Aligned Assets

Aligned Assets are a UK-based full service company from Surrey that develops gazetteer software for local authorities, the emergency services and the commercial sector.

History

Aligned Assets were formed in 1996 by Carl Nunn, later joined by Phil Gee in 1997 and Mike Saunt (now of Astun Technology) in 1998, who all met whilst working together for MapInfo (now Pitney Bowes MapInfo). Originally working as MapInfo resellers and Geographical Information System (GIS) developers, the company saw early success by securing contracts with companies such as the BBC, Experian and Orange (brand).

Aligned Assets moved into address management with the development in 1997 of the BS7666 Toolbox that was built on behalf of MapInfo to assist UK Local Authorities in the development of the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG). It was the BS7666 Toolbox that went on to form the basis of their current Gazetteer Management System, Symphony iManage.

They are currently the only UK software provider to specialise solely in the gazetteer market working both in the local government sector and with the emergency services. They are the chosen supplier to the British Transport Police [http://www.bapcojournal.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1137/Aligned_Assets_are_helping_British_Transport_Police_with_their_Enquiries.html] , Transport for London [http://www.agi.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_newsart/view.asp?Q=bf_newsart_165487] , Birmingham City Council [http://www.agi.org.uk/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_302370] and the FiReControl [http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=2765&trv=1] project.

After the introduction of BS7666:2006, they were the first company to achieve accredition to the new standard [http://www.agi.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_newsart/view.asp?Q=bf_newsart_296712] and the first company to have one of their customers fully migrated. [http://www.agi.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_newsart/view.asp?Q=bf_newsart_288874]

Recent developments have seen them complement their gazetteer management systems with software designed for property management.

Current Products

iManage - The core of Symphony Suite allowing the creation and maintenance of street, land & property gazetteers. It allows for gazetteer data to be displayed geographically in a map window and was the first product in the UK to be BS7666:2006 accredited.

iExchange - A delivery tool used in local government for disseminating Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) data to departmental systems such as council Tax, electoral roll, planning, etc. as well as automating updates to the NLPG.

iValidate – A module that allows the user to qualify street, land & property data and check for BS7666 compliancy.

iMatch – An addressing matching tool that synchronises legacy systems against BS7666 gazetteers. Works by writing a Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) against successful matches and geocoding the data.

iSearchWeb – A web-based application that enables organisation-wide access to gazetteer data via a browser.

iPlot – A mapping tool that allows the user to design their digitised maps for print in a variety of formats.

Street Naming and Numbering – A module built into the iManage GMS that is designed to speed up the process within local authorities when dealing with the street naming and numbering process.

SinglePoint Search – Originally built for the British Transport Police, SinglePoint is a multi-gazetteer search engine that is able to return sub-second search results from the NLPG as well as searching other non-BS7666 gazetteers simultaneously via the use of adaptors.

Xtended Data Module – A supplementary module within iManage GMS, the Xtended Data Module allows for additional (non-BS7666) information to be stored in the gazetteer

Symphony PMS – currently in development but will enable a local authority to manage the maintenance, acquisition, sales and legalities involved in property management

Business Culture

Aligned Assets are regarded as a staff-orientated company with continual staff development a priority. They are an ISO 9001 certified company [http://www.agi.org.uk/POOLED/articles/bf_newsart/view.asp?Q=bf_newsart_302865] and are also Investors in People accredited [http://www.taylormadehertford.com/successes.php] . They pursue a carbon offsetting policy by which they contribute to a fund proportional to the amount of miles driven as a result of company business.

References

External Links

[http://www.aligned-assets.co.uk Aligned Assets Homepage]

[http://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/dataview/News/News_Article.aspx?KeyValue=434 Public Sector Executive - Aligned Assets and the British Transport Police]

[http://www.aligned-assets.co.uk/clients/case%20studies/super-gazetteer_olymv1.pdf Geoconnexion UK - Aligned Assets and the Olympics]

[http://www.aligned-assets.co.uk/clients/case%20studies/heaven_intv7i7.pdf Geoconnexion International - Aligned Assets and data matching]