Call for evidence outcome

Call for evidence: Geospatial opportunities across the economy

Updated 19 June 2023

Ministerial Foreword

Geospatial data and technologies underpin our digital economy and their application across sectors is driving economic growth. Improved access to location data from satellites and smart devices, along with the continued expansion of technology such as cloud computing, AI and machine learning gives organisations across the economy the opportunity to be more productive and innovative. In traditional sectors like transport, location data is driving efficiency in the movement of freight and establishing new markets in location enabled technology such as drones. These innovations are set to continue across many sectors in our economy, leveraging the UK’s strengths in science and technology as a driver of economic growth.

Location data helps to make our society more secure and sustainable. Critical national infrastructure relies on geospatial intelligence to operate and remain secure. Across the public sector, geospatial data is providing the vital insights needed to respond to live and critical incidents, and informing long term policies that will tackle the greatest challenges facing our planet. It is helping us track and respond to the spread of infectious diseases such as Covid 19, understand geographic policy challenges like land use and infrastructure, and make progress towards our Net Zero targets.

The UK is maturing in its approach to location data, led by the Geospatial Commission. In June 2020, the government published an ambitious five year strategy to unlock the power of location data. In the first years of this strategy the Geospatial Commission has:

• Progressed delivery of the National Underground Asset Register that is expected to drive £345m in benefits each year by improving the efficiency and safety of underground works through a new digital map of underground pipes and cables;
• Funded the delivery of seven innovative, commercial applications of transport location data, targeted at resolving key transport challenges including efficiencies on the road network and the rollout of electric vehicles;
• Released the Unique Property Reference Numbers (UPRN) and Unique Street Reference Numbers (USRN) free of charge, under open government licence. UPRNs and USRNs are critical identifiers that support data linking for housing, planning, infrastructure and construction data in particular;
• Created and implemented critical contracts enabling data access, such as the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA). This enables 5,500 public sector organisations to provide more effective and efficient public services. In addition the PSGA introduced Open MasterMap, through which the most detailed OS location data has been made available free up to a threshold to enable business and innovators to develop new insights, products and solutions.

This Call for Evidence is the next step in our process to set delivery priorities for the coming years that will unlock the benefits of geospatial across the UK economy.

I encourage stakeholders from all sectors to share views on challenges and opportunities as we continue to drive innovation with location data in the UK.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, DBE, CMG, Lords Minister, Cabinet Office

About this Call for Evidence

This Call for Evidence will be used to refine the UK’s Geospatial Strategy, published in June 2020, and renew its delivery priorities for the coming years.

We are consulting as widely as possible to understand how location data is used across the economy, including the evolving technological landscape. We particularly encourage responses from organisations innovating in the use of location data, whether using updated data capture methods or new applications in new sectors. The three themes we introduce here for consultation encompass the huge potential that location data has to offer, across the private and public sector:

1. Changing context: overarching insights about strategic changes and trends impacting the geospatial ecosystem over the last few years and looking forward, e.g. evolving market conditions, changing customer behaviour and new technologies.
2. Unlocking innovation across the geospatial value chain: creating the right conditions for economic growth and innovation, including building further evidence about emerging technologies and market trends and options for deregulation and reducing burdens for organisations.
3. Adoption of geospatial across the economy: understanding where better access to location data and geospatial services could be transformational for different sectors. For example, the potential to drive new insights from artificial intelligence analysis of satellite imagery.

How to respond

Please complete your response by using the online form, emailing your response to geospatialcommission@cabinetoffice.gov.uk or by sending a hard copy response to the following address:

Geospatial Commission
Cabinet Office
6th Floor,
10 South Colonnade,
Canary Wharf, London, E14 4PU.

Please note that although hard copy responses will be accepted, electronic responses via the completed online form are preferred. The Call for Evidence will run until 11:45pm on Friday 16 December. We welcome responses from any interested person, business, or organisation.

Privacy / Freedom of Information

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

YOUR DATA

Purpose

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The data

We will process the following, which may constitute personal data when combined: organisation name, job title as well as opinions.

Legal basis of processing

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Where individuals submit responses, we may publish their responses, but we will not publicly identify them. We will endeavour to remove any information that may lead to individuals being identified.

Responses submitted by organisations or representatives of organisations may be published in full.

