Bluesky reaches landmark in Cumbria

24 July 2008, 3:52pm

Aerial mapping company Bluesky is the supplier of choice of aerial photography in Cumbria, UK. Four out of the six district councils are already using Bluesky supplied GeoPerspectives imagery and five out of six have placed orders for new survey to be flown this summer. In addition to the District Councils, Bluesky has also supplied high-resolution aerial datasets to Cumbria County Council, the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria Wildlife. The aerial photography is being used widely across Cumbria providing real world detail at the desktop, across corporate-wide intranet geographical information systems (GIS).

Allerdale Borough Council is one of Cumbrian Council’s gaining benefits from the aerial imagery. Currently accessed by users of their desktop GIS and available to every user of the Council’s IT network via their intranet mapping service the 2008 imagery will also be posted on the Council’s mapping portal where users can search by an address or postcode and locate local amenities, places of interest and Council services.

“The aerial photography provides real world detail at the desktop facilitating informed decision making,” said Steve Evans, GIS Officer, “and, by working in partnership with other districts to procure this valuable resource we have been able to achieve significant cost savings and have a consistent information base across the County.”

Julia Jackson, GIS Officer at Copeland District Council added “The Bluesky imagery is an important resource for frontline staff. The imagery helps contact centre staff locate problems as they are reported, for example fly tipping or graffiti, allowing service delivery staff to concentrate on resolving the issue. The Bluesky imagery has also attracted considerable interest from partner organisations such as the police. By plotting incidents against the photo background we can pinpoint hotspots and even identify contributing factors.”

“Aerial photography offers a time stamped record of land use, urban development and the general environment,” said Robert Stapleton, GIS Manager at Carlisle City Council. “This is invaluable for Planning Enforcement and has also been used by our Tree Officer as proof of illegal hedgerow removal. The 2008 imagery will further enhance our monitoring of change as not only can we analyse differences between the two datasets we can also continue to compare with field records.”

GeoPerspectives is a joint venture between BlueSky and Infoterra providing national coverage of orthorectified aerial photography, digital terrain & surface models for 3D modelling, and colour infra-red imagery for vegetation analysis.

Website: www.bluesky-world.com
Enquiries to Bluesky sales on +44 (0)1530 518 518

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