A STIRLING software company has been awarded a contract to deliver a field mapping app.

Firm thinkWhere will work alongside Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) to transform the use of geographic data and software.

Along with the college’s commercial division, SAC Consulting, thinkWhere will implement an enterprise wide, online geographic information system (GIS).

A specialist in open source GIS technologies including web mapping and field applications, thinkWhere will build a customised solution for SRUC based around its web mapping solution groundMapper.

An online Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) approach, groundMapper will provide access to master datasets such as Ordnance Survey mapping and aerial photography as well as SAC Consulting business datasets.

groundMapper will also give SAC Consulting control over user roles and permissions and will provide full data auditability.

Alan Moore, chief executive of thinkWhere said: “We are looking forward to working with SRUC to develop a solution that is specifically targeted to meet the needs of users with a range of experiences and accessibility requirements.

“We are confident the integration of groundMapper, QGIS and QField will exceed SAC Consulting’s current requirements and will support them as they move forward providing services to the Scottish agriculture and rural sectors.”

Adèle Baron, landscape architect and project lead at SAC Consulting, added: “Prior to the award of this contract we supported three different suppliers of GIS solutions available via a thin client server environment and the desktop.

“This created disparate data storage, poor file standards and issues with data reusability and efficiency.

“There was also a lack of flexibility with regards to publishing data and we had no solution for mobile data capture or in-field queries.”

And added: “thinkWhere provided a comprehensive tender response, were considered to be value for money and presented a robust and thorough GIS solution to meet our needs.”