In 2023, Monmouthshire County Council asked us to help pull the latest National Street Gazetteer data (NSG) directly from GeoPlace’s DataVia into iShare.
DataVia is a new API from GeoPlace that permits authorised users and applications to access the spatial and attribute data of the National Street Gazetteer using OGC Web Feature Services (WFS) and Web Map Services (WMS).
Since helping Monmouthshire to pull these feeds into iShare, they’ve produced over 15 new layers of street information. Now the friendly team at Monmouthshire have offered to share how other local authority iShare clients could do the same using the free API. As DataVia is available free for councils for their area, thanks to LGA funding, this is a great opportunity to configure something once and let Studio’s workflows do the rest of the work.
The benefits of using the iShare API for DataVia
If you find publishing and refreshing your Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) and Additional Street Data (ADS) data time-consuming, you’ll be interested in Monmouthshire’s experience.
Amy Pritchard, Monmouthshire’s GIS Officer, gave a presentation on the process to our User Group in December 23. She also listed the benefits including improving data and making LSG data more visible across the authority.
Amy comments, “Monmouthshire’s address data has always been front and centre of iShare. It is used by all of our users yet street data has always been hidden away and unknown to many. We’ve achieved the gold standard for our Street Gazetteer on paper for many years. Yet, in reality, the operational quality was quite poor. Minimal officers were using the Additional Street Data held within the database as it wasn’t easily accessible. We found many teams didn’t know what version of the data was held within the LSG or were unaware that the LSG incorporated their data at all.
Since being able to publish and promote this data through iShare we’ve been working to make it visible across the authority. By increasing its reach and engagement, we’re confident that we’ll a big improvement in the quality and value of the data itself. Now we’re publishing as much as we can on iShare, we’ve been receiving feedback and improvements from staff.
Our DataVia API workflows now refresh data automatically at the start of each month in line with the regular release of the National Street Gazetteer.”
How to access the workflows
You can contact Amy by emailing gis@monmouthshire.gov.uk. She’s kindly volunteered to demo and share any learning.
You can talk to us and GeoPlace at the GeoPlace Conference in May 2024. Find out more.
