Latest Updates
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Active Places Redevelopment
In April 2023, we will begin a project to redevelop the Active Places Ecosystem on new technologies. This exciting project will lead to improved data discovery and analysis in a modern mapping interface. It will also provide the foundation from which we can continue to build and enhance the data and tools provided by Active Places Power.
The redevelopment will be inclusive and transparent. In addition to regularly sharing information on the project and progress, we will seek to include users in the development process.
More information on the project can be found in this FAQ
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Sports Facility Calculator - Issue
Known Issue: As at 15th Dec. 2022, the SFC was updated to reflect Q3 2022 costs. Due to a technical issue, costs for Artificial Grass Pitches (if 3G) are parameterised at £999,999.00. This is lower than the published cost of £1,100,000.00. When working with this tool, please use the outputs with caution. We are hoping to resolve this issue in January 2023. Note this issues impacts only 3G Artificial Grass Pitches.
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Dec. 2022 - Population Data, Costs, Gymnastics, Site Equipment
On the 15th December 2022, the following updates were released:
The way in which Areas of Interests are described in each of the tools has been updated to ensure consistency and make Local Authorities easier to find.
Population data has been updated to 2022 projections in the Sports Facility Calculator, Playing Pitch Calculator, Catchment Profile and Area Access reports.
Costs have been updated to Q3 2022 figures in the Sports Facility and Playing Pitch Calculators.
Modification have been made to the field headings/fields included in the Playing Pitch Strategy report. These minor changes seek to improve ease of use and data clarity.
Facility specifics have been added to capture how gymnastic/trampoline equipment is used in Sports Halls and Fitness studios. See the associated FAQ.
Pool hoist information is no longer a site level attribute. This information is now captured as a facility specific. See the associated FAQ.
Changes have been made to the way Site Equipment is recorded. See the associated FAQ.
Map layers have been updated. Layers updated include Sport England Investments, Local Authority, and Postcode boundaries
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April 2022 - Assessment of Need Menu
To support ongoing development in the tools that can support you in developing an audit of facilities, when undertaking an assessment of need, changes have been made to the Active Places Menu.
The menu item “Playing Pitch Strategy” has been updated to read “Assessments of Need” and the “Audit Report” button updated to read “PPS Audit Report”.
Changes are restricted to the menus and at present there will be no changes to the underlying Playing Pitch Strategy Audit Report. These small changes are paving the way for future developments which will increase the facility types and supplementary data available to support assessments of need.
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Jan. 2022 - Spectator Accommodation
Spectator accommodation has been added to Athletic and Swimming facilities. Please read the associated FAQ for details on this facility specific and advice on how to use the data.
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Sept. to Nov. '21 website updates
Update to the Studio facility type which now includes two subtypes; Fitness Studios and Cycle Studios. Improved population profile functionality within the Playing Pitch Calculator. Updates to the population data underlying the Area Access and Single Catchment Profile tools. Implementation of enhancements to ensure the site achieves the highest password security and Web Content Accessibility Guidance standards.
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August '21 website updates
Update to the facility type athletics and its subtypes. Inclusion of Futsal as a facility specific field for the Sport Hall subtypes "Main Hall" and "Barn".
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Jul ’21 website updates
New open data API capabilities to return records based on attribute and location parameters, rename of Facility Type ‘Health and Fitness Gyms’ and network data updates.
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Mar to Jun '21 website updates
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) audit undertaken, remedial fixes deployed including website accessibility statement publication, in addition to other updates and fixes.
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Jan and Feb ’21 website updates
New cycle network analysis, new facility data feedback, improved open data display on mobile devices, and Playing Pitch Calculator saved version enhancements.
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Dec ’20 website updates
New attributes of 'Operator Name', 'Expected Opening' and Operational Status of 'Temporary Closed COVID-19'. Note, data capture will commence during Q1 of 2021.
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Nov '20 website updates
Active Partnership data update to reflect name and boundary changes. Also introduction of a News banner informing users to use data with caution due to the impact of Covid-19. Find out more.
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Oct ’20 website updates
Updates to aerial photography map service URL, open data Open Active spec. version, PPC report bug fix, backend batch processing for Area Access report and email notifications and user page GDPR info.
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Aug and Sept ’20 website updates
Annual update to Playing Pitch Calculator data, user profile settings update to control email notifications, GDPR continued website access requests and minor homepage updates.
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July '20 website updates
Renaming of "Rubber crumb pile (3G)" to “Long Pile Carpet” with new fill options, new AGP World Rugby compliance attributes, new Grass Pitch hybrid flag.
