Government-Wide Contract for Aerial Photography Covering Great Britain

Aerial mapping companies Getmapping and Bluesky have been awarded a multi-million pound contract for the supply of geographic data to Central Government organisations. The contract, awarded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), covers high resolution aerial photography, detailed 3D height models and Colour Infra-Red imagery for the whole of England, Wales and Scotland.

Under the new Aerial Photography for Great Britain (APGB) contract Getmapping and Bluesky can also provide training, consultancy and workshops to contract members.

This can be regarded as a landmark agreement as it sets a new standard for the capture of geographic data in Great Britain; moving from the previous 5 year update cycle to an improved 3 year update programme.  The agreement covers the supply of the most up to date imagery and height data to Central Government staff.  This ensures APGB members have access to the most recent data available.  These datasets have become common tools for many organisations providing real world intelligence to the desktop for a huge range of applications. The datasets provide significant benefits including supporting decision making to achieve proven cost savings and efficiency gains.  All data provided under this contract is available to order by the APGB members through an on-line portal supplied by Airbus Defence and Space.

The APGB contract was awarded following a competitive tender process and will run for three years with an option to extend for a further three year period. The contract covers the supply of high resolution aerial photography, detailed 3D Digital Terrain and Surface Models (DTMs / DSMs) and Colour Infra-Red Imagery for the whole of England, Wales and Scotland and will, over the period of the contract, capture in excess of 25TB of data. Members can choose to have this data supplied in any format that meets their needs, for example a regular update via hard drive or remotely via WMS, a service provided by Airbus Defence and Space.