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Published information will generally be retained indefinitely on the basis that the information is of historic value. This would include, for example, personal data about representatives of organisations.

Responses from individuals will be retained for up to 5 years after the consultation has concluded.

Where personal data have not been obtained from you

Your personal data were obtained by us from a respondent to a consultation. All personal data obtained during this consultation will be processed in line with this privacy notice.

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You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data.

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You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

As your personal data is stored on our IT infrastructure, and is processed by our data processors, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the UK. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through an adequacy decision, or the use of Standard Contractual Clauses or an International Data Transfer Agreement.

CONTACT DETAILS

The data controller for your personal data is the Cabinet Office. The contact details for the data controller are:

Cabinet Office
70 Whitehall, London
SW1A 2AS

Public Enquiries: Online Contact Form

The Data Protection Officer provides independent advice and monitoring of Cabinet Office’s use of personal information.

The contact details for the data controller’s Data Protection Officer are: dpo@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

COMPLAINTS

If you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, you may make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane, Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

or 0303 123 1113, or casework@ico.org.uk

Any complaint to the Information Commissioner is without prejudice to your right to seek redress through the courts.

Changing Context

UK geospatial context

Location data is a strategic national asset, used to address a broad range of challenges from determining the strategic placement of coronavirus (COVID-19) testing facilities and onshore wind farms to modelling the options for future transport networks and housing developments. The value of location data continues to increase as demand grows for location-driven applications supported by greater access to location data and development of key technologies such as machine learning.

What is location data?
Location data, also known as geospatial data, is any data that has a geographic element. It tells us where people and objects are in relation to a particular geographic location. Whether in the air, on the ground, at sea or under our feet. This data can relate to events, objects or people and can be static (such as a person’s address or the location of a school) or dynamic (such as a bus travelling along its route or the change in an environment over time).

In June 2020, the government published an ambitious strategy to unlock the power of location data in the UK. This strategy sits within the wider data landscape, and the UK’s National Data Strategy published in September 2020. The UK’s Geospatial Strategy outlines four missions and nine opportunity areas where location data could have a particularly significant impact. It was developed in partnership with key UK public sector geospatial organisations, the Geospatial Commission’s ‘Partner Bodies’, as well as organisations and individuals from the public and private sectors. Insights from stakeholders were gathered in a 2018 Call for Evidence.

Our Partner Bodies: The Geo6

The Geospatial Commission has a formal relationship with six partner bodies (the Geo6):

• Coal Authority
• British Geological Survey
• His Majesty’s Land Registry
• UK Hydrographic Office
• Ordnance Survey
• Valuation Office Agency

Each of these partners play a central role in the delivery of the UK’s Geospatial Strategy – both through the location data they hold and their extensive expertise.

We are now seeking to reaffirm the UK’s geospatial priorities, ensuring we continue to effectively target the use of location data to unlock innovation, economic growth and additional benefits. The existing 2020 Geospatial Strategy will be the foundation for this update. We are launching this Call for Evidence to review our evidence base and maintain a delivery focussed strategy.

Changing context

To set direction for the coming years, we need a robust evidence base that provides insight into the evolving context and perspectives on opportunities for the future. This Call for Evidence has been designed to encourage stakeholders from across the economy to contribute to this understanding.

Location data is part of a broader data ecosystem that is constantly evolving. Technology is advancing rapidly, bringing with it new tools and applications that rely on location data. New markets increasingly see the value of products and sector-based applications that rely on location data, and this is fuelling a wave of innovation. Drones, connected autonomous vehicles and rollout of 5G networks all rely on location data. Developing technologies like AI and machine learning are further enabling its use. We are seeing increasing location-driven use cases in agriculture, insurance, urban development and transport. Consumers have become more dependent on applications that use location data to provide tailored insights, as maps and other location-based services have become more prevalent and integrated into our everyday lives.

Q1: Which changes or trends over the last five years do you think have had the biggest impact on the use of location data (e.g. market conditions, consumer behaviour, technological advancements)?

Q2: Which changes or trends do you anticipate having the biggest impact on the use of location data in the next five years?

