25 May 2004

Initiatives to bring geographic information to life, says Minister

Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister, Angela Smith, has today emphasised the importance of geographical information on the development of Northern Ireland’s economy and society.

The Minister was speaking at a conference being held in W5 at the Odyssey, where she was launching two initiatives by the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland (OSNI), which aim to enhance access to geographic information - the Mosiac and Pointer projects.

She said: “The theme of this conference is bringing geographical information to life. This is crucial to the development of the wider economy, specifically the knowledge economy, as it will enable the Government and the private sector to deliver services to the public and to businesses.

“It is essential for the registration of land, the planning approval process and asset management and, of course, the emergency services depend on such information so that they can accurately locate their destination quickly.”

The Minister explained that the Geographic Information Strategy for Northern Ireland, a consultation document issued in December 2002, contributed to the formulation of an implementation plan which included the Mosiac and Pointer projects.

Mosiac will improve service delivery by providing an organisational framework in which information can be collected, maintained and, if necessary, pooled in order to create economies of scale and efficiency.

The Pointer project comprises a website and data products and uses the latest technology to bring together address and mapping data to create an integrated database.

The website will allow members of the public to view information about their addresses including the ward, parliamentary constituency and townland in which they are located.

(MB)