18 November 2008, 2:44pm
- Infoterra supports 4 year implementation programme for London 2012 preparation
Infoterra, a leader in the provision of geospatial products and services, is working with British Transport Police to implement ERDAS APOLLO 2009, a unified enterprise platform for managing and serving large volumes of geospatial data across an organisation.
By using ERDAS APOLLO, British Transport Police (BTP) will be able to increase efficiency and enable interoperability with other national agencies, including security and government organisations, and deliver geospatial data to multiple remote locations. The system will also be used to integrate all BTP's imagery and provide access for a wide range of business requirements including operational and strategic planning, crime analysis and civil contingency planning. For example, having all imagery and maps in one place and easily accessible will increase the efficiency of event operation planning - when thousands travel/arrive for the London Marathon and when people travel to attend 2012 events.
The ERDAS APOLLO Image Manager will be implemented to store and enable rapid delivery of gigabytes of imagery by streaming data via the web and secure networks. ERDAS APOLLO Server will securely organise and catalogue all geospatial data, imagery and maps, for efficient delivery using open-standard web services.
"Previously, only 50 percent of British Transport Police's imagery could be stored on a server. Additionally, retrieving these images was often problematic," said Richard Smith, Force Information Manager, British Transport Police. "As a National Police Force, we needed a solution to store and distribute imagery securely and in a timely manner - ERDAS APOLLO provides such a solution, backed with ERDAS' legacy of offering the most comprehensive OGC compliant, raster-based geospatial products."
"The experience of the Infoterra team in managing and developing solutions to access large geospatial datasets has enabled the implementation of a secure and robust system based on ERDAS products, and within BTP's existing infrastructure," commented Phil Cooper, Software Business Manager for Infoterra Ltd. "Both the Infoterra and ERDAS teams look forward to supporting the information team at BTP over the next few years."
"ERDAS APOLLO allows British Transport Police to adequately prepare for London 2012, providing tools to efficiently store and quickly share massive amounts of geospatial data throughout the organisation, using various domain specific applications," said Thomas Bayer, Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa, ERDAS.
British Transport Police is the national police force for the railways, providing a policing service to rail operators, their staff and passengers throughout England, Wales and Scotland. The Force is also responsible for policing the London Underground system, Docklands Light Railway, the Glasgow Subway, the Midland Metro tram system and Croydon Tramlink. The mission of British Transport Police is to provide a policing service which delivers a safe railway environment free from disruption and the fear of crime.
Infoterra Ltd is ERDAS' sole distributor for ERDAS desktop software products in the UK and Ireland.

Each month we select a hot topic and a leading figure in the industry to write about it.Lack of Location Awareness is ‘Analytical Blind Spot’ for Organisations.
Traditional Business Intelligence has looked at the ‘who’, ‘what’, and ‘why’ around data, but has ignored the ‘where’. Location is a core analytical dimension. Within this data lies a vast pool of intelligence that largely remains untapped for organisations. This rich data source is particularly important for UK Public Sector organisations in enabling a single view of the citizen, delivering citizen self-services, improving compliance, and optimising cost efficiencies.
Location is ubiquitous and influences most, if not all, business behaviour and outcomes – yet a lack of location awareness remains an analytical blind spot for a large number of organisations who have not considered how the geographic and location aspects of the data they hold affects their business processes… More…
Mark Bishop
Product Marketing Manager EMEA, Pitney Bowes Business Insight