Thalia Baldwin

LEADERS' OUTLOOK

ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022

Geospatial Data is a Strategic National Asset

BY THALIA BALDWIN

Director, Geospatial Commission

Use of good data helps us function more effectively as a society. It ensures efficient delivery of public services and creates new opportunities for businesses to improve and expand their products and services. In the United Kingdom, data will be used to target economic recovery in the post-pandemic era. We recognize that location data, in particular, can bring great value to both the economy and society, and so the UK Geospatial Commission has been established to unlock the value of location (geospatial) data for the country. We published the national Geospatial Strategy “Unlocking the Power of Location” in 2020; it identifies nine opportunity areas that inform our work, covering big themes like infrastructure, transport, housing, environment, public health, etc.

Better data quality, delivery With our partners we are establishing transformational data projects to ensure better quality and delivery of economic value across these opportunity areas. A good example of this is the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), supporting the United Kingdom’s Build Back Better priorities. NUAR will create a single, digital map of the UK’s buried assets, revolutionizing the way we install, maintain, operate and repair our buried infrastructure whilst also improving workers’ safety and minimizing disruption to critical services. The register is of great value to the economy. Our analysis suggests that it will deliver around GBP 350 million (USD 475 million) annual monetized benefits to society by avoiding accidental asset strikes alone.

Our work will also support improvements in policy and help in achieving the United Kingdom’s Net Zero target. We have recently started the National Land Data Programme, investing GBP 4.5 million (USD 6.19 million) in three pilot areas across the United Kingdom to deliver a blueprint for future land use data needs, which can help meet competing demands on land from housing and infrastructure to carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

Importance of location data From a public policy perspective, geospatial data is proving increasingly relevant for delivering government priorities. High-quality geospatial data and technologies are advancing fast and provide a foundational capability that underpins a range of other sector-specific strategies. One of the UK Geospatial Strategy’s four missions includes raising awareness about the

High-quality geospatial data and technologies provide a foundational capability that underpins a range of other thematic and sector-specific strategies.

relevance of geospatial data and we achieved this by demonstrating its value in real social, environmental and economic terms through our pipeline of targeted programs and investments. For example, one of our next projects is to explore a more coordinated approach to electric vehicle charging infrastructure — taking data out of local silos to increase our national capability.

Privacy concerns We are often asked whether geospatial data is special. Is it distinct from other data? I think geospatial data has a critical part to play as a subset of the wider data strategy in the United Kingdom. It has interesting and diverse characteristics too, not least because a person’s geospatial identity in some circumstances can reveal their actual identity. We’ve started some work in the form of a public dialog about location data ethics, to understand both what people know and how they feel about how their location data is used — by government and by businesses. We can see that this is on the international agenda, for example through the Locus Charter. We’re keen that people understand the benefits and have confidence in how their location data is used, and innovation that can transform the delivery of public services and drive economic growth is unconstrained. We see exciting times ahead for our geospatial journey!