Examples of InstantAtlas solutions across multiple application areas

We are the UK market leader in off-the-shelf solutions for Local Information Systems, Data Observatories and Neighbourhood Information Systems. Currently we have more than 35 LIS customers across the UK in Local Authorities, PCTs and Local Strategic Partnerships.  For more information see our LIS pages.  Examples include:

• London: Greater London Authority, Newham, Lewisham, Barking and Dagenham, Tower Hamlets
• South East: Brighton & Hove, East Sussex
• South West: Bristol, South Gloucestershire
• W Midlands: Coventry, Worcestershire, Solihull, Telford
• E Midlands: Nottingham City, Leicestershire, Derbyshire
• Yorkshire & Humber: Bradford, Wakefield, NE Lincolnshire
• North West: Wigan, Tameside, Stockport, Rochdale
• Wales: Local Government Data Unit Wales
• Scotland: Fife, West Lothian

To view our Demo site (based on our Core LIS Data and Reports Pack for Nottingham) go to LIS Demo. For more information on our Packs see our Data Packs web page.

As one area of their Local Information System, Worcestershire County Council Research & Intelligence Unit are using InstantAtlas Server to deliver a rich set of Ward Profile reports aimed at elected members. They include sections on the relevant local councillor, population, crime, economy, health, children, and place survey results. They have also taken data on their call centre enquiries and loaded this to allow Members to understand the geographic distribution of frequently raised questions. To date, these reports have only been published on their intranet site but there are intentions to make versions publicly available through their main web site. You can view enlarged screenshots of these reports or, alternatively, create similar Ward reports on our live Local information System demo site - go to the Nottingham Ward Profiles page.

David Onions, Acting Head of Research & Intelligence, comments: "Instant Atlas server is a very cost effective solution for presenting geographical data in an easily accessible format. Worcestershire County Council is currently taking advantage of this to support our Elected Members in being even more informed about their local areas, by means of providing them with a profile of their electoral division and details of the services requests residents have made to our customer service centre."

The Place Survey is a good example of how InstantAtlas can be used to present survey results in an intuitive and interactive form.  In this example, the analyst within the Planning & Transport department of Bournemouth District Council has built a report to present the results of the 2008 Place Survey broken down to Ward level. This is available from their public web site.

There are a wide range of examples of Place Survey reports on our dedicated InstantAtlas Place Survey Reports page.

A project has recently been undertaken by Nottingham City Council to support a requirement to evaluate and monitor regeneration activities within the City. The main objective of this project was to develop a tool to evidence social, economic and environmental change over time in relation to investment, providing a holistic approach to regeneration and enabling the monitoring of outcomes at a local level.  This is in line with current UK local initiatives around Total Place and Strategic Commissioning.  A management dashboard style interface was built based on the Profiles Module of InstantAtlas Server to present a wide range of relevant information for tracking change at a neighbourhood scale.  Currently there is no public access to this application but you can view an enlarged screenshot or, alternatively, more information is available through a PDF report.

Local authorities are using InstantAtlas to support a number of key performance objectives:-

• Assist with presenting performance data at a localised scale to a wide-range of staff, members and citizens
• Facilitate setting appropriate performance targets at a local level
• Monitoring key performance indicators through an interactive management dashboard and quickly identify concerns
• Rapidly benchmark performance against nearest neighbours

The example shows a report developed by Nottingham City Council to look at monitoring their key LAA indicators at the level of Wards - view an enlarged screenshot. An increasing number of authorities are looking to set appropriate outcome targets at more localised scales in response to focused interventions (see also Tracking Neighbourhood Change example above).  InstantAtlas has also been integrated with some leading Performance Management Systems used by local authorities to add this geographic visualisation capability.  For more information see our dedicated Performance Reporting pages.

We have worked with a number of public bodies at different scales to assist them in presenting data on geographic patterns of spend in relation to potential 'demand' for services.  This area is receiving considerable attention through the 'Total Place' initiative. The screenshot example shown here is for Gwynedd Local Health Board showing budgetary spend in relation to the distribution of elderly residents. The sensitivity of spend data means these applications are not publicly available but you can view enlarged screenshots of example single and double map reports.

