Research and analysis

Using human movement data to inform environmental risk management: an initial review of data options and potential applications: summary

Published 22 October 2025

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-human-movement-data-to-inform-environmental-risk-management/using-human-movement-data-to-inform-environmental-risk-management-an-initial-review-of-data-options-and-potential-applications-summary

1. Chief Scientist’s Group report summary

This project reviews the sources and types of human movement data currently available and explores how they could be used and combined with environmental quality data to understand exposure risks using two different case studies. The Environment Agency regulates water and air-borne releases from industrial-scale processes to help protect people and wildlife. Consequently, data on the presence and movement of humans who may be exposed to risks relating to water or air quality is relevant to the Environment Agency.

1.1 Background

Understanding the presence of humans in relation to environmental hazards is an important aspect of assessing environmental risks. While a range of measurements and sensors provide a granular view on the presence of pathogens and chemical pollutants in the environment, it is more challenging to understand human proximity to permitted or designated sites of risk in similar detail.

1.2 Approach

The project had two objectives:

  1. Outline the different types of human movement data currently available
  2. Explore how the data types could be used to understand exposure to water and air-borne releases using two different case studies: St Ives Bay designated bathing waters and Walleys Quarry landfill site, respectively.

1.3 Findings

The review identified several sources and different types of human mobility data which could be used to help the Environment Agency understand human presence and activities around permitted or designated bathing water sites. These included:

  • Mobile phone data
  • App-derived location data
  • Vehicle-derived location data
  • Social media data
  • Traffic data
  • Consumer data
  • Surveillance and security data
  • Synthetic data

The two case studies explored what and how human movement data could be used to understand exposure to water and air-borne contaminants. The main findings were:

  • St Ives Bay designated bathing waters: Mobile phone and app-derived data could be used to estimate visitor counts and activity patterns. However, mobile coverage can be limited or patchy across remote beaches. Furthermore, mobile phone products typically remain on the beach, above high tide level, would exclude bathers and users in the sea and surf zones. While this review identified other potentially useful data sources like webcam footage and imagery from satellites and drones, regression-based modelling approaches are recommended to fill data gaps.

  • Walleys Quarry Landfill Site: Mobile phone data combined with traffic and sensor data offer a robust approach to understanding population dynamics around this site. Other data including mobile phone app data and social media data could provide more details, although are likely to be difficult or expensive to obtain.

1.4 Conclusions

The Environment Agency does not currently use human movement data to assess exposure or risk to people. This project identified multiple sources and types of movement data that could be combined with environmental quality data, to better understand hazard and exposure dynamics to inform more holistic risk assessment and management.

Modelling approaches can help to compensate for gaps in data, such as patchy mobile phone signal coverage. This initial review is not definitive or exhaustive, and any further research work would need to consider and comply with all ethical and data protection regulations.

1.5 Publication details

This summary relates to information from project SC240041/R, reported in detail in the following output:

  • Title: Using human movement data to inform environmental risk management: an initial review of data options and potential applications
  • Project manager: Joanna Dixon, Chief Scientist’s Group
  • Research contractor: Prof Ed Manley, Institute for Spatial Data Science, University of Leeds

This project was commissioned by the Environment Agency’s Chief Scientist’s Group, which provides scientific knowledge, tools and techniques to enable us to protect and manage the environment as effectively as possible.

Enquiries: research@environment-agency.gov.uk.

© Environment Agency

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