The majority of online government forms mandate that citizens enter their address as part of the transaction process. The universal nature of this action means that address entry has been standardised across government using Spatial Services’ NSW Point web service. This standardisation allows for a common point to collect key information for data analytics. Recognising this, Spatial Services has developed Service Point. This application collects and stores information about each government transaction including its date, the government agency carrying out the transaction and, where applicable, the location of the government agency’s office. It also ethically stores information about the individual transacting with government.
Service Point enhances service planning and delivery for NSW by adding location intelligence to government services. The Service Point application programming interface (API) enables web-based recording of geocoded government transactions by capturing de-identified location data at an aggregated Mesh Block level. Service Point also supports the aggregation of data by other administrative geographies outlined in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), such as Statistical Areas 1 to 4 and by local government areas, state electoral districts and federal electoral divisions. The service supports the collection, analysis and reporting of government services and their related transaction data in near real-time. The data is stored securely within government at Mesh Block level, but only published at a higher level of spatial and/or temporal aggregation.
Spatial Services adopted a ‘privacy by design’ approach when building Service Point and its related services. This ethical approach saw a well-defined focus on human values which was reflected in the build of Spatial Services’ applications and tested with key stakeholders throughout the development lifecycle using customer centric techniques. This approach addressed privacy concerns raised by government agencies and NGOs and ultimately led to a better take up of the product offering.
Last updated 12 Jul 2024