NSG now key dataset for transport infrastructure

03 October 2006, 12:26am

Intelligent Addressing has announced an important milestone in the development of the National Street Gazetteer (NSG), with all 172 Highways Authorities across England and Wales now contributing regular updates.

Listing over one million streets, the NSG is the composite street index for the whole of England and Wales. It is used by local government and those organisations that work on or around highways, as the definitive reference for co-ordinating street works and managing the road network.

Under the terms of the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA) with local government, Intelligent Addressing took over management of the NSG in Autumn 2005 and by securing the cooperation of all Highways Authorities, the programme has received a significant boost.

With regular updates now being received countrywide, the currency of the NSG will continue to improve so that real time data on all highways is made available to those who need it. This could open the way for a whole host of potential value added applications such as vehicle navigation and tracking, speed limit notification, up to date street works locating, road pricing, and congestion charging.

“Having introduced a new framework, reporting structure and feedback mechanism for the NSG we have now established close working relationships with each of the 172 Highways Authorities” said Nick Turner NSG Custodian.

“We are getting regular updates from all the Highway Authorities in England and Wales, as well as other bodies with an interest in Highways, such as Transport for London, Network Rail and the Highways Agency, the quality of the gazetteer is improving in leaps and bounds. These improvements not only benefit the coordination of street works but also enhance the quality of the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). Under Intelligent Addressing’s custodianship, what used to take months, now takes place in a matter days or weeks and we can really begin to see the benefits and further potential of these two definitive national datasets,” continued Turner.

The NSG is a government initiative to create an unambiguous referencing system, using Unique Street Reference Numbers (USRNs) with which to identify any length of highway or road in England and Wales.

Set up initially to improve highway maintenance, by the New Roads and Street Works Act, the NSG enables Utility companies and local councils to coordinate and know where and when to dig their holes. Under legislation each highway authority is required to create and maintain its own local street gazetteer (LSG) and associated street data (ASD), which is then compiled into the only master index built to British Standard BS7666, for access by others via the NSG online hub, managed by Intelligent Addressing.

The Highway Authorities data contains a wealth of useful information including road length, junctions, road centre lines, and a mass of associated street data (ASD) such as vehicle width and height restrictions. Now that every Highways Authority is providing regular updates the NSG is consolidating its place as the de facto dataset underpinning the national transport infrastructure.

www.intelligent-addressing.co.uk

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