Unlocking innovation across the geospatial value chain

There is a significant and growing opportunity for location data to support economic growth and productivity across the UK economy. The Geospatial Market Study published in 2020 estimated turnover derived from the core geospatial ecosystem to be £6 billion in 2018^{[footnote 1]}, with geospatial SMEs raising over £1 billion in fundraising over the period 2005-2019. The report indicated that between 2009 and 2018 the UK core geospatial economy grew from £2 billion to £6 billion, an average annual growth rate of 10%.

The Market Study determined that the geospatial market is not a single sector but is best described as an ‘ecosystem’ due to the diversity of products and services that enable or utilise location data across multiple industries, sectors and markets. The value chain (Figure 1) outlines the stages at which organisations might supply and use location data or services.

Figure 1

Data capture and creation
This is focussed primarily on hardware, software and work that goes into capturing and creating geospatial data, including production of equipment that collect or captures data.

Examples activities:
Physical & remote collection, production of surveying equipment/Scanners, 3D mapping

Data transformation, processing and systems
This is focussed on the infrastructure to host and maintain data, as well as data models, the provision of services like cloud computing and data storage, and data sharing.

Examples activities:
Data management & hosting, Data linking/fusion, Data architecture & transformation.

Data analysis and visualisation
This is focussed on the analysis and visualisation that is done to location data to acquire and communicate insight from it.

Examples activities:
Data analysis tools, data visualisation for maps/dashboards, machine learning algorithms.

Application of data
This is focussed on how the information gathered can be applied to real world problems. This usually involves consequential work done by others with access to the final datasets. It may be used for specific use cases, like route planning by logistical companies.

Examples activities:
Journey navigation planning, service delivery, environmental management, asset management.

Q3: Do you have any comment on this characterisation of the ecosystem, and is there anything you would add, remove or change?

Q4: How integral is location data to your or your organisation’s activities? [Select one from the following list]

• Core to what we do
• Part of what we do
• We do not make use of location data

Q5: Which section(s) of the data value chain does your organisation operate in? [For each section of the value chain select “Core to what we do / Part of what we do / Not part of what we do”]

Supporting innovation

The UK has historic and current strength in science and technology, and ensuring we continue as a world leader in this area is at the heart of UK policy. This is a core pillar of the government’s Integrated Review and the UK’s Geospatial Strategy. Building our expertise in key technologies will be key to future economic growth and security, as well as making our lives better by enabling applications of new technology across the UK economy and society.

The organisations innovating in the use of location data represent the future of our geospatial ecosystem. They need to have access to the right data, technology and capability, and they need to be able to work with different sectors to deliver new and valuable applications across the UK economy. A number of Geospatial Commission projects have focussed on promoting innovation, including funding solutions for key policy challenges in transport, and publishing guidance on both building public confidence in the use of data and demonstrating the value of location data.

Q6: What are the main blockers for you or your organisation in using location data to achieve your objectives? [Please rate the importance of the following: (high/medium/low/unsure/not applicable) - closed question]

1. Findability of data
2. Accessibility of data
3. Interoperability of data
4. Reusability of data
5. Lack of awareness and/or difficulty communicating about location data
6. Privacy laws and/or ethical considerations for the use of location data
7. Geospatial skills (e.g. surveying, GIS)
8. Wider data skills (e.g. data science)
9. Funding
10. Other (please specify)

Any additional comments?

Q7: Are there any additional blockers, beyond those you have identified in the previous question, that prevent the application of location data across the wider economy? [Please rate the importance of any additional blockers: (high/medium/low/unsure) - closed question]

1. Findability of data
2. Accessibility of data
3. Interoperability of data
4. Reusability of data
5. Lack of awareness or difficulty communicating about location data
6. Ethics in the use of location data
7. Geospatial skills (e.g. surveying, GIS)
8. Wider data skills (e.g. data science)
9. Funding
10. Other (please specify)

Any additional comments?

Emerging technologies and market trends

Advances in technology are creating new market trends and opening up opportunities for the use of location data. The ubiquity of the Internet of Things and sensors are creating new datasets with location attributes and enabling real time insights, including data from wearable and smart technology, connected vehicles and satellites. Cloud service providers are enabling this data to be stored more cheaply and processed more effectively. Simpler user interfaces are making it easier to interact with applications fuelled by location data, generating insights that are easier to engage with. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are behind many of these applications, making data processing more efficient by allowing the automation of complex processes, enabling new insights.

Together, these technologies are enabling an increasing number of organisations to collect, store, share and use location data, thereby fuelling a wave of innovation and market growth.

