Generalisation, geocoding, web tools, team day
Data generalisation explainer #
We published an article explaining the different levels of generalisation in ONS geospatial products. It's come up a few times in recent conversations, making it a good canidadate for an article!
Geocoding with Bing Maps API #
Following on from Maps in Sharepoint, we did some testing and documentation of geocoding addresses in a Sharepoint list using Power Automate and the Bing Maps API (soon to become Azure Maps API). Write-up to follow once we've tested and documented some other options.
Triggering Python notebooks from ArcGIS webapps #
We spent some time looking into using ESRI Web Tools to trigger a Python scripts in an ESRI Notebook to run custom analysis on the fly. We got a demo working, but found that while the Python script ran well from a hosted Jupyter Notebook, running it as a web tool from a webmap was significantly slower, possibly because it is initiating a notebook server before it can run the script. We'll look into why it's so much slower and if there's a way to optimise it.
Python User Group #
Our team hosts a monthly (more or less) BRC Python User Group for people working with Python across different teams. This month we had a great presentation on how a colleague from the Retail team is using Python for reporting and analysis.
Planning support for GIS programmes with international partners #
We had a good discussion with a partner National Society on their plans for including GIS activities in their 2025 planning. We'll draw up some options to give them an idea of the sorts of activities we can support with, to inform their planning.
Team away day #
And finally, we ended the week with a team day in London, meeting up with other teams that also sit under Transformation and Change. We spoke a bit about how the wider teams work together, some context around BRC strategy, and heard from colleagues in the London Refugee Support team about their work.