Somerset Council leads the way with cloud migration of property and street data

Somerset Council, already recognised as an award-winning authority, has hit another major milestone, successfully migrating its Local Land and Property Gazetteer (LLPG) and Local Street Gazetteer (LSG) to the cloud, with Idox’s iManage Cloud.

Becoming a unitary
The journey began on 1 April 2023, when Somerset Council became a new unitary authority and was formed through the coming together of Somerset’s four legacy district councils: Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset, and former Somerset County Council. This bold move created a single, unified council with a clear voice for the region, streamlining services and improving access for residents and businesses alike. The reorganisation has become a shining example of local government reorganisation, aligning perfectly with the UK Government’s push for unitary structures.

Behind the scenes, one of the biggest challenges was integrating property and street data from the five legacy authorities. The Council saw this as more than a data merge, it was a chance to raise the bar. By consolidating four LLPGs and five LSGs into one cohesive system, Somerset Council seized the opportunity to enhance data quality from the ground up, achieving the prestigious Gold Standard under GeoPlace’s annual Improvement Schedule.

Single platform for all property and street data
At the time, Idox’s iManage Cloud was still in development, so the decision was made to bring all legacy systems together under a single iManage hosted desktop platform, a familiar and proven solution for three of the four councils. Working closely with both Idox and GeoPlace, the team ensured the consolidated gazetteer was robust, accurate, and ready to go live by vesting day.

The result?
Somerset Council launched with a single, high-quality and fully integrated LLPG and LSG from day one – a vital foundation for the success of the new unitary. Fast forward to September 2025, and Somerset Council took the next leap forward, becoming one of the first authorities in the country to migrate to the new iManage Cloud, Idox’s powerful, browser-based gazetteer management system.

Striding into the cloud
The benefits were immediate. With wizard-driven tools, intuitive templates, and easy access via web browser, iManage Cloud offers even greater efficiency, especially for a council of Somerset’s scale. The migration itself was remarkably smooth, taking just two weeks end to end, with no disruption to back-office systems, no reimports required, and no unexpected costs.

We asked Adam Rhymer, GIS Lead at Somerset Council, how the migration went:
“The migration was flawless. We’ve built up really good relationships with the iManage team over the years and found all the players great to work with – very pragmatic and true to word. From data preparation to implementation and training, the migration was swift and seamless. And now the Ideas Portal is open, we can be part of the ongoing development by sharing and voting on ideas for feature enhancements.”

With its property and street data now securely hosted in the cloud, and updates running quietly in the background, Somerset Council is already looking ahead, focused on consolidating its wider GIS landscape and unlocking even more efficiency gains across the organisation.

With local government reorganisation (LGR) now in full swing and all new unitary authorities set to go live by April 2028, many councils are beginning their transformation journeys. Having already been through the process, Adam from Somerset Council shared his reflections on what it takes to get it right.

“We were quite fortunate to be among the first to go through reorganisation,” Adam explains. “But the timeline is tight with just 18 months to bring everything together. There’s a huge amount to do and getting your LLPG and LSG onto a single platform early on is absolutely essential. These datasets are the backbone of so many council services.”

When it came to choosing a platform, Somerset didn’t hesitate.
“Every time I’ve run a procurement for the LLPG, iManage has come out on top. With most of our legacy councils already using iManage desktop, consolidating made perfect sense while we waited for the cloud version. The migration to iManage Cloud was seamless, and now we’re saving time and money while maintaining our Platinum standard for data quality.”

Whether you’re preparing for reorganisation or simply ready to modernise your data infrastructure, iManage Cloud offers a smarter way to manage your property and street data. Ready to take the next step?