The future planning and management of public services has received a major shot in the arm with new Geospatial Commission plans to introduce core addressing identifiers for the public sector under the Open Government Licence.
The move, part of a new 10-year Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA) to be delivered by Ordnance Survey, sees so-called Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRNs) and Unique Street Reference Numbers (USRNs) become the core addressing identifiers.
Both will be used in referencing and sharing information about properties and streets, and it is hoped will help fraud detection, set out waste collection routes and boost property sales.
UPRNs and USRNs are created by local authorities and managed nationally by GeoPlace, a joint venture between Ordnance Survey and the Local Government Association.
GeoPlace managing director Nick Chapallaz said: “We welcome the Government’s commitment to supporting the wider public use of definitive address and street information. With this new government mandate, we can transform the way services are provided, resulting in better outcomes thanks to greater accuracy and immediate data sharing and matching.”
Under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement, the data will become free to re-use for any public sector bodies that sign up through Ordnance Survey.
It also lays the ground for businesses to have access, free up to a threshold, to Ordnance Survey MasterMap data through a series of APIs from 1 July.
Director of the Geospatial Commission Thalia Baldwin said: “The new agreement meets our commitment to improve access to Ordnance Survey’s core data to start-ups, businesses and innovators.
“It means that the public and private sectors will have improved access to the accurate and detailed mapping data they rely on today to support even more innovative, efficient and effective delivery of public services.”
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