NSW IT minister releases location intelligence strategy

NSW Finance and Services Minister Dom Perrottet has launched his first technology strategy just one week into the job, this morning unveiling the state’s whole-of-government plan to optimise the use of location intelligence.

New Finance Minister Dom Perrottet launching the strategy.

The strategy is aimed at coordinating standards and sites for the release of government-owned electronic maps, as well as communicating to NSW government bodies why and how they should enhance existing data sets with geographic details.

“Agencies right across government already collect a wide range of spatial information from residents, businesses and industry, and this new strategy means that there is now a coordinated and consistent approach to how this data is used,” Perrottet said in a statement.

One of the first actions under the plan will see the Land and Property Information office put together a business case for the establishment of a web verification service designed to record and map all customer addresses captured by the state government.

Land and Property Information, in unison with a newly established Location Intelligence Industry Advisory Committee, will also pick out a selection of research projects that could use government-held location data and support them with access and potentially grants.

Perrottet talked up current efforts by NSW agencies to make the most of geospatial data, such as the combination of Land and Property Information mapping with emergency services data to guide firefighting efforts in the Blue Mountains.

“As more datasets become available, we can expect to see improved targeting and delivery of government services,” he said.