landgate.jpgLandgate knows nearly everything about Western Australia. As the government authority responsible for land and property information, Landgate manages data that underpins hundreds of civil services, from rubbish pickup to education to immigration. Mapped data is a powerful aid to evidence-based policy.

Landgate needed a seamless way for different government departments to update and share their geo-data. TOPP's geospatial experts developed a wiki-like map using open source software.

Sharing Should Be Easy

Data maintenance is a huge burden for agencies like Landgate.

Landgate has a shared land information platform, built using a combination of open source and proprietary software. The system handles data used by more than 20 agencies, affecting more than 200 public services.

“Individual departments were all keeping their own databases. We had invested a lot in getting these databases up-to-date, and we wanted a better way to maintain them,” explains Kylie Armstrong, Manager of Business Programs at Landgate. "With the influx of Google and others who offer loads of data right at your fingertips, we needed a smart way to provide the same high quality data services."

Crowdsourcing

“Crowdsourced” maps offer an elegant solution. As with Wikipedia - where many editors add and update articles - a crowdsourced map distributes the work of content maintenance to many contributors. This solution streamlines data updates and makes it easy for everyone to access the needed information.

Version support in map applications is critical to collaborative mapping, just as version support is key for community tools like Wikipedia. Non-traditional ways of building maps call for tools that allow crowds of people to review data, both through inspecting the present state of the data, and reviewing its history.

We built a proof-of-concept using Vespucci (demo here), a tool we had originally developed for the Livable Streets Initiative. Key features:

  • Global History - A listing of all the changes that have been made on the map.
  • Single Feature History - A history listing for each data point that allows users to track and review changes to the map.
  • Feature Comparisons - Users can compare different versions of the same feature to see how its attributes and
    position had changed.
  • Rollback - In case of mistakes or vandalism, users can roll back features to a previous state.

 

Open Source

Landgate initially turned to TOPP's OpenGeo division because of our experience with GeoServer and PostGIS, the open source components of their mapping system.

Our commitment to open source means that all the software developed for this project freely available for anyone to use and customize. By building technology in an open and inclusive way, we can maximize its civic value. Collaborative mapping, for example, has an array of applications, from government data sharing to putting up bike racks to citizen advocacy. 

We worked with Landgate's developers to get them set up with the technology, and they continue to adapt it for their purposes. Open source makes it possible for improvements and new features to flow back into a core product.

“People are just loving it,” reports Kylie. “This project is going really well. We've been demonstrating [the crowdsourcing map] to a whole range of government departments, and internally.”

More Info

Screenshot of Landgate prototype.