Aligned Assets was bought out by software company, Idox plc in June 2021. Now operating under the Idox banner, the company continues to develop and deliver address management and

gazetteer A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or wikt:directory, directory used in conjunction with a map or atlas.Aurousseau, 61. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup, social statistics and physical features of a co ...

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

local authorities, the

emergency services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety, security, and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while ot ...

, utilities and the commercial sector. They almost exclusively work with the AddressBase products from the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

History

Aligned Assets were formed in 1996 by Carl Nunn, later joined by Phil Gee in 1997 and Mike Saunt in 1998, who all met whilst working together for

MapInfo Corporation MapInfo Corporation, initially incorporated as Navigational Technologies Incorporated, was a company that developed location intelligence software. It was headquartered in North Greenbush, New York. Its products included a desktop mapping app ...

(now Pitney Bowes MapInfo). Originally working as MapInfo resellers and Geographical Information System (

GIS A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

) developers, the company saw early success by securing contracts with companies such as the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Experian Experian plc is a multinational corporation, multinational data broker and consumer credit reporting company headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Experian collects and aggregates information on more than 1 billion people and businesses including ...

and Orange (brand). Aligned Assets moved into address management with the development in 1997 of the BS7666 Toolbox that was built on behalf of MapInfo to assist UK Local Authorities in the development of the

National Land and Property Gazetteer The National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) is an initiative in England and Wales to provide a definitive and consistent address infrastructure. Up until recently Great Britain has not held a single list of all addresses in the country, meaning ...

(NLPG). They currently specialize in the gazetteer and address management market working both in the local government sector and with the emergency services. They are the chosen supplier to the

British Transport Police British Transport Police (BTP; ) is a national special police force that polices the railway network of England, Wales and Scotland, which consists of over 10,000 miles of track and 3,000 stations and depots. BTP also polices the London Under ...

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

and were involved in the

FiReControl FiReControl was a project, initiated in the United Kingdom in March 2004, to reduce the number of control rooms used to handle emergency calls for fire services and authorities. Presently there are 46 control rooms in England that handle calls f ...

project. After the introduction of BS7666:2006, they were the first company to achieve accreditation to the new standard and the first company to have one of their customers fully migrated. The start of 2010 saw the company move into the commercial sector after they became the UK's first reseller of NLPG data. In 2011, they were announced as the first UK company to be able to provide products compatible with the NLPG's replacement - AddressBase. In February 2017 Andy Hird and Dinesh Thanigasalam were announced as the new majority shareholders of Aligned Assets following a successful Management Buyout. In June 2021, Aligned Assets was acquired by software giant, Idox plc. The company continues to deliver the market leading, feature-rich Gazetteer Management Systems for local authorities and emergency services; and address management systems for utilities and other commercial organisations.

Operations

Idox (previously Aligned Assets) provides addressing software and consultancy to various market sectors across the UK. The services provided typically focus around Address Management solutions to the following markets: *

Local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

* The Emergency services *

Utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

Telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

Some projects undertaken by the company include:
London Fire Brigade
- Adopting Idox's Bluelight Gazetteer Management System as an alternative to Esri's LocatorHub.
Cherwell District Council
- Maximising efficiency through a Council-wide cloud-first strategy.
Adur & Worthing Borough Councils
- Councils win four Gold Standard address and street data GeoPlace Exemplar Awards.
Scottish Fire & Rescue Service
- Creating easily identifiable sections of Scotland's rapid transit routes to drive quicker deployment of fire crews.
Avon and Somerset Police
- Accurate addresses: defining location for increased efficiency.

References

{{Reflist GIS companies Data quality companies Gazetteers Software companies established in 1996 Technology companies established in 1996 Software companies of the United Kingdom