CASE STUDY

The Challenge

Jon Isherwood, Head of WSBRC, explained, “we’re a biological records centre, so we’re all about mapping and ecological and geological data. We provide that information to all kinds of different partners in Wiltshire and Swindon. We’re hosted by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, which has a nature recovery team, doing a lot of work around UKHab and biodiversity net gain.”

First introduced in the UK through the Environment Act 2021, mandatory BNG requirements came into force in early 2024. It states that biodiversity must be left in a measurably better state after development and land management. A net increase in biodiversity value is quantified through habitat assessments and ecological data collection, which means that organisations like WSBRC need to provide accurate spatial data, habitat classifications and long-term monitoring tools to meet requirements.

Jon tells us how important GIS and data-truth is to the organisation: “In the record centre, we live and breathe GIS. In the past, they’d been using various standard GPS kits, sometimes relying on the GPS within the tablets, which we know have terrible accuracy. We initially bought something from another manufacturer, but it’s a bit of a bulky item, so we wanted something sub-metre but portable.

And because we’re out in the countryside, often under canopy, I knew that the Arrow 100s had a really good reputation for forestry. So that was the preferred choice and it’s definitely proved to be the best choice.”

Mapping assets presents challenges in all industries; whether its utility companies trying to access buried assets, or companies like WSBRC dealing with signal limitations and poor GPS accuracy in remote locations. Industry professionals know that relying on sub-standard equipment leads to sub-standard data collection, which is why the high-performance, high-accuracy capabilities of the Arrow 100 are so widely used. This proved to be a game-changer for Jon and the team at WSBRC, who explains that the charity sector struggles to access these indispensable tools that big budget organisations often take for granted.

The Solution

“In the charity sector, we don’t always have the ability to operate to the same sort of standards as the professional sector, and mapping of utilities particularly is only just creeping into the conversation in our industry. We’ve looked at this with the National Trust, and the Wildlife Trust is slowly waking up to it, as well.”

WSBRC had conducted several pilots around the nature reserve, mapping key assets like gates and signs while assessing their condition and dealing with the issue of these assets being clustered together in close proximity. “Trying to get an accurate record of where those things are with standard GPS is just not possible, they’re nowhere near accurate enough,” Jon reveals. “But with the Arrow, we’ve had instances down to 29cm, which gives us the accuracy we need to properly map. That’s enabling all that programme of work to take place.”

At MGISS, we like to think that the right equipment is just as important as the right provider. Underpinned by thorough research and rigorous testing of every product we offer; our team’s comprehensive knowledge enables us to provide expert guidance and support to UK organisations like WSBRC. As head of WSBRC, Jon was determined to find the best for his team, and MGISS’ commitment to customer service proved to be a decisive element.

“We were obliged to get a few quotes from different organisations, and with MGISS I had a reply within 24 hours and a conversation started straight away. The other suppliers didn’t offer the same level of service. It was clear that their GNSS knowledge wasn’t up to the level that we’ve experienced at MGISS, whose customer service inspires much more confidence!”

“And that was one of the elements that helped us choose MGISS as our preferred supplier,” Jon continues. “If you’re buying this kind of technical kit, you want someone who knows what they’re selling, and someone who can support you going forward. It became abundantly clear that MGISS was the preferred option.

Plus, MGISS worked hard to get us a really good deal, which is music to our ears as a charity. We have a restricted budget and not the biggest chequebooks, so we were really happy with that.”

The Result

So, has the investment been paying off for Jon and his team?

“It’s definitely making jobs easier,” he tells us. “The team are all very different in the way they work – the Arrow initially presented a learning curve, but after I delivered some internal training to the nature recovery team, they got used to it very quickly. Plus, the Arrows are so portable that you can get around sites without too much equipment quickly, which is what the team needs to be doing. It’s brought a whole new level of accuracy, and increased capacity as well, to do all of the BNG work and the UKHab surveys.

The demand for reliable data has never been as prominent, with BNG a priority for organisations in the sector, and the UK overall recognising the importance of habitat conservation and our environmental responsibility.

WSBRC recognises this responsibility and their crucial part to play in accurate data collection, but Jon explains that while utility companies have long managed critical infrastructure by developing precise workflows and allocating substantial budgets, the charity sector is only beginning to adopt these standards, despite facing similar issues.

“We also have water pipes everywhere, sometimes gas pipes. National Trust have been doing a lot of work in developing Hydro-projects where you need to know where the grid connection is, as well, and you are legally liable if something goes wrong.”

One of our core principles at MGISS is in ensuring that organisations—no matter the sector, no matter the budget—have access to the tools and expertise they need to prosper in a landscape of accurate mapping and authoritative asset management.

According to Jon, this is particularly evident in areas like tree management, where the risks posed by ash dieback create potentially hazardous situations near public rights of way and nature reserves. “You really have to know that what you’ve got is to a high level of accuracy,” Jon stresses. “And this is slowly dawning on the whole movement. There are some working groups now set up to meet guidance and discuss these issues at national level, so we don’t have fifty ideas on how to make the wheel going forward. We want one wheel that everybody can use. It’s exciting times, actually. It’s good to be involved and help steer those kinds of innovations.”

Keen to avoid the risk of wasting valuable time and resources and the consequences that come with inaccurate surveys, Jon knows that the integrity of data is the bedrock to preparing the sector for this move to greater standardisation and innovation. “You need the right tools for the job,” he emphasises. “That’s what it boils down to, whether it’s computers or GNSS units. With fields surveys and that kind of thing, particularly assets and countryside furniture, there’s no point going out for two or three days or even a week to collect all this information to then get back to the office to find out it’s ten metres out or thirty metres out.”

“Getting it right means that you can have confidence sending contacts out to fix things, you can buy the best equipment and get the best support,” Jon continues. “There’s relatively limited choice of that kind of equipment around, and the prices are notoriously very high, so you need to know what you’re buying and the Arrow is one of the more dependable, more recognisable devices, with a great track record, especially for countryside and woodland applications – and you get a really cool cap, as well!”

For Jon and WSBRC, what started as a step-up from tablet GPS has evolved into improving everything from BNG compliance and UKHab integration, to a tool for inspiring change in the way the entire sector views its asset management; anticipating the future and making informed decisions. “When you go out in the field and collect information that you have confidence in – that’s the main word – then you can use that information for budgeting,” Jon illustrates.

“You know right now you’ve got five or six gates that need replacing this year, whereas you didn’t know that information at all before. You’re establishing new ways of working, which is getting you better information, and once you realise how good these things are for asset tracking, then you begin to wonder what else they’re good for, in other areas – UKHab, mapping areas of diseased trees, mapping path infrastructure around the nature reserve: that’s not been done there before. We’re truly beginning to understand the possibilities and the good information that we can now produce.”