HB Viewer finalist for IT Award

Published: 24 March 2016

Last Updated: 9 May 2017

Hawke’s Bay councils’ shared data and mapping service is in the running for an ALGIM (Association of Local Government Information Management) 2016 GIS Project of the Year Award, to be announced on Monday 11 April.

Known as HB Viewer, the Hawke’s Bay Local Authority Shared Services Ltd (HBLASS) initiative launched last September combines information from all five of the region’s councils into one online viewer. It is an innovative platform giving easy access to mapping, data and web services, without the need for specialist Geographic Information System (GIS) operator skills.

Hawke’s Bay is believed to be the first region in New Zealand to have a service like this – an open source platform linking data from all five of the region’s councils.

“This is a great example of the work being done within HBLASS. We’re looking forward to finding out who the winner is on the 11th of April,” said HBLASS Chairman Craig Waterhouse.

The HB Viewer site includes many Hawke’s Bay related datasets sourced from Napier City, Central Hawke's Bay, Hastings, Wairoa District and Hawke's Bay Regional Councils, plus publicly available information from other organisations. The map viewer has the same look and structure as that already on local or regional council websites.

It is useful to both council staff and for the community, to help with planning, decision-making, interaction and working together efficiently,
There are sections for council facilities, reserves, pathways, iwi and Civil Defence. It will be updated regularly as councils add specific modules and data for their own city and district use.

HB LASS Ltd was established in December 2012. Its core function is to investigate, develop and deliver shared services, where and when that can be done more effectively for any combination of some or all of the shareholding councils. Insurance, information services, GIS and fuel are currently shared services. The company is owned by all five councils, and each council CEO is a director of the company.

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