The UK's leading online safe digging resource, LSBUD, has announced that it has switched its mapping system to Google Maps, in a move that will make searching for underground pipes and cables more accurate than ever before.

The new mapping system will give users a better search experience, benefitting from detailed geospatial data and industry-leading reliability. In addition, LSBUD users will have access to improved zoom capabilities, allowing them to determine their work sites much more precisely.

By moving its search function over to Google Maps, LSBUD users also will be able to accurately plot their proposed work areas via satellite imagery. This helps ensure that people can see property boundaries and features, something particularly useful when operating in agricultural and rural settings, such as on the UK's moorland.

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The change to LSBUD's mapping system coincides with the platform readying itself to be UK-based, meaning that people in Northern Ireland will soon be able to join their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales, in benefiting from the switch to Google Maps, staying safe in the process.

Richard Broome, MD at LSBUD, said: "We are taking the service we provide our users to the next level, improving accuracy by introducing the satellite-based Google Maps. This move helps operators from right across the safe digging industry, covering all sectors and the general public, to avoid the negative consequences that come from hitting an underground asset. This is chiefly the health and safety ramifications, but also the significant financial and reputational implications that come from asset strikes."

Ensuring LSBUD's mapping technology is as accurate as possible is vital for the millions of searches that pass through the portal. It is also crucial to protect the UK's underground infrastructure, of which LSBUD hosts over one million kilometres spread across the length and breadth of the country.

SSE Renewables is one of the 100 LSBUD Members providing asset location data to the collaborative portal. Leeanne Samuel, Drawings and GIS Manager, SSE Renewables, comments: "LSBUD's recent investment in Google Maps will be a great help to our customers as many of our assets are situated in remote and rural areas. Having Google satellite imagery available will enable those people requesting SSE Renewables' asset location plans to define their site boundaries more accurately."