Looking for a new challenge?

It’s a busy time here at 1Spatial and as a consequence we’re eager to fill several roles including Software Developers and Test Analysts in our Cambridge HQ and .NET Developers in our Cork Office.

The company not only offers competitive packages, including great benefits, but also a good working environment that encourages innovation and initiative as well as fun along the way, with plenty of support when you need it.

You can visit the 1Spatial website careers page for more information about the roles above and you can contact hr@spatial.com to send in a CV.

It's ArcGIS Server, but not as we know it...

Posted - John Hartshorn:
For many years we have been automating and solving data quality problems for a range of international customers helping them get more value from their quality-assured data.  So why stop there?  Surely it makes sense to look at how else customers can be helped to get more value out of the data and their investments in the GIS technology that consumes, distributes and presents that data?  Enter....Geocortex. 

OK, I’ll expand a little....

I started my career 20 years ago this autumn at Esri UK.  Well, ‘Doric’ as it was then.  ArcInfo 5, if I recall.  (Yes, I was very young).  Since then, Esri has continued to dominate many aspects of the GI software sector.  So, it comes as no surprise that many of those we help solve data problems for are then publishing that data into web-GIS applications built on Esri technology, ArcGIS Server to be specific, and very 2011 about it.  So, to mark my 20th anniversary of joining the Esri world, 1Spatial has very kindly decided that it will expand its support for the ArcGIS Server community, by offering the finest tried-and-tested tool there is for getting the best out of ArcGIS Server – Geocortex Essentials.

Yes, we’ve become the UK and Ireland distributor for what Esri itself obviously sees as a clearly useful, complimentary toolkit for ArcGIS Server - it has elevated the software team behind Geocortex to become an Esri Platinum Partner.

Geocortex Essentials hugely reduces the amount of grunt work (development) you have to do and, instead, gives you a far more efficient approach to application development by providing a huge range of pre-built (and tried and tested!) capabilities out of the box.  Oh, and a focus on configuration instead of development.  Not to exclude custom coding, of course, but let’s face it – who wouldn’t want to be able to publish applications on top of ArcGIS Server faster, better and with lower risk?  I for one would want to spend less money and time by simply configuring web-GIS sites using an authoring tool and a load of pre-built functions, buttons, widgets, workflows and all sorts of other exciting “geo-thingies”.

We will be attending AGI, so if you are there and want to find out more, please get in touch via geocortex@1spatial.com . We will also be running a series of webinars in the next few months, so watch out for more information!

As you might guess, this is very exciting stuff.  Go on – ask me about Silverlight!

1Spatial announces the Radius Studio Accreditation Programme

After a few months of deliberation with my other consultant colleagues here at 1Spatial, I am pleased to announce the arrival of the Radius Studio Accreditation Programme.  Click here to view the webpage, where you can find full details of the programme and how to get involved.  During its inception I have spent many hours trying to work out the best way to implement some form of official recognition in the Radius Studio arena.  I have been asking myself questions such as:-

• What levels of accreditation should there be?
• How should it be decided / applied?
• Why should somebody want to have it?
• What is in it for a participant?
• What is in it for 1Spatial?
• How does it help a participant?
• How does it help the participant’s organisation?

I hope to explore and answer these questions during this blog.

We have decided on two levels of accreditation; Practitioner and Professional, both are free to join and can be anyone from a student to a CEO.  Participants will need to gain a Practitioner accreditation before they can achieve Professional accreditation.  There was much deliberation on how a participant might gain accreditation, should it be by exam, or by practical examples?  We decided on practical examples. 

We took this route because we believe that with practical examples a participant will learn more about the data that their organisation holds and how that data fits into the organisation’s processes.  This, in turn, allows the participant to gain valuable information on the organisation’s processes, adding value for the participant and organisation alike. 

The achievement criteria for each level can be found here. By meeting the requirements for accreditation, a participant will learn about data validation and its role within business processes.  This will also help an organisation to understand the levels of quality in their data and improve that quality where applicable.  By applying the practical approach to accreditation we believe that all parties involved in the process will be happy.  It is not just taking an exam for examinations sake; you really need to know the organisation’s data and data quality level in order to achieve the necessary criteria.

I recently certified our latest Practitioner Lee Wells from Staffordshire County Council.  Lee has done some excellent work around address matching against the National Land and Property Gazetteer, click here to see my previous blog. We were able to build a case study around Lee’s work which can be found here. It was this case study that enabled Lee to gain his Accreditation.

Moving forward we hope that Practitioners and Professionals alike will join forces to improve the quality of the datasets worldwide by utilising their combined experience to produce ever more refined and exhaustive rule sets that can be applied across a multitude of data sources.

Watch this space for more developments!