The negotiations required prior to the renewal in April 2008 of the Pan Government Agreement (PGA) whereby central government accesses spatial information, including digital mapping products from the Ordnance Survey, and the similar negotiation for local government's Mapping Services Agreement (MSA) have provided an exciting opportunity to review the way in which the Scottish public sector procures GI products and services. As part of this an initiative is being set up to review the requirements of the public sector and to challenge the status quo the ensure that we are gaining the greatest benefits from the products available at present and from those which presently may only be concepts or ideas. The CoP will provide a mechanism to co-ordinate much of this process.

The use of spatial information is widespread across the public sector and this Community has been established to provide a forum for all those involved in location based information and services to share knowledge and thus become involved in the new procurement process. It is planned that the CoP will be primarily focussed towards those working in the public sector, but contributions will be welcomed from those in the private and voluntary sectors as well as academia. The CoP will operate as a virtual community but it is intended that it will promote a number of networking events. Members will be welcome to use the CoP to organise and promote such events.

By sharing knowledge amongst public sector organisations, who may have operated as silos in the past, it is intended that the CoP will bring together those who have interest and understanding in location-based information and services and thus add to our collective understanding. In time it is intended that this will allow more efficient and effective management of information and will also provide a united position when dealing with external trading partners as suppliers or consumers.

The main subject areas addressed by the CoP will be location based products and services. In the initial stages this will necessarily concentrate on the products covered under the existing agreements, as the intention is to have an agreement in place, at least in principal before the PGA expires at the end on Mar 2008. However that will not prevent the community exploring other potential products and services.