Oct 29, 2014 -- Getmapping’s nationwide aerial imagery is now available to users of Grant Thornton’s Place Insight web based mapping application. This online research and intelligence service provides exceptional ground detail and reduces the need for site visits. Adding imagery was a simple task thanks to Getmapping’s simple-to-use ‘API’ and modern WMS/WFS internet protocols.

Grant Thornton’s Place Insight suite of web-based analytics tools provides a range of applications for the analysis of the 1500 or so economic, social, and environmental indicators held in its system. The Place Insight mapping application enables the creation of thematic maps based on these indicators, plotted against a range of geographic boundaries such as Local Authority districts, facilitating meaningful interpretation and analysis.

Place Insight mapping provides users with Ordnance Survey (OS) base maps  that are fully scalable, enabling, views of the whole of Great Britain down to a street level. The maps are enhanced via Getmapping’s equally scalable imagery layer facilitated via the Getmapping API.

Additionally, the Place Insight mapping application enables the creation of hybrid maps that combine OS maps, Getmapping imagery and its own thematic maps. The application also delivers the facility to display and interrogate the attributes of the point data, such as assets and infrastructure on top the maps.

“Getmapping's product is ideal as it uses the same mapping projection as the underlying OS base mapping. The key benefit is to our clients, for example a national building company bidding for tenders, can make better informed planning and strategic decisions, with less need for site visits. The response to the inclusion of Getmapping imagery has been extremely positive and it has now been embedded as a core part of our platform,” said Steven Edney, Senior Programmer.

“Gaining access to nationwide imagery is now a simple process for both web mapping and GIS applications. Modern internet protocols and APIs mean that imagery can be served fast in either a bespoke or browser environment,” said Dave Horner, Managing Director of Getmapping. “Our national update programme also ensures that our clients can make use of the most up to date imagery available” continued Horner.