Dotted Eyes News

Shared access to asset data and aerial imagery sets the bar for ‘data sharing without frontiers’ in the new climate of local government collaboration

Dotted Eyes, the market leading GeoData and information software specialists, today announces the release of Contractor Portal v2.0, which embraces new imperatives for local government organisations to share internally generated asset data, along with OS and OSNI and wider third party datasets, across a broadening number of partners to deliver on changing local government and related NHS reforms.

Quick to see the unique advantage it offers in serving its partner and contractor relations, Liverpool Direct Limited is deploying Contractor Portal this summer:

“Liverpool Direct Limited’s business case for promoting Contractor Portal within Liverpool City Council is based on sound commercial principles”, said Brian Jones, GeoData Manager, Liverpool Direct Limited.

“When we roll out Contractor Portal this summer it will allow us to provide a responsive service to the City’s partners and contractors whilst reducing costs, decreasing paperwork, helping to eliminate avoidable contact and promoting a self-service approach for external users.  We also plan to extend the use of Contractor Portal beyond the licensing and distribution of digital map data to partners and contractors to the licensing of other digital datasets and also the submission of digital data by contractors to the City.”

Importantly, the new platform provides the ability for the solution to be hosted or installed, whilst the flexible pricing model supports end user and organisation payment options.

Released this week, Contractor Portal v2.0, sets a precedent in supporting an incomparable range of data at a user and cost model previously unknown at time of unparalleled need for partner data sharing. In addition to providing self-service access to data licensed under Collective Purchase Agreements, from Ordnance Survey and other data suppliers, Contractor Portal enables organisations to share their own, internally generated data in a secure environment for the first time.

“Simplification is key to opening up important data access as it enables more people in more organisations to make better decisions,” said Ben Allan, Managing Director of Dotted Eyes.

“That access is critical to meeting the imperatives of localised data sharing inherent in new government drives.  Contractor Portal equips local government organisations to work collaboratively and cost effectively, breaking down traditional barriers, opening up GIS siloes and releasing vital information for sharing across organisations with the minimum of fuss.”

With a long heritage as innovators of software, data and information solutions developed for some 900-plus public and private sector customers in healthcare, local government, not-for-profit and the commercial sector, Dotted Eyes’ mantra is to ‘simplify, automate and integrate’  data and information.  This approach uniquely equips senior and departmental levels of organisations to access, visualise, analyse and share complex data in simple, useable formats to make more cost-effective, locally-relevant decisions.

For information about Contractor Portal and to register interest for the autumn 2010 seminar, visit the Contractor Portal webpage.

Dotted Eyes has expanded its range of training courses with the addition of a one day PostGIS training course, starting in October 2010.

The PostGIS course joins Dotted Eyes’ expanding range of open source services and solutions, including GeoServer training and a new Open Source Spatial Starter Kit, which is designed to allow organisations to launch a web mapping application within just one week.

To discuss how open source is a viable alternative to proprietary software, call our Commercial Team on 01527 556920 or email info@dottedeyes.com

On August 11th, Exactrak, the real time vehicle tracking system experts, will allow customers a sneak preview of its new website which features a more modern and function rich mapping component from Dotted Eyes.  The new website is scheduled for an Autumn release.

Exactrak customers can register for the event by calling Exactrack on 01299 250040.

To discuss Dotted Eyes’ custom mapping solutions, please call the Commercial Team on 01527 556920.

Dotted Eyes, the leading GIS specialist, has delivered the first in its new series of open source GIS training courses. Delegates from West Midlands Fire Service received training in the use and administration of GeoServer the leading open source, standards based spatial data publishing platform.

Tim Needham, from West Midlands Fire Service comments, “The training we received from Dotted Eyes has allowed us to replace our heavily-utilised mapping solution with an open source alternative within tight timescales. In the short-term we have seen considerable functional and performance benefits, while the year-on-year cost savings are very welcome in the current financial climate.”

The addition of an open source training capability is a natural step forward for the company which already has considerable experience in supplying open source support and development services to clients, and which uses open source technologies in its own solutions. It also follows on from Dotted Eyes’ popular and free open source seminars which have helped over a hundred delegates understand the benefits of open source.

Ben Allan, MD of Dotted Eyes, comments, “I am delighted that we have been able to add this component to our open source services offering.  We now provide our customers with a comprehensive range of solutions, from top level vendors through to open source technologies, all wrapped in our complete service packages.  This means that our customers can mix and match licensed and open source technology to achieve their optimal GIS environment. Our new Open Source Spatial Starter Kit and our open source courses are key to this. ”

David Crowther, Training Manager at Dotted Eyes, adds, “The GeoServer course will shortly be followed by OpenLayers and PostGIS courses, bringing a complete open source GIS technology stack under the Dotted Eyes training umbrella.”

