RPA extends digital map pilot to 1,000 farms
This is a defra initiative which pleases farmers – more of the same please! The article tells us:
The Rural Payments Agency has extended a pilot online service to allow 1,000 farmers and agents to view their land details on a digital map.
The Rural Land Register map viewer is a forerunner to the fully online service to be launched by DEFRA in 2014-15 for payment schemes under the new CAP.
An RPA spokeswoman said: “The viewer offers access to the most up-to-date maps of a farmer’s land holdings along with Ordnance Survey mapping and aerial photography.
“Users will also be able to search for fields and map sheets, to draw lines and measure areas as well as print maps to support land change requests to the RPA.”
The system has been undergoing small-scale tests. But it has been rolled out to 1,000 businesses after a positive survey of users revealed that 88% of farmers and 100% of agents would recommend the viewer. More than two-thirds (68%) rated their experience as four out of five and “completely satisfied with the experience”.