NLPG fp Feb08.qxp 27/01/2009 16:25 Page 1
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When you need more
For years the Postcode Address File (PAF®) has been helping Royal
Mail with its primary raison d’être, the sorting and delivery of mail.
Its whole data structure is based on this requirement. It is not,
however, either a property level dataset or always a geographically
accurate description of where a property is located.
PAF® has become a vital information source in today’s vibrant service
economy. PAF is also routinely used for database cleaning, anti-fraud activities,
routing etc. Some organisations also rely on Ordnance Survey’s ADDRESS-
POINT® product, which adds geo-coordinates to PAF®.
However, in today’s rapidly evolving information society, PAF® is beginning
to look its age, simply because it is what it is, a data file to help with sorting
and delivering of mail. For many organisations PAF® and ADDRESS-POINT®
are no longer the optimum solution for their business. Now, with the NLPG
there is a real alternative that is beginning to gain traction.
Why use the NLPG?
The legal responsibility for creating addresses (street naming and numbering)
has rested with local authorities for over a hundred years and in 1999 a
government initiative set out to define a new kind of database created by and
for local government to act as an enabler for ‘joined up’ or eGovernment. Ten
years later this database, the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG),
driven by a British Standard (BS7666:2006), is now in place. It is in daily use by
hundreds of authorities to meet their wide ranging service obligations and a
growing number of other organisations are licensing the dataset to improve
their address management.
The NLPG goes far beyond PAF® by providing a unique property reference
number (UPRN) with geographic coordinates for each and every property in the
country, including those without a postal address such as churches, electricity
sub-stations, university and hospital buildings etc. The UPRN is increasingly used
to share ‘place’ based information between applications and organisations.
The NLPG is a composite of local authority, land and property gazetteers, which
are maintained on a daily basis by over 700 dedicated staff across the country.
Other value added attributes of the NLPG include the geographic address of The Ministry of Justice recently issued a directive that all electoral registers
a property and any alternative names for it, i.e. ground floor flat is the same as now have to comply with the NLPG’s BS7666 data standard by December
flat 1 or 16 Acacia Avenue is the same as ‘Dunroamin’ Acacia Avenue. 2009. The directive sets standards for the formatting of electors’ names, dates
But how good is it and why should an organisation consider using it to meet of birth and addresses in electoral registers and must include a Unique Property
its addressing requirements? Reference Number (UPRN) taken from the NLPG. This data standardisation
LLPGs are now mission critical for most local authorities as the single source activity lays the groundwork for the future implementation of the Co-ordinated
of addressing information across their numerous departments, helping to cut Online Record of Electors (CORE). CORE will facilitate effective checking of
costs and improve service delivery. It has taken time to get there but now all political party donations and assist in the detection of certain types of electoral
authorities in England and Wales are delivering regular updates to the central fraud.
NLPG hub. This bottom up process means the NLPG is the most accurate and The NLPG is a joint venture between the Local Government Information
up to date source of property information available today. However, instead of House, part of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), on behalf of
having to access data from individual authorities it is available from the NLPG the local authorities and Intelligent Addressing Limited.
hub, which ensures the data is brought together into a nationally consistent
format. For further information contact:
National users Gayle Gander, Head of Marketing
The NLPG is now being used by a number of other organisations to benchmark 0207 747 3500, ggander@intelligent-addressing.co.uk
their data. Why? Simply because it provides the most comprehensive address
database, including multi-occupancy buildings, available today.
The FiReControl project will provide the fire and rescue service with an
integrated and modern network of nine regional control centres and will use
the NLPG as the primary source of location information. Many fire and rescue
services are now working with local authority gazetteer custodians migrating
their ‘risk intelligence’ and sharing data to build on the excellence of the NLPG,
with which the FiReControl command and control system will be interfaced.
Nick Turner, Business Development Manager,
Intelligent Addressing, Ivybridge House, 1 Adam
Street, London, WC2N 6DD, 020 7747 3500,
nturner@intelligent-addressing.co.uk.
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