based on the Open Government Licence.

The constituency changes arise from the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 which is set to reduce the number of MPs to 600 from the current 650 and even out the number of registered voters to within 5% of the national average (except in a few island areas).

If you require other boundary datasets, or would like one of our consultants to model the political repercussions of these changes, please contact us for a quotation.

*Simply follow the link under the image, register and download the data from the home page of our web portal.

Councils now have access to a radically different web mapping solution that moves the technology on to ensure that information is stored consistently, helping to improve the management of essential asset information.

Local Government Portal was developed in response to a challenge from our existing customers. Ben Allan, MD, explains, “Too often, the richness of the front-end is the sole focus of web mapping development, but our customers demanded more. They wanted refinements to the user interface to be coupled with a structured and secure data storage facility, and the ability to share different combinations of datasets with disparate groups of stakeholders.

We were faced with a seemingly contradictory requirement: How do you make data more secure whilst also making it more accessible?”

The solution lay in open source software.

Within Local Government Portal, a central spatial database stores all the datasets in a controlled environment, and sophisticated access control technology seamlessly defines which of the stored datasets are displayed to each user group. The data is displayed in an intuitive widescreen mapping interface which offers all the functionality users expect, such as pan, zoom, annotate and print to PDF.

Ben continues, “We have eliminated the need for councils to run separate web mapping portals for different stakeholders – reducing the burden of administration, eradicating data duplication and minimising licensing costs through the use of open source. Organisations can now achieve more business benefits than channel shift alone.”

Customers are invited to contribute to the development roadmap for the software, and, if specific functionality is required, they can use in-house developers, or our specialists, to develop and integrate new modules.

To find out more, visit our Local Government Portal page.

We’ve launched a radically different web mapping solution which simplifies and improves data management and security, whilst allowing users to self-serve data.

RMX4 was developed in response to a challenge from our existing customers. Ben Allan, MD, explains, “Too often, the richness of the front-end is the sole focus of web mapping development, but our RMX web mapping customers demanded more. They wanted refinements to the user interface to be coupled with a structured and secure data storage facility, and the ability to share different combinations of datasets with disparate groups of stakeholders.

We were faced with a seemingly contradictory requirement: How do you make data more secure whilst also making it more accessible?”

The solution lay in open source.

Our engineers, inspired by the results already achieved from using open source in large-scale bespoke development projects, rebuilt the entire RMX platform around carefully selected open source components.

A central spatial database which stores all the datasets in a controlled environment was incorporated to improve data management, and sophisticated access control technology seamlessly defines which of the stored datasets are displayed to each user group.

The interface was also revamped to include a widescreen map pane for the ultimate user experience. All the functionality expected by users, such as pan, zoom, annotate and print to PDF, is present, and regular product updates, driven by the customer-led development roadmap, will provide additional features. Alternatively, bespoke modules can be developed to meet a specific customer’s needs.

Ben explains, “RMX4 is completely flexible as new modules can be developed by Dotted Eyes or by other developers to meet an organisation’s particular needs. We’re so impressed with the platform that we’ve used it as the underlying technology behind our new specialised web mapping application for councils – Local Government Portal – which enables councils to reduce the cost of supporting customer enquiries, and which has already been adopted by Herefordshire Council.”

For more information, visit our RMX4 page.