E-GOVERNMENT PORTAL TO INFORMATION ON OUTDOOR RECREATION
Supporting the Countryside Agency.
The challenge
The Countryside Agency and DEFRA in England required an exploration
of options regarding the feasibility of creating a National Access
Database, containing information on all types of access, including
public rights of way, access land (as defined in the CROW ACT
2000) and other land covered by access agreements and formal
access arrangements. The database should be made easily accessible
to the public by means of a website.
Details had to be investigated about the feasibility of a public
web portal for easily accessible information on where to go and
what to do in the countryside. The portal would have to collate
and deliver real-time information currently owned by a multitude
of organisations and in a variety of formats and databases, through
a single point of contact.
Our Solution
An innovative feasibility study was established to test the
standards, systems, structures and processes necessary to deliver
a set of implementation models or options. Funding models were
also introduced. These options were assessed and presented according
to various criteria, along with a recommendation for progressing
a National Countryside Access Database (NCAD). Issues such as
data ownership, copyright and intellectual property rights were
addressed with the scope of work including the effect of the
UK e-GIF guidelines. NCAD uses sophisticated GIS functionality
and cartographic processing associated with ‘data integration’,
including combining multiple data layers from different sources
to give a consistent solution for each specific requirement and
digital representation of the information.