News - Location-data standard to be adopted into

Location-data standard to be adopted into e-GIF

March 2003

The Government’s vision is for a more integrated style of service delivery using the Internet and other technologies. Making this a reality requires at one extreme a cultural shift across government and at the other the practical means to implement integrated services.

The e-GIF operates at the practical level, providing agencies with a base set of data and technical standards and policy principles to make agency interoperability possible.

Having a common way to describe something as ubiquitous as an address or a geographical location is one of the hurdles agencies face as they increasingly work together to deliver services. Fortunately work spearheaded by Land Information New Zealand and involving a range of agencies and private sector experts provides an answer.

The ESA data standard provides a comprehensive definition of the location and address information used by agencies that provide emergency services. The interdisciplinary team involved in developing the standard recognised that the benefits of the ESA standard extended well beyond the requirement of emergency services.

The ESA is now being formally incorporated into the e-GIF as a whole-of-government standard for location description, providing an important piece of the interoperability puzzle.

For more information contact e-gif@ssc.govt.nz.