Geographic Information

Geographic Information Consultancy

Geographic Information Sourcing / Capture

Spatial Analysis

Map-Enabled Data Portals

Large Format Printing

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Capacity Building

Geographic Community Mapping

GI Knowledge Maps

School Travel Health Check (STHC) Service

Geographic Information

Home

Products & Services

Our first passion is the mapping, analysis and sharing of geographic information (GI) – ie. the knowledge about the ‘places & spaces’ that make up our physical world and our interactions with them – and we have over 50 years of collective experience covering all aspects…

From it’s initial sourcing / capture, spatial analysis using GIS (from every day mapping tools like Google Maps and Google Earth, to full blown analysis software like ESRI, MapInfo and QGIS), and publishing & sharing with expert & non-expert stakeholders alike as both online map-enabled data portals and large format paper maps.

Indeed our School Travel Health Check (STHC) spatial analysis service – which was born out of an initial GI consultancy project to provide high quality, spatial intelligence data to one local authority, it’s school communities and other stakeholders interested in how children travel to their school, from where, and how far they travel to get there – has been combining all of our GI skills in a nationally available, ‘one-stop shop’ service since 2005.

We are also passionate about the development of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) at all levels to ensure that this key knowledge about their world is accessible to all who need it – be they members of the GI Professional Community or communities defined geographically – and they have the capacity to use it to support them in whatever it is they need to do, once they have it.

Note we are a registered data processor with the UK Information Commissioner (ICO).

Play

INTRO: GIS - The future of smart! [1:40]

Play

INTRO: Components of a GIS [4:18]

Play

INTRO: GI Science & Technology [51:42]

The videos above introduce the various components & concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). It’s more than just software…

Geographic Information Consultancy

We have over 50 man-years experience of all aspects of the sourcing, creation, analysis & sharing of geographic information.

Find Out More

GI Data Sourcing / Capture

We can track down the geographic information you need if it exists, or we can create it from existing datasets with GIS tools.

Find Out More

Spatial Analysis

It’s not just about the tools like ESRI, MapInfo & QGIS, and the quality of the source data, it’s about the insight they provide if you ask the right questions.

Find Out More

Map-Enabled Data Portals

Sharing spatial analysis results with stakeholders in an interactive, intuitive way within a normal web browser without plugins.

Find Out More

Large Format Printing

From one off jobs to a run of 100's of site centred maps for every school in a whole authority, we can easily satisfy client demand for bespoke, large format images as required.

Find Out More

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Capacity Building

Helping to connect the technology, policies, standards and human resources that support the use of GI.

Find Out More

Geographic Community Mapping

Helping geographically defined communities to map their physical resources and build up a knowledge base about them.

Find Out More

Geographic Information Knowledge Maps

GI Knowledge Maps

Knowledge maps about data and tools resources of use to the GI user community.

Find Out More

School Travel Health Check (STHC) Service

Providing high quality, spatial intelligence to stakeholders interested in how children travel to school, from where, and how far they travel to get there.

Find Out More

Why Knowledge Mappers For Geographic Information Services?

Why Knowledge Mappers For Geographic InformationServices?

Very few areas of human endeavour are not tied to 'geaographic space' in some way. Here's why you we can help you do what you do better with our geographic mapping skills...

Find Out More

Geographic Information Clients & Testimonials

Geographic Mapping Clients & Testimonials

Words of praise for our ground-breaking knowledge maps from those that have benfited...

Find Out More

Featured - STHC Spatial Analysis Data Portal

All the STHC spatial analysis results are published online on a customer-specific, publicly accessible, interactive, map-enabled, fully responsive, 'thumb friendly' data portal.

Find Out More

Geographic Information Consultancy

We have over 40 man-years experience in Geographic Information Mapping Consultancy in both the public and private sectors. Using GIS software tools like ESRI, MapInfo & QGIS, and map-enabled, online information portals & tools like Google Maps, Google Earth & Google Charts, we cover all aspects of the geographic information mapping process – data sourcing, data capture, spatial analysis, map publishing (from online, map-enabled data portals to large format paper maps), and spatial data infrastructure (SDI) development, particularly human capacity building.

Please contact us directly to help you with your geographic information consultancy needs.

Geographic Information Sourcing / Capture

So the good news is that the GI data you need for your project may exist already, in the public domain and be available online to instantly download… If only you knew where exactly to look… If only you knew which were the latest copies of the definitive datasets, and which were just part of the “online digital noise” that pushes your brain into overload every day! In which case our data / information / knowledge hunting skills can help track it down, in a process that is condiserably helped with MindManger. Indeed there may already be a knowledge map that will be of use in our public domain knowledge map store. Or it may not…. In which case we can create it with GIS tools, source GI datasets, and the right technical know-how. So we’ve got all bases covered.

Please contact us directly to help you with your geographic information sourcing / capture needs.

Spatial Analysis

Google Maps and Google Earth have revolutionised the sharing of geographic information online. However it is still the case that, in order to produce the information in the first place, spatial analysis of raw data using specialised Geographic Information System (GIS) software tools is required, along with a lot of experience and expertise. We have over 40 man-years collective expertise in spatial analysis using the longstanding commercial leaders ESRI and MapInfo and the free & open source MapInfo. However as you can see from our STHC analysis description, it’s not just about the tools, it’s about applying them in a logical way. It’s also about taking an AGILE approach and putting the end user first. What do they need to know? What do they know now? What could they easily know with some applied spatial analysis? Let us help you find out!

Please contact us directly to help you with your spatial analysis needs.

