NSDI in the UK
by Robin A. McLaren
Key words: NSDI, NLIS, Modernising Government, Service
Procurement.
Abstract
The vision of a National Land Information Service (NLIS) for the UK
was first conceptualised by Prof. Peter Dale at the AutoCarto London
conference in 1986 and envisaged fast and easy access to an
authoritative, accurate and comprehensive record of all land and
property in the UK.
Over the intervening period, the Geographic Information (GI) sector
has spent considerable effort in lobbying government and educating the
potential service providers and customers about the social and
economic benefits of implementing a NLIS. Until recently, this effort
only resulted in an endless series of consultative exercises and
eventually a small scale pilot project in Bristol, England to support
conveyancing. However, in the past 9 months NLIS has been adopted as a
Modernising government initiative and is now being taken
forward by a partnership between the local government’s Improvement
and Development Agency (IDeA), the organisation responsible for
creating the Information Age infrastructure for local government, and
HM Land Registry. The vision is for a one-stop integrated service that
will allow users access, via a computer, to various spatially related
data sets.
The provision of NLIS related services are currently being procured
from the private sector and are the first government services to be
procured under the Channel Implementation Policies, issued with the
Modernising government White Paper. The launch of NLIS services by
the winning license holders is anticipated to be later in 2000.
The paper will review the progress of NLIS from concept to
information service implementation and, through the lessons learned,
will explore the variety of drivers that have at last made NLIS a
reality.
Robin A. McLaren
Know Edge Ltd.
33 Lockharton Ave
Edinburgh EH14 1AY
Scotland, UK
E-mail: Robin_McLaren@compuserve.com
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