News Article – Page 3 – Location Data

So, what do we really mean by Innovation in Geospatial?

So, what do we really mean by Innovation in Geospatial?

September 2022

Collaboration in Key!

30 August 2022 saw Location Data Scotland and Geovation Scotland join forces to run an event at the Registers of Scotland’s building in Edinburgh to explore the topic of innovation in geospatial with industry, public sector and academia.

A range of speakers and panellists from the Geospatial Commission, Registers of Scotland and industry joined Ashley Stewart, lead for Location Data Scotland and Lyndsey Dougan head of Geovation Scotland, to explore what we really mean by innovation in geospatial.

Innovation is Problem x Execution = Solution

Lyndsey explained that Geovation Scotland deliver a hugely successful accelerator programme targeting companies in Scotland working in the geospatial sector and they feel collaboration is the number one ingredient to make innovation happen. It’s not just about having an idea or creating new technology – it’s about creating value and having the support infrastructure in place to make it happen!

We also heard from Douglas McNeil from SME Eolas Insight who have an innovative solution tackling the impact on the environmental sector using location data. Doug said “In our experience, we can see there is lots of geospatial technology impacting the environmental sector and these technologies are making service development easier, enabling SMEs to punch above their weight. These technologies can help inform us to support our efforts towards biodiversity net gain and help us on our journey towards net zero.”

Tourism business Electrek Explorer introduced their innovative app which supports the green traveller to find new experiences when they are out and about, providing information about e-bike and EV routes, charging points, nature sites, EV accommodation, bike friendly accommodation, electric bike charging cafes, local businesses and activity providers.Eilidh Smyth from Electrek Explorer said, “Innovation is nothing without the support of the wider ecosystem. We had fantastic support from Location Data Scotland and Geovation Scotland to help raise our profile, challenge our business model and make cross-sector collaborations which has really helped us scale and grow.”

In terms of innovation, areas such as climate change and sustainability, transport, utilities and insurance are evolving, however sectors such as the emergency services are way behind! The key challenge in driving innovation is scalability. There are lots of great things happening across Scotland but questions remain around how we as a nation can help develop new skills and technologies and commercialise these, to drive more innovation. We also need to consider data democratisation – how do we get the right data to the right people in the right way at the right time? And what about data standards – are they interoperable, are they based on fair principles? Now is the time to create national standards that tie it all together.

Scotland has an amazing opportunity to drive innovation. We are a small nation with lots of opportunity to scale. Scotland is the perfect location for a test bed as we have scalable datasets and can lead by example. But we need to work together rather than working in silos!

As a starting point, we encourage you to join Location Data Scotland’s community to help you find collaboration partners and stop trying to figure this out on your own!

Relevant Funding, Events and Reports referred to during the event:

Location Data Scotland : Innovation and Collaboration Webinar – 28th September 2022

SAVE THE DATE: Geovation Showcase 20th October

Geovation Scotland Accelerator Open Call

Applying Space Data to the Net Zero Economy

Agri Challenge – Can your organisation help to accurately measure biomass and natural capital using space data?

Other Funding Opportunities

Geospatial Commission Annual Plan 2022/2023

Building public confidence in location data: The ABC of ethical use

View Event Presentations

Upcoming Innovation Challenge – Collaboration Opportunity

August 2022

Can your organisation help to accurately measure biomass and natural capital using space data?

Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Scottish Government and the Data Lab will shortly be launching a national, Scotland CAN DO innovation challenge call, which is open the any eligible organisation in Scotland. This grant funding for Scottish businesses is to facilitate the development of innovative solutions, using space data, that will support the transition to Net Zero. This Scotland CAN DO funding call offers 100% of eligible project costs. It will allow companies to assess the technical and commercial feasibility of their proposed solution over a period of 3 to 5 months, with projects completing by the nd of March 2023. A minimum of £20,000 and a maximum of £30,000 grant funding is available.

Further information will be shared when the call officially launches on 22nd August, but this is advance warning of the upcoming opportunity and also an invitation for Earth Observation companies to collaborate with a cooperative of farmers to develop solutions to solve their biomass and natural capital measurement challenge which could, potentially, be scaled across the agricultural sector.

Download further information on the agricultural challenge below.

If you are interested in this opportunity and would like to be introduced to the challenge holder, please contact us.

CHALLENGE INFO

Edinburgh based GSI are soaring!

August 2022

Global Surface Intelligence (GSI) are an Edinburgh based geospatial SME using satellite imagery in combination with other data layers, for example mapping tools, GIS, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and ground reference data, to survey forests at large scale with high levels of accuracy to deliver analysis-ready data for commercial customers in the industry supply chain. Most of their customers are based in the USA, but more recently they have been focusing on opportunities within the UK.