Find out about the Spatial Analysis Insights of the STHC

Map-Enabled Data Portals

There are an enormous range of (often free) tools now available to create highly-interactive, online atlases and dashboards that combine statistics and maps in a very visual way. Usually referred to as map-enabled (or “geo”) data / information portals, they are used to:- create a more effective evidence-base to engage managers, funders and policy-makers help inform better decision-making in the commissioning of services and allocation of resources. They are the best way of sharing spatial analysis results with stakeholders as they can deliver an interactive user experience (including a limited amount of spatial querying) but, unlike traditional GIS, do not require much expertise to use. Also there is no software to download as the data is viewed within a normal web browser.

Please contact us directly to help you with visualise your geographic information in a map-enabled portal.

Find out about our STHC Data Portal

Large Format Printing

Great though digital working is, sometimes there is no substitute for looking at the whole picture on a big bit of paper. Here at KnowledgeMappers HQ we have a large format (up to 42″ wide) HP Designjet 4500 printer, so we can easily satisfy client demand for bespoke, large format images as required.

Over the years this has not just been about maps, though the printing of well over 10,000 school-centred A1 maps & Key Analysis Results Tables for STHC Packs has been the mainstay of the work of key Knowledge Mappers team member Harry Plotter (HP, do you see what we did there ;-). For example we have worked closely with friend & neighbour renowned artist Andrew Crummy in his work on the many community tapestries he has designed. We print out his 1x1m, 0.5x1m & 0.5x-0.5m design templates at full size, which he then hand-draws his design onto. The design is then traced onto linen panels and then sent out with the hand-coloured colour print to an army of hundreds of volunteer stitchers across the country, who realise it as a tapestry. We are immensely proud to be part of this great civic endevour.

Please contact us directly to help you with your large format map printing needs.

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Capacity Building

The dictionary definition of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is “the technology, policies, standards, human resources, and related activities necessary to acquire, process, distribute, use, maintain, and preserve spatial data”. So what does this rather dry and academic, definition have to do with you? Well SDIs are basically what keeps you and the other people in your team / organisation / community with the geographic information they need to keep their bit of it going each and every day. Like any sort of technical infrastructure, the emphasis is usually on the “sexy” technology that you can see and touch. In reality however it’s all about people. It’s about the behind-the-scenes professionals that keep the whole dang show on the road, each and every day, the people, causes and organisations they do it for, and the citizens of the world that benefit from the results of all the activity. So for SDIs to work effectively people need to know a lot of stuff. Luckily we have knowledge maps for that.

Please contact us directly to help you with your spatial data infrastructure capacity building.

Geographic Community Mapping

Particpatory mapping, also known as community mapping, is a process that allows people with a common interest but who may never have actually physically met each other before, to get together in an organised and facilitated way to identify and define the issues, ideas and experiences that are important to them and their community through representation on maps. For participants, participatory mapping can lead to new understandings of an issue, of a locality and the influences of the wider social, political and economic forces that shape their community. The resulting maps – initially produced in a bespoke way specifically to facilitate discussion, and then amended and annoted by the participants over the course of the meeting – enable the group to record all the contributions, come to a shared understanding and, crucially, agree a way forward.

Please contact us directly to help you and your geographically defined community gather the knowledge you need to move forward.

GI Knowledge Maps

**Coming Soon**

The School Travel Health Check (STHC) is an example of a GI consultancy project for one local authority in 2004 that soon “grew arms and legs” to become a ground-breaking, nationally available service, still going 16 years later. In providing high quality, spatial intelligence data to local authorities, school communities and other stakeholders interested in how children travel to school, from where, and how far they travel to get there, it incorporates all aspects of the geographic information process.

Go to our STHC Services page

Find out about the Spatial Analysis Insights of the STHC

Find out about our STHC Data Portal

Why Knowledge Mappers For Geographic Mapping?

Here are some of the reasons why our unique range of geographic knowledge / information / data mapping & spatial analysis skills & expertise can help you do what you need to do… quicker, easier and with a lot less stress…

0 +

Years Of Experience

We have decades of collective professional experience of all aspects of the sourcing, creation, analysis & sharing of geographic information to provide meaningful insight to stakeholders.

Insight, Not Technology

Though technology is vitally important, it is just a tool, a means to an end. We never lose sight of the reason why we are using it, which is to provide you with meaningful insight into your world...

Standard Office Tools

We use the same standard technology tools as you - MS Office, MapInfo, QGIS, Google Maps, MindManager, Bootstrap, browsers... It's what we do with them that makes the difference!

Find out more about us

Geographic Mapping Client Testimonials & Citations

From the UK Chief Medical Officer to Local Council Officers, Project Managers and Headmasters, our geographic mapping & spatial analysis products and services have connected many individuals, teams, organisations & communities with the knowledge they need, to do what they need to do… quicker, easier, and with a lot less stress 🙂

Featured GI Service

School Travel Health Check (STHC) Spatial Analysis Data Portal

All the STHC analysis results are published online on a customer-specific, publicly accessible, interactive, map-enabled, fully responsive data portal. Built using the free & open source Bootstrap responsive website developers toolkit, it utilises free external web-services such as Google Maps and Google Charts , which greatly enhance visualisation of the data at no extra cost to users. Its “thumb friendly” fluid design means it is viewable in any HTML5 compatible browser, including mobile devices.

The portal is arranged into pages contained within different modules, themed by the specific purpose and nature of the analysis (though there may be some overlap between them in terms of the data reported). Additional modules may be added over time, but currently these are –

Distance & Mode Analysis Module – Accident (STATS 19) Analysis Module – Proximity & Choice Analysis Module (Beta)

Play Video

Go to our Demo STHC Data Portal

[Opens in new tab]

Go to our Dedicated STHC Website

[Opens in new tab]

Go to our STHC Services page