High Resolution Aerial Imagery Survey: Ipswich Borough Council

Ipswich Borough Council commissioned Getmapping to undertake a high resolution survey of the borough. By accessing the high resolution aerial imagery, council officers could easily analyse change, access archive information for historical issue resolution and carry out surveys without leaving the office.

Data was out of date and made planning and asset management a challenge

The Planning Department and other council officers at Ipswich Borough Council were using aerial images captured from the Millennium. After commissioning a more up to date survey at 25cm resolution they recognised the value of having accurate, current data sets with the highest possible resolution. In 2016 they purchased images from Getmapping with 5cm resolution. Their decision was driven by both competitive pricing and the fact that they received the full copyright to use the images for internal business and to carry out their own online mapping process. Following on from this, the borough commissioned Getmapping to carry out a high resolution aerial survey every three years to ensure the data sets are current and accurate.

High resolution and frequency have resulted in new benefits across all council departments

The 5cm resolution imagery is proving invaluable across a number of departments including planning, enforcement, highways and asset management. Having the data refreshed every three years has established a time series for easier change management and analysis. It also provides an archive of information for looking at and resolving historical issues.

The data has enabled visual inspections and measurements to be carried out without the need to visit locations, facilitating ‘business as usual’ during the CoronaVirus pandemic and removing potential future delays from land ownership or access issues..

“We hugely benefited last year during the lockdown when our surveyors were able to look at sites from their home office. 5cm resolution enabled them to see even the road marks. The latest images were captured during lockdown so the car parks and public areas were abandoned. This is a special glimpse of the town, which makes the images unique.” Dr Agnes Kummert, GIS Officer, PSGA PC,Ipswich Borough Council