"The project built up three years financial data that can be mapped to GP practices, MSOAs or any other geographical area. We built a '4 quadrant' view (primary, secondary, community and MH/LDS) which exists at county, geographical and GP levels. These views are referred to as 'cost cards'. These outputs have enabled us to engage with clinicians who can interpret and see the context of resource utilisation that would not normally interest or concern them. This is a significant step, as clinicians drive the cost of running the health service. It has explained the relative use of resources between primary, secondary, community and mental health/LDS areas. It helps to put secondary care in its correct context." Alun Griffiths, Head of Primary Care Finance, Gwynedd Local Health Board.

The Local Economic Monitor (http://www.local-economic-monitor.org), developed by OCSI in partnership with GeoWise, is an excellent local authority (district scale) example for England allowing you to monitor key economic indicators at unitary and district authority level across England.

Others like East of England Development Agency have created a range of economic atlases for their region at the level of local authority Districts.

Customers are using InstantAtlas Server to make geodemographic data (for example Experian MOSAIC, CACI Accorn and ONS OAC) available to a wide audience of potential users.  To find out more about using geodemographics in InstantAtlas we recommend you review our Slideshare presentation on the subject which includes examples from Bournemouth Borough Council and Norfolk County Council.

Given the very significant cost savings, a number of customers have expressed interest in the freely available Output Area Classification (OAC) created by ONS and the University of Leeds.  Clicking on the screenshot will launch an OAC demo for Nottingham at Output Area level.  It presents the locations of all schools across the city in relation to standard OAC groupings.  More on OAC is available from the OAC web site.

The application of InstantAtlas to geo-demographics is covered in the online Slideshare presentation.

A significant number of local authority customers at all tiers have used our reports to publish the results from elections.  These reports fall into two categories: (1) those that are published within minutes of the result going live and aimed at citizens; and (2) those that are published at some point after the election results have been released and tend to be more analytical in nature. For more examples, including District local elections, please see our dedicated  Election Results examples page.

The screenshot shows one of the highest profile examples of a live election results report for the Greater London Authority Mayoral Elections on 2nd May 2008.  Janet Worth, Executive Director Corporate Services at the GLA said: "I think the presentation of the 2008 Mayoral and Assembly election results using these interactive web pages looks fantastic. They really help to communicate the data in an interesting and exciting manner."

InstantAtlas Server customers are seeking to address the requirements of their planning colleagues to pull together a wide range of socio-economic and environmental indicator data for the needs of Local Development Framework reports and Sustainability Appraisals. They are also supporting the delivery of key housing indicators (see Blackpool as an example).

In the case of the featured example for East of England Regional Assembly, "Instant Atlas has allowed us to transform access to the data contained within our Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Annual Monitoring Report. Whereas previously data were held in static tables and graphs they are now presented in a format that helps dynamically and clearly display progress towards RSS targets and aids comparison over time and between authorities in the region."  James Perry, Regional Analyst, EERA

There are also a number of Local Housing Associations using InstantAtlas for making similar types of data more widely available.

Cornwall CDRP Information Hub, Amethyst, take quarterly recorded crime figures from Devon & Cornwall Police and publish it at Ward level to their community safety partners and external users of the Amethyst web site. The report seeks to adopt best practice in the presentation of statistics online.

Phil Davies, Project Coordinator, explains "we wanted to demonstrate best practice by following guidance on data sharing, data dissemination and community engagement. We also felt our annual Strategic Assessment report to the Home Office was limited - it doesn't allow people to explore the data on their terms. We wanted to create an interactive report that presents much of the evidence in the form of visual pictures to make it easier to explore and interpret. We have produced a report on one interactive page that delivers much of the static graphics in the Assessment. We hope this sort of tool will lead to greater community empowerment through more effective engagement - an area which CDRPs are being strongly encouraged to address." Read more on the Amethyst site.

We have undertaken work recently in partnership with the London Borough of Newham to present the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 and its sub-domains in teh form of an interactive profile. Branding applied to the atlas is in line with the corporate style of www.newham.gov.uk.

Other deprivation atlas examples have been published by Bournemouth Borough Council, Blackpool Council and Norfolk County Council .  The latter explores deprivation at two different geographies for North Norfolk District to try and uncover hidden pockets that are hidden when reporting at higher geographies.