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June '20 website updates
Annual update to Facility Planning Model, Sport Facility Calculator, administrative boundaries. Grass pitches "Mini Rugby" split into "Mini Rugby League" and "Mini Rugby Union".
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May '20 website updates
Road and path network data updated from Ordnance Survey ITN to OS Highways. Please see the FAQs for more details. Grass pitches "Mini Soccer" now split into "Mini Soccer 7v7" and "Mini Soccer 5v5".
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Mar ‘20 and Apr ’20 website updates
New Sport England grant awards map layer, update to facility status (does not meet criteria now separate flag) and PPC enhancements.
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Jan ’20 and Feb ’20 website updates
Open access to Active Places sport facility content via shareable links, APP password reset and map layer transparency improvements, site map update.
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Nov '19 and Dec ’19 website updates
Indices of Deprivation update to 2019, map layer attributes config, removal of deprecated fields from database, Area Access report fixes, report usage logging.
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Sept '19 to Oct '19 website updates
County Sport Partnership to Active Partnership rebranding in addition to various fixes (security, reports, open data and Active Places Data Platform.)
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Aug '19 part 1 website updates
Updated T&Cs, Privacy policy, open data licence (using Creative Commons licence) and new Cookies policy.
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Aug '19 part 2 website updates
LA, LDP and PPC data updates, new map layers (Greenbelt, SSSI, AONB and Heritage Coats) and minor fixes (add "Activities" header back to open data Sites.csv).
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July 2019 website updates
Annual data updates to Facility Planning Model, transport network data, Sport Facility Calculator, Playing Pitch Calculator and fix to Area Access Report (Y/N parameter).
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Mar '19 to Apr '19 website updates
New map layers for access, transport and environment. Also fix to Summary Report Operational Status selection criteria.
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Oct ‘18 to Feb ’19 website updates
Various including Local Delivery Pilot data, new seasonality attribute, site summary count to Detailed Report and report consistency update and more.
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Summer 2018 website updates
New Area Access report to determine facility accessibility for a given population. Also new Metro Mayor and Core City map layers available.
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June 2018 website updates
Map Layers display improvements to make report results clearer and more distinct.
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May 2018 website updates
Data updates to catchment report network data (ITN and Urban Path), Sport Facility Calculator parameter data and Facilities Planning Model Report.
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Jan 2018 website updates
New map layers for Socio-economic classification and Rural Urban Classification are now available within the interactive maps.
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Sept and Oct 2017 website updates
Data updates include removal of sites with no facilities (Meeting Points) and Club data (beta), which was incomplete and not maintained.
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July 2017 website updates
Data update to the Integrated Transport Network (ITN) and Urban Path used for catchment analysis and hosting location for contextual maps.
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May 2017 website updates
API updates have been made following feedback from the ODI (Open Data Institute). They include error message format, user control of page sizing, JSON disability field fixes.
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March 2017 website updates
Indices of Deprivation (2015) with 9 sub domains are available as map layers. Sport Facility Calculator (SFC) data has been updated and search result details are included in the Detailed Report.
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Jan and Feb 2017 website updates
Cycling facilities will appear as an option within reports. Note, cycling data collection is in progress with completion by end February 2017. Catchment Report now has chart outputs.
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Oct to Dec 2016 website updates
The Facility Planning Model (FPM) Report, only accessible to Sport England staff and selected contractors, now includes an automatically populated report template. An Detailed Report operator function issue has also been fixed.
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June to Sept 2016 website updates
New Map Identify tool, catchment report enhancements, network data updates and fixes, along Sport Facility Calculator data updates all form part of several releases during the summer months.
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New Sport England Strategy launched
Sport England lauched it's new strategy "Towards an Active Nation" on Thursday 19th May. It is available from https://www.sportengland.org/activenation. Also follow via #ActiveNation.
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May 2016 website update
The Active Places Open Data (CSV) download has been restored and is updated on a daily basis. See page footer for download link. No login required.
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Active Places self-service launched
A new service for facility owners and managers (“site owners”) to have greater control over information held on their site records within Active Places by self-maintaining the information online launched on Tuesday 12th April.
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March 2016 website update
Enhancements introduce a new Sport Hall facility sub type of “Barns”, add fields to distinguish between record “Last updated” and “Last full audit” dates, display Ordnance Survey “UPRN” and “TOID” values and also “latitude” and “longitude”.
