The Client
An Bord Pleanála (ABP) is responsible for the determination of applications for national strategic infrastructure development projects.
The Problem
ABP is host to a large archive of planning applications, drawings, charts and maps.
As part of an upgrade of its services and systems, ABP was seeking to move from a paper based mapping system to a GIS. In preparation for this move, ABP wanted to scan and geo–reference their collection of paper maps.
What We Did
This project was undertaken in two distinct phases.
1st Phase
Due to their value and importance as national documents, ABP’s collection of over 3,000 A0 map sheets, which cover the whole of the Republic of Ireland, were scanned on the customer’s own site. Mallon provided capture hardware and Data Capture Technicians to work at ABP’s head office in Dublin, to scan the maps.
2nd Phase
All of the digitally captured scans were then securely transferred to our offices in Cookstown and Dublin. Upon their receipt, a team of GIS professionals processed the geo–referencing of the scanned maps into a Raster catalogue to the Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM) system.
The Benefits
- ABP’s map collection can now be easily accessed and viewed on their computer network without the need to find the original hard copy
- The maps can be opened and viewed with their correct geographical location and be compared to OSi vectors
- ABP staff can now easily record future data straight into the GIS
- Multiple users can access the same map at the same time