Here at LSBUD we try our very best to make our service as useful and easily accessible as possible to help keep as many people safe whilst digging at the same time as avoiding unnecessary damages from utility strikes. 

You may remember we ran a survey at the beginning of the year asking for your feedback as to what you thought of our service and any ideas you may have that could improve on it.  Whilst nothing can be perfect, especially with such a vast demographic of users, the response we had was fantastic with an overwhelming amount of positive comments and some excellent suggestions so we thank you for this.

What have we improved?

As mentioned, there were some great suggestions made and since the survey was done in January we have already managed to bring some of these to life such as:-

• The LSBUD Mobile App
  Our mobile app is now available for you to download from your app store.  It has all the same benefits as the desktop version but also features a user friendly look, geolocation and more.
• Start & End Dates For Information Only Enquiries
  We received a lot of feedback relating to this with people unsure what to enter when no physical work is actually taking place.  This is now no longer a requirement with start and end dates on information only enquiries now greyed out.
• You Tube Video Guides
  We have video guides available to assist and you can access these here.  Currently there are guides showing how to register and how to submit an enquiry.  We will be adding more guides soon though so please keep an eye out.
• Location Map Satellite View
  It was raised that it can be difficult to pinpoint locations when drawing the search area, particularly field boundaries in rural areas.  The option of using a satellite view is available and the dig site location screen now defaults to this view so hopefully this has helped make things easier.

What else is happening at LSBUD?

The changes listed above are not the only improvements to be made.  Based on the comments and suggestions we received we have a lot more in the pipeline. Some of the things we are currently progressing are:-

• Expansion Into Northern Ireland 
  A recurring question we receive is ‘Will you ever include Northern Ireland in your searches?’ The simple answer to this, we are very pleased to say is, yes!  Work is now well underway to make this a reality and we hope to be able to announce a date for this very soon.
• A Comprehensive Search Option To Include Non LSBUD Members
  All we can say about this for the time being is please watch this space!  There will be some exciting news to come in the very near future.
• Will Data Be Available In A different Format to PDF
  Whilst this is only in the very early stages, it is a topic that has been opened for discussion and something that we would like to be able to offer at some point in the future.
• Ability To Submit Larger Search Areas
  This is something else that is still in its infancy however, whilst we don’t yet have a date, we can confirm that larger site functionality will be coming soon. 

Once again, we would like to thank each and everyone of you that took the time to complete our feedback survey.  As fantastic as it is to see all the positive comments and suggestions, it is also useful for us to know things that you find frustrating so we can work on improving.

We have certainly learned a lot and hope that some of the things we have already done and soon will be putting in place will go that little step further towards safe digging for everyone.

The LSBUD Team