JBA Comprehensive Flood Map launches on Landmark Labs

Sample dataset published to provide an insight into the breadth of the latest flood data from JBA

Landmark Information Group, the UK’s leading supplier of digital mapping, property and environmental risk information, has released on to the Landmark Labs portal a sample dataset of JBA Risk Management Limited’s latest Comprehensive Flood Map of Great Britain, to enable land, property and environmental professionals to preview JBA’s extensive flood risk data and give feedback on its potential applications and suitability.

By accessing the sample data on Landmark Labs, users have the ability to interrogate JBA’s extensive flood datasets in the vicinity of Goring-by-Sea, showcasing the highly detailed flooding extents and associated flooding depth information.  A variety of different flood scenarios are presented, including  pluvial flooding (at 1:75, 1:200 and 1:1000 year return periods); undefended fluvial flooding (at 1:20, 1:75, 1:100, 1:200 and 1:1000 year return periods); and undefended coastal flooding risk hazards (at 1:75, 1:100, 1:200 and 1:1000 year return periods).

Mark Burnard, Senior Product Manager at Landmark Information Group said: “The sample JBA flooding data in Landmark Labs provides a preview of the new datasets that are now available to our customers, and gives them the opportunity to take a closer look at the data and tell us what they think.  JBA’s extensive flood data can provide our users with an even greater breadth of flood risk assessment information, in order for them to provide the best advice to their clients.

The sample JBA flood data will be available on Landmark Labs until the end of February 2015, enabling environmental professionals, insurers, planners, developers and other professionals to become familiar with the dataset and offer comments or feedback, which will ultimately guide the way in which we integrate this data into our products.”

For more information visit www.envirocheck.co.uk and www.jbarisk.com.

Information Management: Taking on the Ebola Outbreak

Back in 2012, Landmark launched a partnership with the charity, MapAction, which maps life-saving information about disaster situations so aid agencies can target relief efforts effectively.

The partnership continues today and as well as being a nominated charity, members of the Landmark team volunteer their services when their specialist help is needed.  For almost a decade, Darren Connaghan, a GIS specialist at Argyll Environmental Ltd, which is part of Landmark Information Group, has played an active role with MapAction and has been deployed to support field teams in locations such as Kenya, Haiti and the Philippines.

His latest deployment has taken him to Africa, where he was part of the MapAction team in its role in managing data and information for the Ebola Operation Centre in Monrovia. 

As Darren explains, there is a dearth of information managers prepared to travel to the region and overall poor communication networks in the area, therefore the role MapAction plays in collating data across Liberia, ensures that everyone involved in the UN's Ebola response mission is up to date with the very latest, accurate information related to the aid programme:

Darren Connaghan

“The geographical scope of the Ebola outbreak is vast, covering three countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - and it has already claimed thousands of lives. MapAction's mapped situational analysis helps make the response as targeted and effective as possible, by bringing together, mapping and information management specialists to help coordinate the communications in one place.

In this particular deployment, we were asked by the UNDAC (UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination) team to fly to Liberia and support them with their information management and mapping needs. A team of three were initially deployed and I joined them in late September for a two week period, where I worked from the main Ebola Operation Centre in Monrovia. 

Working alongside government departments, national departments, military and NGOs, the centre is a hub where all the organisation of the response mission takes place.  We talk to all the aid agencies to find out what data they need, as well as work closely with the Liberian Institute of Statistics' GIS department and the US military to build a picture of what the mission looks like.

In Liberia, radio and telephone communications are generally poor as are the road networks so much of the information regarding what has been undertaken in individual locations was predominantly verbal.  This, by its very nature, is difficult to plot, manage and track and the overall accuracy of data diminishes as it gets passed from person to person, so cannot be fully relied on.

Instead, MapAction is able to coordinate the mapping of critical situational information so that all agencies involved have a clear understanding on what is happening in each and every location, at any time. 

"Aid in the wrong place is no aid at all"

“MapAction deployment model is based on self-sufficiency. We arrive with all equipment required such as laptop, printer, networking kit, paper and in some deployments, even a small generator as without power, we can't function for long.

I now have another four week deployment in Africa throughout November, during which time I will be working on extending the reach of information managers across the three affected countries advising on GIS, mapping and product strategy for UNMEER (IN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response).

As I see it, with the correct right level of information management in place, you avoid duplicating efforts, resources can be designated correctly, and everyone involved in the mission has a clear and current view on who is carrying out what actions and where, removing uncertainty.

This is also known as 3W (who, what and where)

Supporting MapAction enables me to utilise my GIS expertise in some of the most challenging emergencies that we face today in the world. I am proud to be supporting MapAction in this deployment and in doing my bit towards halting this deadly disease in its tracks."

http://www.mapaction.org/

Wildfire TV takes a walk through history with Landmark

Television production company, Wildfire Television has selected Landmark Information Group to source and supply a range of data terrain images for a series commissioned by Channel 4.

‘WalkingThrough History’ is the third series of six history documentaries that are presented by Sir Tony Robinson.   The programmes start broadcasting  on Saturday 25^th October at 20:00hrs on Channel 4 and will focus on locations across the UK, including the Cairngorms, Sherwood Forest, Pembrokeshire, the Yorkshire Moors, and the Channel Islands.

Landmark has worked closely with the production team to produce a series of images showing stylised terrain data overlaid with reference features including key road networks and coastlines.  This has been produced using a combination of Ordnance Survey open data and OS Terrain® 50 datasets.