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April May 2014 website updates
April and May website updates apply a default filter to the Facility Operational Status and provide enhancements to a report presently only accessible by Sport England staff. A Detailed Report facility count issue has also been resolved.
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Dec 2015 / Jan 2016 website updates
Recent updates introduce: a new map layer transparency slider for FPM map layers (Sport Engladn only) and basemaps/aerial photography, updated County Sport Partnership (CSP) data and new fields (address details) to report downloads.
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November 2015 website update
Additional large and portrait map templates have been introduced to complement existing landscape and default templates. A new Resources menu with links to Sport England web resources is also introduced.
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November 2015 Data Platform goes live
Sport England has developed an online tool called the Active Places Data Platform (https://dataplatform.activeplacespower.com) to maintain Active Places data in real-time. See FAQs for more details.
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November 2015 New Data Validation Team
Adetiq have been appointed as Active Places Data Validation Team to collect, validate and maintain the Active Places database. For more details see FAQs. Adetiq replace The Leisure Database Company.
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July 2015 website update
NEW REPORT - quantify the additional demand generated by populations of new growth, development and regeneration areas for key community sport facilities. See Reports > Sport Facility Calculator.
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June 2015 website update
Updated travel network datasets (ITN and Urban Path) with connectivity enhancements between road and path networks to fix reported issues and improve walking (time and distance) calculations.
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May 2015 website update
High resolution 25cm aerial photography is now available as a contextual map layer following the May 2015 website update.
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April 2015 website updates
April 2015 updates include an Open Data download (see page footer – no login required) in addition to a number of smaller fixes to the map and report functions.
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March 2015 website updates
March 2015 website updates add several enhancements to report CSV downloads including facility specific details, facility disability details, closed dates (also within web pages) and improved display of report search terms.
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Autumn website updates
Autumn (Sept to Nov) website updates introduce dedicated facilities and clubs map layers with improved map marker symbols for Search and Report result map layers. A collection of smaller fixes have also been released.
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August website updates
August website updates include performance improvements and better quality PDF map exports. Also a collection of fixes such as Summary Report count correction, searches based on Facility ID and Facility attribute display of Y/N flag.
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Happy 10th Birthday Active Places
On Thursday 10th July 2014 Active Places celebrated it’s 10th birthday. Establishing the facility database enabled the creation of websites and tools that revolutionised how Sport England delivers Facilities and Planning services.
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March website update
Two new report capabilities established. 1) - ability to select any combination of facility type or sub type 2) - ability to compare the area of interest against any other AOI, including by hierarchical, geographical, or CIPFA relationship.
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January/February website updates
February’s website update extends Help content via a new menu and also populated report info buttons. January’s website update included the release of a report presently only accessible by Sport England staff.
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1,000th User registration
January 2014 sees the 1,000th user register to Active Places Power. The milestone being passed just over one year since the redeveloped website was launched in November 2012.
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November/December website update
December saw a significant data update service fix released re-establishing the weekly facility data updates, which had not functioned for several months. The November release included a small number of minor fixes.
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October website update
A new geographical Map Search function is now available whenever maps are displayed. Quick access to mapping is now also possible through a rearranged menu bar. Both enhancements form part of the October website update.
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August/September website update
Active People Survey 6 data has been included within Area Profile and 18 other fixes ranging from bugs to cosmetic enhancements are now live as part of the August/September website update.
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July website update
Maps can now be exported to jpeg, png and pdf formats and more than 25 fixes of varying significance have been resolved in the July website update.
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APP case study
Ordnance Survey have created an case study highlighting the importance of geospatial data within APP. To read the case study see http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/business-and-government/case-studies/index.html.
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June website update
New Playing Pitch Strategy Audit report and export capabilities are now live as part of the June website update. A significant fix to the facility count calculation has also been applied in addition to other minor fixes.
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New tools available
A major update to Active Places Power is now available, which includes new analytical tools (catchment and summary reports) as well as several improvements to the existing site (mapping, CSP geographies, interface enhancements).
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New APP website launched
On Monday 5th November Sport England launched a new version of the Active Places Power website, which sees a completely new interface, improved functionality and significantly an extended data model to include club data for the first time.
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Club data included
For the first time Active Places Power references affiliated club data, including: Basketball, Fencing, Handball, Hockey, Swimming and Table Tennis. New sports are being collected and will be added to the database when the required standards are met.
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Additional Facility Types
The Active Places database now includes new facilities such as: Squash Courts, Outdoor Tennis Courts, Studios and Five-a-side football. In addition enhanced information has been captured for sports halls and grass pitches.