OCSI Data packs put more insight into Nottingham

Nottingham’s Local Information System ‘Nottingham Insight’ (http://www.nottinghaminsight.org.uk) was set up in response to challenges from the Local Strategic Partnership to make better use of evidence, and support stronger local partnerships.

We talked to Mick Dunn, the GIS, Data and Information Business Manager and Wendy Conibear, the Senior Mapping Officer at Nottingham City Council to find out more about the LIS and how they have been using Data Packs to keep up with ever-growing local needs for in-depth information on neighbourhoods and trends over time.

Background

Nottingham Insight was initially built from an in-house GIS system, which supported data and maps at a neighbourhood level. As local need grew for reliable, up-to-date and easy-to-use data, the system was initially extended by integrating the existing system into Instant Atlas Desktop (www.instantatlas.com). This served Nottingham’s needs well for some time, but as the required volume of data continued to increase further, it was necessary to upgrade the system to Instant Atlas Server.

In order to meet the demand for a comprehensive range of public domain data, the Nottingham team decided to enhance the content of the system by integrating the OCSI Data Packs. Combined with locally collected data and the extensive documents hub already in place, this made the whole range of required information instantly available to users.

“We decided on Data Packs because the demand for National Data was increasingly burdensome for us to meet – people are increasingly needing historic and in depth national data”

Benefits of Data Packs

Meeting local need for national data

Faced with the demand for reliable and usable national data, Mick explained how it made sense to populate Nottingham Insight with the OCSI Data Packs content. As well the city of Nottingham, the packs provide content for all districts across the county, with the system providing different home-pages for the different local authority areas. In addition, the team continue to collect and input their own locally collected data – enabling them to meet data needs for all users:

“Data Packs were particularly appealing as they strongly relate to the
JSNA and Community Strategy requirements”

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Havering Data Intelligence Hub | Ensuring strategic partners are able to access data and get a better understanding of local need

Background

The Havering Data Intelligence Hub provides data, information and research about the London Borough of Havering. The Hub was set up to benefit the local authority, its partners and the public by helping them understand key information about the borough through data, analysis, surveys and reports.

Getting started

Rebecca Booker is Area Intelligence Business Analyst at the council. She says one of the key drivers for the hub was the need for all the partners to have access to the same data.“You often find that people obtain data from different places and this can be confusing as there is little consistency. We wanted to make sure all the data was in one place where everyone can access it,” says Rebecca.

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St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council – ‘Helping non-expert and professional users understand a wide range of data for neighbourhood needs assessment’

Background

St. Helens Together is the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for St. Helens Metropolitan Borough Council. The LSP is a voluntary body that provides a forum where the needs of the local community can be highlighted and services designed accordingly. The LSP is currently focusing on five key themes: children and young people; communities and neighbourhoods; economic development and enterprise; healthier communities and older people and safer communities.

We spoke to Catherine Fletcher, Intelligence and Partnerships Manager, Policy and Partnerships, St. Helens Council, about the LSP’s information needs and how they are being met.

Catherine explains that the Local Area Agreement was a catalyst for sharing information between LSP partners and the next step was to gain a better understanding of neighbourhood needs. The partners therefore started looking at a way of presenting data that could work alongside the existing systems they had in place. “Our next step was geographical data presentation because we had got to the point where we were good at sharing information but we then needed to understand it,” says Catherine.

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