SinglePoint
Encyclopedia
SinglePoint is a piece of address management software from Aligned Assets
. Its primary function is to act as a search engine that allows the user to search a central address database by entering search terms.
(BTP) when they commissioned bespoke development work from Aligned Assets in 2007. They required a product that was capable of searching the National Land and Property Gazetteer
(NLPG), their names database and their internal gazetteer, and from this requirement was born SinglePoint.
The original BTP design was then productised and made available to other market sectors including local government , other emergency services and the commercial sector.
, which it then indexes in a method similar to internet search engines. This process is repeated for each database, which are loaded into separate schemas allowing for their separate, as well as simultaneous searching.
It can be accessed via a web browser
or can utilise web services when embedded into other applications.
, SinglePoint has been adapted to allow for the searching of both . This adapter technology is what allows it to search multiple data sources and makes it customisable to the users requirements.
Aligned Assets
Aligned Assets are a UK-based full service company from Surrey that develops address management and gazetteer software for local authorities, the emergency services and the commercial sector...
. Its primary function is to act as a search engine that allows the user to search a central address database by entering search terms.
Product History
SinglePoint was originally designed and built for the British Transport PoliceBritish Transport Police
The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
(BTP) when they commissioned bespoke development work from Aligned Assets in 2007. They required a product that was capable of searching the National Land and Property Gazetteer
National Land and Property Gazetteer
The National Land and Property Gazetteer is an initiative in the United Kingdom to provide a definitive and consistent address — see address — infrastructure for the whole of the UK...
(NLPG), their names database and their internal gazetteer, and from this requirement was born SinglePoint.
The original BTP design was then productised and made available to other market sectors including local government , other emergency services and the commercial sector.
How it works
SinglePoint works by loading the chosen data into its schemaDatabase schema
A database schema of a database system is its structure described in a formal language supported by the database management system and refers to the organization of data to create a blueprint of how a database will be constructed...
, which it then indexes in a method similar to internet search engines. This process is repeated for each database, which are loaded into separate schemas allowing for their separate, as well as simultaneous searching.
It can be accessed via a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
or can utilise web services when embedded into other applications.
Use in the Emergency Services
SinglePoint forms the main component in Symphony Bluelight Search, which is Aligned Assets’ address search engine for the emergency services . Because there continues to be no definitive choice of address data amongst the UK’s emergency services with some using the NLPG and others the products from the Ordnance SurveyOrdnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
, SinglePoint has been adapted to allow for the searching of both . This adapter technology is what allows it to search multiple data sources and makes it customisable to the users requirements.