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Multimap Helps The London Borough of Brent Maintain Top Ranking in Socitm’s survey, “Better Connected 2004”, in the Race to Meet e-Government Deadlines Over a Quarter of the Highest Scoring Local Councils use Multimap’s Mapping ServicesSocitm, the professional association for ICT managers working in the public sector, has for the second year running awarded the London Borough of Brent “Top 20” status for its website. It has also awarded the council ‘transactional’ status, a significant milestone on the road to meeting the government’s target of having all public services available electronically by the end of 2005. Only five per cent of local government sites qualified for this top tier category, as published by Socitm in its “Better Connected 2004” survey on 27th February, 2004. Among the features that determined Brent’s continued success are its multiple language facility, easy navigation, the currency of its information, its browsealoud screen reader for the visually-impaired, and its online mapping and location-based services, powered by Multimap, Europe’s leading online mapping provider. Thanks to Multimap, users of www.brent.gov.uk can search for their nearest local council services, and plan their route. One way of finding information is to visit the council’s homepage, type the relevant postcode, and search for over 300 local facilities such as schools, libraries, doctors’ surgeries, and council buildings. Multimap then delivers a map with icons representing the nearest selected facilities to the location entered. Users can click on an icon on the map or on one of the items listed by the side of the map, to view a more detailed map. The maps have full panning N,S,E,W and zoom in/out capabilities. Multimap’s mapping services significantly boost the quality of users’ online experience, and equip them with the location information they need to fully benefit from local services. This plays an important role in the integration of citizens as culturally and racially diverse as those found in Brent. Multimap’s useful services also lessen the administrative burden of public enquiries on council employees. Jeff Kelisky, Multimap’s Chief Executive Officer said, "’We’re delighted to play a role in the continued success of Brent Council. Of the local councils that were awarded ‘transactional’ status in Socitm’s survey, over a quarter use Multimap’s online mapping services. This is a clear indication of the effectiveness of our services in the run up to 2005 and beyond.” Commenting on the deal, Ann John, Leader of Brent Council, said, “We are delighted to be awarded ‘transactional’ status. It reflects how hard we’ve worked to comply with e-government and good practice criteria. Feedback from our online users has been positive; the multi-lingual capability of the site and its location-based facilities, as provided by Multimap, have been received particularly positively. These services make a real difference to our citizens as they go about their daily lives.” She continued, “Multimap’s fully customisable services were integrated with our website quickly and smoothly. Very importantly for us, they are scaleable; we started by showing simple maps to pinpoint council offices and libraries, and have stayed with the same technology to show hundreds of categories of information. We’re really pleased with the quality of the maps, the accuracy of the proximity search, and the all-round professionalism of the team at Multimap.” ---ENDS--- Notes to editors: For further details about the awards, please go to http://193.114.101.229/Public/insight/publications/Better+Connected+2004.htm About Multimap Multimap.com is Europe's leading provider of mapping and location-based services. The company delivers more online maps, point-to-point driving directions and geo-spatial ("where's my nearest?") searches to more companies than any other supplier in Europe. All services are offered on WAP, PDA, kiosk, and interactive TV platforms and in multiple languages. The public web site www.multimap.com provides a range of free, useful services to assist with everyday life. Key features include street-level maps of Europe, USA, Canada and Australia; road maps of the world; door-to-door travel directions; aerial photographs; weather forecasts; links to location information; and services such as hotel, restaurant and entertainment booking. The public site attracts over 6.5 million unique users, registers more than 90 million page impressions every month, and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the UK. Multimap recently came 27th in The Sunday Times' Tech Track 100 league table of fastest-growing companies. About The London Borough of Brent Brent, which takes its name from the river which runs through it, is situated in the north west of London and is host to the world-famous Wembley Stadium, currently in the process of redevelopment. The North Circular Road (A406) which is London’s inner orbital road splits the borough into two halves with very distinctive economic and social characteristics. While some areas in the south of Brent, such as Harlesden, South Kilburn and Stonebridge, experience inner city levels of social deprivation, parts of the more affluent, leafy, suburban north boast tree-lined streets and a conservation area modelled on a picture postcard English village. As an area, Brent’s most striking feature is its ethnic and social make-up. It’s 270,000 strong population is the second most culturally and racially diverse of all the local authorities in England and Wales. We already have an ethnic majority community, with the white UK population accounting for less than 50% of all residents. Poverty, particularly in the south of the Borough, is still a significant issue. The gap between rich and poor in Brent is growing and the number of households on low incomes is increasing. Brent ranks as the 20th most deprived authority in England on the 1998 Index of Local Deprivation. 70% of people in Harlesden and Kilburn could be considered poor and average earnings in Brent fall well below Greater London averages. About SOCITM The Society of Information Technology Management was founded in 1986 as the professional association for ICT managers working in and for the public sector. Members are drawn primarily from local authorities but also from the police and fire services, housing authorities and other locally delivered public service. Managers or consultants from organisations supplying ICT products and services to the public sector, or which support public services in other ways, may also join the Society. With over 1600 members from 450 different organisations including 95% of all UK local authorities, Socitm provides a widely respected forum for the promotion, use and development of ICT best practice. It also plays a leading role in the implementation of local e-government in the UK. The Society is a significant provider of advice and guidance on ICT and e-government to local authorities. Socitm offers a growing range of services including publications, conferences, events, training, research and consultancy. |