Marisa Verazzo, Production Manager of Walking Through History for Wildfire Television said: “We are pleased to be working with the team at Landmark Information Group to provide us with a host of contoured terrain maps for Walking Through History.  The maps really put the areas that we will be focusing on in the series into context, and by working with Landmark we have been able to access exactly what we need.”

Matt Wills, Senior GIS Analyst at Landmark Information Group said: “We are pleased to be able to deliver a host of hill-shaded and coloured OS Terrain 50 maps to Wildfire Television for use in the new Channel 4 documentary.  It just goes to show another great way that our extensive range of datasets and maps are being put to use in the commercial world – so, as well as supporting the environmental, land and property industries, our data and mapping tools are also here to support media, marketing and other similar industries in piecing together the history of a given location.”

www.promap.co.uk 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/walking-through-history

Uncovering the Past: Stonehenge

It’s been interesting to watch recent reports regarding Stonehenge and, in particular, the discovery of 17 more significant sites that are linked to the ancient plot.

Over recent years, scientists from Birmingham University have been using technology to map the area and it is from this that the new shrines and burial mounds have been discovered.

Stonehenge is believed to be over 5,000 years old. While Landmark’s comprehensive collection of historical mapping does not reach back quite that far, our interest has been piqued by the use of LiDAR and laser scanning techniques to produce detailed terrain models, in addition to the way GIS has been used to overlay archaeological finds to analyse the site. All of which are very similar to the processes used today by our customers in the surveying, planning, environmental and construction industries.

Simply substitute burial mounds, solstice markers and druid procession routes with planning applications, contaminated land and environmental consultants, and hey presto!

From watching the developments at Stonehenge, it’s clear that today we are fortunate to have access to highly advanced mapping data and technologies that enable us to learn far more about our past than ever before.  And, from our customer’s point of view, having access to information regarding a piece of land’s former use can ultimately help shape the way the very same piece of land is used in the future.

Piers Edgell, Senior Account Manager and Matt Wills, Senior GIS Analyst, Landmark Information Group

Appendix:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2750005/The-hidden-empire-Stonehenge-Radar-scanners-17-sites-near-ancient-stones.html

The Data behind the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is now well underway in Glasgow with 4,500 athletes taking part and many thousands of anticipated visitors and spectators.  In the build-up to the Games, the significant investment, redevelopment and regeneration of the city has been particularly interesting to monitor. 

The impressive Athletes Village has been built over 35 hectares, which is alongside the Emirates Stadium – a state of the art facility that opened in 2012, with a seating capacity of over 5,000 spectators.  The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome has also been developed alongside the stadium, while the SECC Precinct, which is just short of 2 miles from Glasgow’s centre, forms the largest single venue of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Having run some analysis through our Promap and Envirocheck systems, it has provided us with some great insight into the history of Glasgow and, in particular, the areas that have been subject to recent redevelopment in readiness for the Games.  

When looking at all of Glasgow’s venues, the first thing that we quickly identified is that there are over 4,800 instances of historic land use within the immediate vicinities.

The SECC Precinct has 36 instances of potentially contaminative historic land use within a mile of the site just from the earliest map alone, all of which are of a diverse nature: from transport manufacturing & repair, saw-milling, metal casting, through to cargo handling, railways and even the site of a former cemetery.

Historic maps also show that the SECC Precinct has been built on the site of the old Queen’s Dock. With the decline in shipping traffic, the dock became redundant and was filled in with rubble from the demolition of St Enoch station in the late 1970’s.

The redevelopment of the various sites in and around Glasgow really goes to show that past land use shouldn't limit or restrict future use or development.  By accessing the right data, it provides a detailed picture into the past use of the land, meaning the correct remediation can take place to enable future progress. 

With a current emphasis on building more residential properties across the UK – including re-purposing and utilising unused brownfield land or sites – it just goes to show that understanding the past use of the land can help transform an area for today and also for future generations to come. 

Investing in Local Communities: How Landmark’s Promap supports Gentoo

Promap Testimonial:

Gentoo is made up of a group of companies that include divisions operating in care and support services; construction; design, build and maintenance; environmental sustainability; solar panels and specialist glass; and property rental and sales.

Its overall ambition is to improve the lives of the people, communities and the environment in which it operates. This is achieved by investing in people, the planet and property, in what it is calling ‘the Art of Living’.   As a ‘profit for purpose’ organisation, Gentoo uses any profits from its commercial activity to reinvest back in towards achieving this.

In 2011, Gentoo Group reached its tenth anniversary. During this time it has invested over £500 million into homes and communities.   In the same year, almost 10 per cent of new homes in the north east region were built by Gentoo, and in Sunderland it accounted for 66 per cent of them.

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Bill Fairley, Architectural Technologist at Gentoo:

“As a Group we are continuing to invest in the local community, which includes the creation of new affordable housing schemes in and around Sunderland and the North East region.

As part of our development and investment plans, it is important for us to be able to precisely plot parcels of land that we are looking to buy.  By doing so, it is then possible to develop accurate architectural schemes that are used for the planning and development process.

We rely on Landmark’s Promap service to access all the maps we need.  The process is simple.  

Via Promap it is quick to identify the area of land in question. Once highlighted, we can order the Ordnance Survey MasterMap that we want and in lots of varying formats.  We typically work in DXF or DWG format and, once selected, the map is downloaded from Promap and ready for immediate use."

"The Promap site is very simple to use and gives us everything we need to create the first stage architectural schemes for our planning applications, as well as land registration purposes.”