‘GeoCollect’: Kildare County Council’s innovative GIS solution to capturing commercial activity

Kildare County Council (KCC) has developed ‘GeoCollect’, an innovative Geographical Information System (GIS) based tool that enables the maximisation of income from commercial rates. ‘GeoCollect’ provides for the desktop identification and referral for rating of all properties which are not currently rated but where commercial activity is taking place.  

In the context of financial challenges faced by local authorities in delivering services for local communities, income from commercial rates is a crucial funding stream, comprising approximately 30% of KCC’s revenue budget.

In order to maximise income from commercial rates, KCC must identify new commercial activity taking place from both newly built and existing buildings, and refer those properties to Tailte Éireann (the property valuation service) for inspection. Tailte Éireann will assign a valuation to the property (if required), which enables a commercial rates bill to be issued by KCC. This process of identifying new commercial activity has traditionally been achieved via a series of ad-hoc inspections undertaken by KCC commercial rates staff.  This has been supplemented in recent years by alerts received from KCC’s planning system regarding newly approved commercial developments.

Source: Kildare County Council

In order to bring about improved efficiency to the identification of new commercial activity, KCC’s Commercial Rates (Finance) and GIS sections collaborated to develop ‘GeoCollect’. It is a bespoke innovative solution that integrates multiple complex datasets and geospatial data into a format that provides total capture of commercial activity. ‘GeoCollect’ fulfils three main functions.

1. Data visualisation

‘GeoCollect’ is a data visualisation tool, developed within a GIS mapping system. GIS facilitates the layering of multiple sources of data, negating the need for staff to access multiple databases (e.g. Agresso Financial Management System, Ascendas Debt Management System, Tailte Éireann’s valuation database) to build up a picture of individual customer accounts. Rather, ‘GeoCollect’ is a ‘one stop shop’ for commercial rates, with all customer valuation, billing and mapping data in one place. It is accessed via a simple URL,  on a desktop or remotely on a mobile device for staff undertaking property inspections. In order to protect customer data, access to the GIS application and associated data is restricted to staff with the appropriate permissions.

2. Harnessing multiple datasets and platforms

‘GeoCollect’ offers a range of tools for the analysis, processing and extraction of key business information from a number of separate, but inter-related, complex data sets. This includes a debt analysis function that facilitates account review across a range of parameters, e.g. by industrial estate, street, town or Electoral District. ‘GeoCollect’ harnesses the following datasets and platforms:

• the GeoDirectory, the national definitive dataset that assigns precise postal and geographic addresses for all residential and commercial properties in the country.
• Tailte Éireann data which captures the rateable valuation of rated properties.
• Ascendas Debt Management System which provides customer account information and integrates with the Financial Management System, Agresso.
• Planning Permission data (iPlan).
• Geospatial data (recent and historical imagery) from Tailte Éireann (mapping) and Google Maps Platform/Google Street View.
• BlueSky International’s Geospatial data/satellite imagery.

3. Comparative analysis

‘GeoCollect’ facilitates a comparative analysis between Tailte Éireann’s database of already rated properties and the GeoDirectory of active commercial businesses. Using the Eircode as the unique identifier, ‘GeoCollect’ ensures total capture of properties which require rating by Tailte Éireann. It will also track occupation changes in already rated properties, via an automated report generated every quarter. This report, available in HTML or excel format, is generated using Feature Manipulation Engine (FME) software that facilitates the comparison between the respective datasets.

Results

The depth, quality and ease of access to the data within ‘GeoCollect’ has transformed how commercial rates administration is delivered in KCC and will deliver additional commercial rates income. Once all valuation referrals arising from KCC’s initial ‘GeoCollect’ analysis have been processed by Tailte Éireann, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in the number of properties in KCC’s ratebook of approximately 12% (600 properties), with a monetary increase in the region of €1.5m. Importantly, the provision of billing and valuation data alongside a range of complex datasets and satellite imagery enables commercial rates staff to prepare a full picture of commercial activity in a particular premises without the need for inspection.

The design, application and low development cost of ‘GeoCollect’ means that it is highly transferrable as a concept to other local authorities. The project was presented at the National Oversight and Audit Commission’s (NOAC) annual best practice event in February 2025 and KCC are currently working with a number of local authorities to apply ‘GeoCollect’ to their respective areas, enabling them to accrue the associated financial and operational benefits. KCC is also currently working on a number of projects that apply the learning outcomes of ‘GeoCollect’ to other service delivery areas.

The ‘GeoCollect’ project is just one example of how local authorities in Ireland are utilising GIS to drive efficiency across a range of departments. It also serves as a reminder of the importance of inter departmental collaboration and sharing best practice for the benefit of the local authority sector as a whole.