Anyone interested in open source training from Dotted Eyes should can view the GeoServer training page, or call Craig Dean on 01527 556920.

Dotted Eyes, data and information specialists to the UK public sector and commercial business, today announces that Birmingham Health and Wellbeing Partnership (BHWP) has selected its Health Portal solution to facilitate unprecedented information sharing at every level of the Partnership organisations.

Hot-on-the-heels of the new NHS White Paper release, which focuses heavily on shared information for patients, local authorities and healthcare professionals, the BHWP announcement marks the formal launch of Health Portal, developed by Dotted Eyes to meet the burgeoning need of healthcare professionals to access, visualise and share data through a simple and cost-effective system; freeing up the resources of data analysts and decentralising cumbersome data hubs to deliver access at the point of need.

“In many ways, the key imperatives of the new healthcare reform are already established principles of Birmingham Health & Wellbeing Partnership,” said Jim McManus, Joint Director of Public Health at BHWP.
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Dotted Eyes has launched a new solution to enable customers to set up an open source environment quickly and easily. The Open Source Spatial Starter Kit was developed in response to frustrations voiced by attendees at Dotted Eyes’ open source roadshows who were keen to implement open source but struggled to find the resource to investigate the range of software available.

Dotted Eyes’ Open Source Spatial Starter Kit enables organisations to implement spatial open source without spending valuable time researching and specing a technology stack. The Kit includes pre-selected software, installation, datasets and training. It offers a low risk opportunity to evaluate and deploy a low cost web mapping, spatial data storage and publishing application.  A launch offer includes free technical support for a year for any customers ordering before 1st October 2010.

Dotted Eyes has deployed many open source projects for customers, and uses open source software in some of its own solutions. It has recently expanded its open source capability by launching its first open source training course on GeoServer.

For more information on the Starter Kit, visit www.dottedeyes.com/opensource or call Alistair on 01527 556920.

Representatives from Dotted Eyes will be attending the AGI Local Public Services Special Interest Group (LPSIG) and Local Government Association (LGA) Seminar on 29th June, in London. The topic for the day is ‘Share to Save: How GI can equip the public sector to do more with less’, a topic which is of interest to all of us!

We’ll be there to support some of our customers, who are presenting, including Simon Hume from Daventry DC, Trevor Foster from Avon IM&T and Duncan Trumper from Herefordshire Council.

The event is free to public sector customers. View the agenda or register online to reserve your place. If you’d like to arrange to meet one of us at the event, please email sales@dottedeyes.com and we’ll be in touch.

You are invited to join our Open Source, Standards and Data roadshow as it continues its travels:

• 27th May, Leeds
• 6th July, Warrington
• 8th July, Taunton

Over 100 delegates have now taken part, and found out the benefits of implementing Open Source technology.
For more information, visit our Events page.

After a general election resulting in a coalition government, we have published a new way of charting the nation’s political landscape.

ParliaMap is a free OpenData product for the Geographic Information System (GIS) community, portraying the make up of the House of Commons today - the first day of the new Parliament.

The constituency of each Member of Parliament (MP) is represented as a hexagonal cell in a standard size, regardless of its true geographical extent. The arrangement of cells closely resembles the shape of the United Kingdom, making it obvious who has been elected in which part of the country. To emphasise those relationships, ParliaMap is supplied in the British National Grid coordinate system, though of course the geometry is deliberately distorted by using the same cell size for every MP.

“This style of presentation has previously been used in the media and online, but had never been available to GIS professionals. Many users need to produce this form of map and analysis so Dotted Eyes is offering ParliaMap free of charge as part of its OpenData policy”, says Jamie Justham, Dotted Eyes Chairman.

Dotted Eyes data products offer a rich set of value added attributes, and in ParliaMap these include constituency name, constituency code, MP name, party, votes, percent majority and the percentage swing between the parties in each seat.

ParliaMap is available for download free of charge from our ParliaMap page.

Dotted Eyes Training Consultant - James Bowler - has been awarded the ‘FME Certified Professional’ accreditation

The Safe Software FME Certification Program is a technical skill credentials program that identifies high quality, knowledgeable FME consultants and trainers.

James Bowler has provided FME consultancy and training for Dotted Eyes for well over a year. He has utilised his in depth knowledge of FME on a number of client specific projects, and has also successfully undertaken both public and private FME training courses. SAFE Software has recognised the work he has undertaken, and his proven skill levels, and in April 2010 they awarded him FME Certified Professional status.

As well as utilising his vast experience in FME to help clients better manage and manipulate their datasets,  I’m pleased to say that James also plays a very active role in the delivery of our public and private FME training courses.

James will also be instrumental in the delivery of Dotted Eyes’ forthcoming ‘Advanced FME’ training courses - watch this space!!