MAPLE: Map Automation for Planning and Local Efficiency
Principal Investigator: Alexis Litvine, University of Cambridge
Council Partner: Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service
Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council collectively process tens of thousands of planning-related map submissions each year, each requiring manual georeferencing and vectorisation by specialist GIS officers — a process that can take between five minutes and over an hour per map. MAPLE will develop an AI-assisted pipeline that automates map detection, georeferencing, and object extraction from submitted planning documents, outputting structured vector data compatible with existing GIS workflows. The project aims to reduce GIS processing time per map by at least 75%, freeing specialist capacity for higher-value work, accelerating application turnaround, and producing open-source tools and methods transferable to local authorities across the UK.