Q8: Which technologies are likely to be the most important for you or your organisation when using or innovating with location data over the next five years? [Please rate the importance of the following: (high/medium/low/unsure/not applicable) - closed question]

1. Artificial intelligence/Machine learning
2. Automation and robotics
3. Geo-Building Information Modelling (BIM)
4. Digital twins
5. Visualisation and immersive tech (AR/VR/MR)
6. Internet of Things
7. Satellite and airborne remote sensing (including earth observation)
8. Cloud computing
9. Crowd-sourced data
10. Miniaturisation of new sensors
11. Quantum computing
12. Edge computing
13. Other (please specify)

Any additional comments?

Q9: Which technologies should the UK prioritise development for to provide new opportunities to process and exploit location data for economic growth over the next five years? [Please rate the importance of the following: (high/medium/low/unsure) - closed question]

1. Artificial intelligence/Machine learning
2. Automation and robotics
3. Geo-Building Information Modelling (BIM)
4. Digital twins
5. Visualisation and immersive tech (AR/VR/MR)
6. Internet of Things
7. Satellite and airborne remote sensing (including earth observation)
8. Cloud computing
9. Crowd-sourced data
10. Miniaturisation of new sensors
11. Quantum computing
12. Edge computing
13. Other (please specify)

Any additional comments?

Q10: Please give specific examples of how the UK public sector / the Geospatial Commission can support innovative applications of location data with these technologies? [Open question]

Adoption of geospatial across the economy

The potential for location data to support growth and sustainability reaches across the economy and society. The UK’s Geospatial Strategy set out nine opportunity areas where location data will have a significant impact, and this list continues to expand as new sectors consider the potential for location-based insights.

Applying location data to industry-based challenges

Location data is fundamental to the operation of emerging technologies such as 5G mobile networks and connected autonomous vehicles. It is particularly suited to meeting some of the grand challenges we face today, from Net Zero to national defence and resilience. We also see it enabling innovation across a variety of sectors including actionable insights and applications that drive growth, efficiency and sustainability.

Q11: Please give specific examples of where location data and technology could be transformational in sectors across the economy. What scale of economic, social and/or environmental impact do you anticipate as a result? [Open question]

Awareness of geospatial in other sectors

Driving increased awareness of location data across the economy is crucial if we are to realise the full range of applications and insights that it can offer. Awareness is important from a number of different perspectives, for example:

• Senior leaders and decision-makers can build their understanding of the potential applications of location data in their sectors;
• Many data scientists would benefit from greater understanding of spatial analysis and how this can be applied to bring datasets and systems together;
• Industry standards bodies may need to consider the role of geospatial data to support interoperability in relevant systems and processes; and
• Different communities can work more closely together, such as digital, geospatial and space.

Q12: How could you or your organisation contribute to driving better awareness of the value of geospatial? [Open question]

Q13: Please give specific examples of effective collaboration to deliver geospatial applications, and the type of people or organisations that do, or could, collaborate. (Please include international collaboration if appropriate)

Additional questions

Q14: Would you like your response to be confidential? If yes, please give your reason:

• No
• Yes

Reason:

Q15: Who are you responding on behalf of?:

• A private company
• A public body
• An industry association
• A non-government organisation
• An academic institution
• Yourself / a member of the general public
• Other (please state):

Q16: Where are you / your organisation based? (if you are based outside of the UK, please specify the country):

• London
• South East
• South West
• East of England
• East Midlands
• West Midlands
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• North East
• North West
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• Other country (please specify)

If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please complete the following questions:

Q17: What is the name of your organisation?

Q18: What is your role within the organisation?

Q19: How many people work for your organisation?:

• <10
• 10 - 49
• 50 - 249
• 250+

Q20: What best describes the industry that you or your organisation is involved in:

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing
• Mining and quarrying
• Manufacturing
• Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning
• Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
• Construction
• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
• Transportation and storage
• Accommodation and food service activities
• Information and communication
• Financial and insurance activities
• Real estate activities
• Professional, scientific and technical activities
• Administrative and support service activities
• Public administration and defence; compulsory social security
• Education
• Human health and social work activities
• Arts, entertainment and recreation
• Other service activities
• Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use
• Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies

1. Data was only available for around 30% of all companies identified. ↩