Cambridge, September 23rd, 2009: The GeoInformation Group today announced that the Brent Council, London, has become the UK’s first public authority to implement UKMap. Brent Council has signed up to a corporate licence for a three-year term and chose UKMap to provide key location and base map data for a number of its core applications, including planning and transportation.

Savings have already been identified in the first year to make the purchase of UKMap cost neutral. The purchase of UKMap is in addition to their existing Ordnance Survey mapping, and provides a number of additional features, such as road markings, residential outbuildings, 3D buildings, trees and retail information.

Brent Council plans to incorporate the location information from UKMap with their Local Land and Property Gazetteer to further enhance their public services through web based applications. The Authority will use the mapping in place of their current Ordnance Survey for a number of key applications; internal planning applications and traffic management orders have already been identified.

“This product represents a revolution in mapping and brings the provision of large scale mapping in the UK into the 21st Century. For the first time users of large scale maps will not only have an accurate and feature-rich layered solution but also have it in a format of their choice. The goal posts haven't just been moved, this is a whole new ball game!" remarks Alisdair Maclean, GIS Manager, Brent Council. “We have created a very modern map that is rich in location content, accurate, and is a mapping base on which professional and consumer map users can rely on, ” said Dr Seppe Cassettari, CEO of The GeoInformation Group the publishers of UKMap.

UKMap will benefit professional and consumer users in a way that for this level of mapping has not been seen in the UK before; through ownership of user created content or Derived Data. Users can now collect their own map or location information using UKMap as a base and keep that for their own use without any ongoing royalties to, or ownership rights by, The GeoInformation Group.

“This is something we felt was the right thing to do. If users pay a licence to use our mapping they should be entitled to create their own content and own that without any unfair restrictions placed on them by us. After all, in the business world Microsoft does not own the documents you create when you use their products, so why should we accept anything else in the mapping world.” said Dr Alun Jones Managing Director of The GeoInformation Group.

UKMap is available now for Greater London; with production of Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool already underway these new cities are scheduled for launch in 2010. The GeoInformation Group management anticipate that over the next five years 20,000 sqkm of major urban centres across the UK, about 500+ towns and cities, will be available through UKMap.

To view, purchase or download samples of UKMap, go to www.theukmap.co.uk.