2.1.1
GeoPlace® LLP is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey and is responsible for compiling and maintaining an infrastructure that unifies core address and streets datasets. This infrastructure provides a single source for all addressing and street data. In terms of street data, GeoPlace’s role is to work with local authorities and other organisations to create and maintain the National Street Gazetteer (NSG for England and Wales), that provides a definitive source of publicly-owned spatial
address and street data. Ordnance Survey markets a range of address and street products delivered by GeoPlace.
2.1.2
GeoPlace issued a Data Co-operation Agreement (DCA) to all District, County and Unitary status councils and separate agreements to National/Regional Highway Authorities in England and Wales. These provide for legally binding agreements between the parties to support the creation and maintenance of GeoPlace information and databases (particularly related to address and street information for England and Wales and address information for Scotland through a separate agreement).
2.1.3
The main purpose of the DCA is to underpin the recognition by Government of the substantial social and economic benefits that core reference geography brings. It forms part of the framework put in place by Government to enable access by the whole of the public sector to definitive spatial information through the Public-Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA). The DCA also recognises the role councils and National/Regional Highway Authorities have in the creation and source of spatial information, specifically address and street information.
2.1.4
Within the DCA each organisation is contracted under a data licence contained within the DCA to create, maintain and deliver their street updates (address and street information) to GeoPlace.
2.1.5
In the DCA organisations with a Local Highway Authority (LHA) function Authority Updates are defined as DCA Street Updates and ASD Updates from National/Regional Highway Authorities. If the DCA organisation has London Borough, Metropolitan, Unitary or Welsh Unitary status (collectively defined as a Unitary Council) both these functions form the responsibilities of that Unitary Council. Where the DCA organisation is a District Council it is solely responsible for delivering DCA Address Updates. DCA organisations with a County Council
status are solely responsible for delivering DCA Street Updates. National/Regional Highway Authorities through their separate agreements are solely responsible for delivering ASD Updates. Highways England are responsible for delivering the TRSG.
2.1.6
The DCA defines a specific responsibility for the function and role to be undertaken in each DCA organisation for creating, maintaining and delivering DCA Street Updates and ASD Updates to GeoPlace. These are the Authority Address Custodian and the Authority Street Custodian. District Councils solely have an Authority Address Custodian function. County Councils solely have an Authority Street Custodian function. All types of Unitary status councils have an Authority Address Custodian and an Authority Street Custodian function and role. National/Regional Highway Authorities also have custodians who are solely responsible for delivering ASD Updates.
2.1.7
These functions and roles within and between councils can act as an interaction channel for other roles defined in the DCA as:
- additional Authority Address Custodian contact and/or Authority Street Custodian contact where appropriate;
- the Authority Principal Contact;
- the Authority’s street naming and numbering officer (or equivalent);
- Additional Street Data (ASD) maintainer (or equivalent);
- Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) traffic manager (or equivalent);
- the public right of way definitive plan/map officer (or equivalent, as defined in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981); and
- the Authority’s New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) street works manager (or equivalent).
2.1.8
The DCA defines that the content of all DCA Street Updates and ASD Updates must be in accordance with this Reference Manual, the GeoPlace Data Entry Conventions (DEC) and Best Practice for Streets, known as the DEC-Streets. For a full description of the purpose of the DEC-Streets, see Section 3.1. In summary, the main purpose of the DEC-Streets Reference Manual is to provide:
- The Authority Street Custodian, the National/Regional Highway Authorities custodian and all the DCA roles listed in Section 3.3, with a comprehensive consistent maintenance and update resource.
- Definitions, conventions and guidance for those wishing to improve how they maintain street data more efficiently and in a consistent manner across government.
- Consistent definitions and conventions for those who use street data and those who, equally importantly, wish to understand why they should use good quality street data.