Singapore Land Authority LandNet wins international GIS awards

The Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) Land Information Network (LandNet) system has won two international Geographical Information System (GIS) awards. In October this year, SLA was named the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association’s (URISA) Exemplary Systems in Governments (ESIG) – Distinguished Systems Award 2008 winner, which recognised LandNet’s achievements in the application of information technology to improve the delivery and quality of government services. The second, the Government Technology Awards 2008 (GTA) in GIS organised by FutureGov, acknowledged LandNet’s innovation, functionality and productivity.

LandNet beat 13 other international entries to win URISA’s ESIG Award. The URISA panel was impressed by LandNet’s outstanding use of information technology in a multi-department environment as part of an integrated process. Dr Gary J. Hunter, Chair of 2008 ESIG Awards Committee, said: “LandNet helps emphasise the concept of ’integrated government’ by providing a common map and gateway to government services. It is a very well thought out project, using a comprehensive project management approach which included conceptualising, design, maintenance and enhancement steps.”

LandNet was picked the winner out of 212 nominations from 14 countries for FutureGov’s GTA GIS Award by judges from regional countries. Mr James Smith, managing editor of Alphabet Media, and one of the judges at the GTA, said: “SLA’s LandNet project demonstrated the most comprehensive example of the use of GIS. It was considered to be a ‘foundational’ project which delivered outcomes that could be leveraged in a pan-government services delivery context. As such it was considered a worthy winner, with a high level of agreement in scoring from the judging committee.”

LandNet was launched on 1 June 2007, after a successful Proof-of-Concept experimentation with several public agencies and leading industry partners to find the best way of sharing spatial data online among public agencies. The system is the first in Asia Pacific to harness Enterprise GRID technology to facilitate online and up-to-date data sharing using high-speed government network. It supports most GIS formats to enable the transfer of intelligent graphic data, and contains more than 120 layers of information that can be searched, manipulated and buffered by users online. It is possibly the first web-based GIS in the world that allows users to personalise the look and feel of the maps. Since its inception, 15 agencies have hopped onto the bandwagon to share and access these spatial information.

Lim Ming Khai, Head of SLA’s Land Information Centre said: “It is a great honour for LandNet to have been recognised for its innovations and contributions to public service. We hope that more agencies will see the benefits of data sharing arrangement and participate in LandNet in our move towards an integrated government. ”

More information on the URISA ESIG Awards and FutureGov’s GTA Awards can be found at http://www.urisa.org/awards/esig/ and http://www.alphabet-media.com/press.php?ID=63 respectively.