WIREDGOV

Ordnance Survey today announces plans designed to help keep heavy goods vehicles (HGV) on the appropriate roads in support of citizens, hauliers and local authorities across Great Britain.

Every local authority creates freight route maps, which highlight the council recommended roads for hauliers. Ordnance Survey, which provides the underlying road network data to the satellite navigation industry, wants to consult with local government organisations on how it can help get these maps into satnav devices.

By using the recommended routes, hauliers can be sure that they’re being directed along the most suitable roads. This will in turn help reduce congestion on local roads and help ensure hauliers can make their journeys safely and efficiently.

According to figures from the Department for Transport, goods vehicle traffic in Great Britain accounted for 29 billion vehicle kilometres in 2006 – a rise of 11% in a decade – while overall vehicle traffic broke the 500 billion kilometre barrier for the first time in 2006.

Tom Satterthwaite, Senior Product Manager for transport at Ordnance Survey, says, “With more HGVs on our roads than ever before, we recognise that having lorries and trucks routed down unsuitable roads is a problem for the hauliers, residents and the local authorities.

“I believe that as the national mapping agency, Ordnance Survey is best placed to help facilitate a solution that will benefit everyone. Over the coming months we’ll be talking with local authorities across the country to see how we can help encourage commercial vehicles to use these routes and hopefully get them into satnavs.”

Further support of road hauliers is coming from Ordnance Survey’s business partners through the use of its HGV attribute data.

Ordnance Survey made available information on the weight, width and height restrictions on Britain’s roads in October 2006. This information can further support HGV drivers by highlighting the roads that should be avoided due to low bridges or narrow lanes, for example.

It is hoped that the uptake of this information within Ordnance Survey’s partner community will result in the first satnavs designed specifically for hauliers.

Tom comments, “Alongside our plans with local authorities we have also been working with our partners to get road restriction information to the market. In combination, we hope to give hauliers the full picture of Britain’s roads – highlighting the best recommended routes from local authorities as well as the roads to avoid”.

Donald Armour of the Freight Transport Association welcomes the developments: “HGV drivers becoming stuck up unsuitable roads creates a bad image for our industry, disrupts delivery schedules and causes inconvenience to local residents. The ability to select routes for heavy lorries, bearing in mind vehicle width, height and length restrictions, will be a huge benefit to all parties concerned.”


Notes for editors:

1 Ordnance Survey is Great Britain’s national mapping agency, providing the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data, relied on by government, business and individuals.

2 To download this news release visit www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/media. There you can also subscribe to our RSS news feed bringing you the latest Ordnance Survey news stories, as soon as they are published.

3 Ordnance Survey and the OS Symbol are registered trademarks of Ordnance Survey.

4 Traffic figures from the latest Department For Transport Report, Transport Statistics Bulletin: Road Statistics 2006, Traffic, Speed and Congestion.

For more information from Ordnance Survey, please contact:

Scott Sinclair – Head of Corporate Communications on 023 8079 2265 or scott.sinclair@ordnancesurvey.co.uk     
Paul Beauchamp – Senior Press Officer on 023 8079 2568 or
paul.beauchamp@ordnancesurvey.co.uk