Croydon Council has selected location intelligence company Cadcorp to supply cloud hosted Geographical Information System (GIS) and web mapping.

The corporate GIS contract includes the Cadcorp cloud services Cadcorp SIS WebMap, Cadcorp SIS Desktop, Cadcorp Spatial Database Service, and Cadcorp Map and Data Service with EPC data. Cadcorp is providing a range of onboarding services, including project management, training and a cloud managed service.

As part of the Croydon Digital Service initiative, the council has been reviewing the technology underpinning its services. The purpose is to ensure it has a resilient, supported and fit-for-purpose set of platforms that better meets the needs of council staff, partners and residents. To support the need for continuous and rapid improvement of its digital services, Croydon Council recognised the need to replace its legacy mapping system. The next generation Cadcorp cloud-based platform facilitates the council’s move from siloed data by unifying data into a managed central store. This will reduce costs for the council and improve the delivery of user-centric services for residents.

SIS WebMap is an easy-to-use application that shares map-based information on both PCs and mobile devices. The application will provide the local authority with a wealth of new functionality designed to streamline workflow and support community access to services. As part of the roll-out, it will initially be used by the planning, highways, council tax, and regeneration departments and then expanded into other areas. Cadcorp SIS WebMap for Power BI will allow users to embed an interactive Ordnance Survey® map into Microsoft Power BI to gain greater insight into data.

SIS Desktop is being used to meet the advanced GIS requirements of Croydon Council including data creation, querying, analysis, and modelling.

The Cadcorp Spatial Database Cloud Service will provide a hosted database to centralise and rationalise the local authority's spatial data, complemented by external web services where available. This includes the Cadcorp EPC Data Service, which provides access to the latest Energy Performance Certificate ratings for over 10 million residential properties in Great Britain. Each record has been geocoded based on the national Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) allowing the council to analyse each location in the borough individually or as part of a wider area.

Overall, the Cadcorp cloud GIS and web mapping system will enable the council to store, manage, retrieve, visualise and analyse spatial data to support evidence-based decision-making while providing user-friendly access to location information.

Jon Martin, Head of Specialist Systems at Croydon Council commented: “Cadcorp's comprehensive offering and vast experience in local government will assist us on our journey to build a solid GIS foundation and drive cost efficiencies.”

Cadcorp is supporting councils throughout the UK to migrate their legacy systems and data into the cloud. GIS technology in the cloud can bring significant benefits to local authorities and other public sector organisations. It reduces the administration overhead of keeping data and software up-to-date and has the potential to reduce the overall cost of ownership. Cadcorp is an approved GIS supplier on G-Cloud. Further details about Cadcorp cloud services are available here.