Cambridge, UK, 2nd February 2012. Following the highly successful UK and Ireland launch of the cloud based, Online Validation Service last November, Socium are today opening up the service to give access to users worldwide.

The Online Validation Service, Socium’s first offering to the market, provides an independent, simple and easy to use way of validating spatial data against a set of standard or user-defined business rules. The validation process takes a matter of seconds to run through and once completed provides the user with a quantitative analysis of their data quality against each of the rules selected.

In addition a user can download the error report in the same file format as they loaded the data e.g. SHP or TAB. This is then ready to load directly into their own GIS application so that they can visualise exactly where the errors are located and which rule each error has broken. Up until now, the download of this report has required users to purchase credits, but Socium are also announcing today that their freemium version of the service has been extended, to enable users of the free rules to download their error report at no charge.

The global launch comes earlier than originally planned and is the result of both the success and uptake seen in the UK and Ireland and the market demand shown by both government and commercial organisations worldwide.

Duncan Guthrie, Managing Director, Socium Limited said:

“We are thrilled to be able to open up the service, to enable users around the world to start benefiting from using the Online Validation Service and very much look forward to working with them. When we launched the company it was our aim to develop the services that we offered in line with our user community’s needs. This is why we have taken our users’ feedback and decided to extend the freemium version to include downloading the error report. We want to make sure that our community get maximum value out of the service and that it enables them to use their data with total confidence that it’s fit for purpose.”

In addition to bringing out new freemium and premium rules for users to benefit from, Socium will also soon be launching a range of applications in the cloud. These applications are being developed in conjunction with the Socium user community, ensuring the service is providing what the market requires. As an example, one of the first applications will enable users to automatically correct their data after the validation process has been run, a capability that has universally been requested by the Socium community.

For more information about the Online Validation Service or Socium in general, please visit: www.socium.co.uk