WIREDGOV

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) will be using OS MasterMap Imagery Layer in their command support vehicles to support major county incidents.

The county’s two command support vehicles will have the data available on their systems, enabling the Leicestershire FRS team to have up-to-date and reliable imagery at their fingertips in emergency situations.

OS MasterMap Imagery Layer is the market leader for currency and coverage of Great Britain. To date, 95% of the layer is five years old or less and for Leicestershire, 95% has been flown in 2009 and 2010. This year’s flying season has already obtained 64,000 square kilometres of imagery (almost 30% of the Great Britain Imagery Layer) which has been used to further refresh the Imagery Layer from June 2010.

Jenny Kirby, ICT Project Coordinator at Leicestershire FRS, is excited about the potential of this new dataset, commenting that: “We had considered other ways of accessing imagery for the county, but it is more reliable for the emergency services to have the data stored on board our command support vehicles. The currency and the coverage of the Leicestershire area were the key factors for us choosing Ordnance Survey and OS MasterMap Imagery Layer will play a key role in supporting our activities.”

Andrew Cooling, Local Government Account Manager at Ordnance Survey, comments: “This is good news for all concerned and we are pleased that the benefits of this dataset are being realised with the emergency services at Leicestershire FRS.”

For more information on OS MasterMap Imagery Layer, visit: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/osmastermap/layers/imagery/index.html 

Notes to 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 feed. 

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

Head of Corporate Communications - Rob Andrews

Email: rob.andrews@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2265

Senior Communications & PR Officer - Paul Beauchamp

Email: paul.beauchamp@ordnancesurvey.co.uk

Phone: (+44) 023 8079 2568

Press Office fax: (+44) 023 8030 5295