GeoPlace presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Glenn Dobson, Hull City Council

15 May 2019 02:58 PM

At the 14th annual GeoPlace conference and exhibition, in central London, on 9th May 2019, a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Glenn Dobson of Hull City Council. The Award was announced at the GeoPlace Annual Conference, which took place in central London on Wednesday 9th May – attended by Jesse Noman MP, Minister of State for the Department for Transport, and William Priest, CEO of the Geospatial Commission.

Presented for the first time ever this year, the GeoPlace Lifetime Achievement Award marks an extraordinary level of commitment to formative work that has helped to develop the nation's street and address gazetteers over a period of many years. The Award was presented to Glenn Dobson from Hull City Council and Chair of the Regional Streets Group. 

Glenn's work, and his commitment to a vision for accurate, high quality data management has been formative in the evolution of the UK's street and addressing authority. He was integral in representing the interests of local government in the setting up of GeoPlace. He ensured the local government voice was always heard in the development of the National Address Gazetteer, in the AddressBase products, the National Street Gazetteer and the OS Highways Network product.

Glenn has been on the stage at the conference since 2007, providing his annual update on progress within the Streets Community. As a leading light in the addressing community, and an inspiration to newer members, the audience has looked forward to his annual presentation, always given with a certain flair and humour.

Nick Chapallaz, Managing Director of GeoPlace yesterday said: 

"Every year, it gives us immense pleasure to highlight the outstanding work that's being done by Street and Address Custodians, and leading lights in our addressing community. This year, we are making a special award to acknowledge the achievements made throughout one person's career. Our community owes Glenn Dobson a great debt of gratitude. The immense effort he's put into improving the Gazetteers will underpin our work for many years to come. I hope this award goes some way to demonstrating just how appreciative we are, and how vital that contribution has been in making the Gazetteers what they are today. We will miss Glenn's sage advice and expertise – but as he is retiring from local government this year, our loss will be his grandchildren's gain. Thank you, Glenn, for everything that you have done for us."

The annual GeoPlace Awards highlight Custodians' roles within their authorities and enable their work to be more widely promoted to all parts of the authority. They allow the many services which currently use address and street data to see that the high standard of the data is externally recognised. From radical transformation initiatives saving millions of pounds for local authorities, to smaller projects improving data management by using the local address and street gazetteers in innovative ways – almost every aspect of local government business is underpinned by high quality address and street data. 

GeoPlace's Awards highlight the Street and Addressing Custodians' work helping to curate and maintain that data. Promoting their work helps to highlight the importance of their role, and the potential for this data to deliver ever-more efficient and effective services for their communities. 

The full list of Award winners can be seen here.

For more information, Contact gayle.gander@geoplace.co.uk.

Notes

About GeoPlace

GeoPlace LLP is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association (LGA) and Ordnance Survey.

GeoPlace is a world class expert in address and street information management, working internationally as well as in the UK to help our partners and customers maximise the value of their spatial information for better decision making.

GeoPlace maintains a national infrastructure that supports the address and street information needs of the public and private sectors. Its work relies heavily on close working relationships with every local authority in England and Wales. This relationship has been developed over 15 years, to build the National Address Gazetteer infrastructure and National Street Gazetteer.  Ordnance Survey develops the range of AddressBase products from the National Address Gazetteer and OS MasterMap Highways Network from the NSG.  Both datasets underpin efficient and effective services, bringing direct service delivery benefits to users.

The Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) and the Unique Street Reference Number (USRN) are the unique identifiers for every addressable location and street in Great Britain. They are created by local authorities who have the statutory authority to name and number every street and property and Ordnance Survey who identify objects on the landscape which may otherwise not attract an address.

These unique reference numbers link datasets together and share information with other organisations who also use them. They provide a comprehensive, complete and consistent identifier throughout a property's life cycle – from planning permission or street naming through to demolition.

See https://www.geoplace.co.uk.