Location Data Scotland invited GSI to present their innovative technology at a meeting in Edinburgh in November 2021 where they met some of the commissioners from the Geospatial Commission. The commissioners were blown away by GSI’s technology and as a result included them in their 2022/23 Annual Plan as an example of sustainable management of natural resources using innovative geospatial solutions. The report highlighted a project GSI delivered with Ecometrica through ESA (European Space Agency) as part of the Scottish Earth Observation Service (SEOS) consortium. The project was to deliver a Vegetation Condition, Scotland (VCS) mapping and monitoring service to address environment and land-management issues to save time and money.

GSI provided accurate forestry surveys from which potential investors could build a valuation for specific areas of interest across Scotland. There was a high degree of innovation in combining satellite and LiDAR data to achieve the desired levels of accuracy. Maps were produced for five areas to demonstrate the key attributes of tree species and tree heights which are the essential components for the valuation models. The SEOS service was publicly launched on 4 May 2022 and reports are now available as well as bespoke surveys.

More recently GSI has been working with the Satellite Catapult through another ESA project to map forestation in places such as Brazil and Guatemala to identify that the land used to grow crops to make products such as coffee was sustainably sourced, and no illegal deforestation occurred. This is essential information for supermarkets to ensure that the products they sell are sustainably sourced.

Peter Young, CEO of GSI said:

“We are really lucky to be working on such fascinating projects that are making huge impacts on sustainability. Having partners such as the European Space Agency, Location Data Scotland and the Geospatial Commission opens up a wealth of opportunities for SMEs in Scotland. Ashley at LDS has been a great advocate of our technology and ensures she links us with key opportunities where possible.”

Geospatial Skills Survey

July 2022

Are there skills and recruitment gaps in the geospatial sector?

Geospatial is flourishing with growing interest across a range of sectors and government. But can we meet the future UK demand for skilled professionals?

Anecdotal evidence indicates that there are skills and recruitment challenges within the sector, however further analysis is necessary to uncover where the gaps lie and how the sector can meet the future UK demand for skilled professionals.

Location Data Scotland are working with the University of Edinburgh and AGI Scotland to undertake research with our individual networks across the geospatial landscape to be able to assess this further.

If you are working across industry, academia, public sector or third sector and have an opinion on this area, we would invite you to complete the survey here.

A round-table workshop involving partners, enablers, providers, potential employers will be held later this year to begin collectively addressing the challenges. The outcomes of the round-table discussions will be fed back to key stakeholders including organisations such as Skills Development Scotland to help shape the skills agenda.

Bruce Gittings, Senior Lecturer in Geographical Information at University of Edinburgh, said:

“This survey represents an important step in a partnership between LDS and AGI Scotland to galvanise action on geospatial training and skills. We are looking to understand the needs and opportunities for a new and diverse group of people to work in our industry and help build Scotland as an international hub for geospatial talent and business.”

Geospatial solutions to solve ecological and environmental problems

March 2022

We spoke to Doug McNeil of Eolas Insight about the support received from Location Data Scotland and being part of the Geovation Accelerator Programme.

Eolas Insight provide technical solutions focused on the ecological and environmental sectors in an easy, user friendly way.

They detect and provide counts for animals using satellite and aerial imagery combined with artificial intelligence. They have successfully delivered a project in Scotland tracking red deer and are now working in Mozambique looking at large animals – giraffes and elephants.

As part of the Geovation accelerator programme the team at Eolas Insight has been developing a business and financial case for a truly innovative geospatial portal that will allow environmentalists and ecologists to access the technologies for themselves to carry out the analysis.

In his interview founder of Eolas Insight Doug McNeil said, “The Geovation Accelerator programme allowed us to focus on the portal proof of concept. This was a critical step to format the business case prior to developing the prototype. I really enjoyed the personal approach from the team at Geovation as they didn’t just provide information; they took the time to work out how this information could be embedded into our business.”

Eolas Insight were also supported by Location Data Scotland, who were instrumental in helping them network into other industries and opened doors to potential collaborators in the agricultural sector. Doug said, “Talking, collaborating and networking is key for any organisation working in the geospatial sector to not just open doors but to test your ideas and assess the next steps for your business. It can really make a huge difference.”

From street and forestry mapping to waste transparency, Scotland is a hive of innovative businesses in the location data sector

December 2021

Location Data is being used in all aspects of our lives; from street mapping to advertising. There are some interesting solutions, utilising location data as an enabler of innovation being created in Scotland – the home of innovation.

We recently spoke with three of these businesses to find out what impact their innovative solutions are having on the wider marketplace.

How does Gaist use location data?

Gaist works with local authorities, utilities and telecoms companies, utilising the most advanced location data and technology to better understand the condition of highway infrastructure and assets, enabling detailed lifecycle planning across the whole network to be undertaken.

What makes Gaist innovative?

Gaist collects 360° 4k roadscape imagery encompassing every road, footpath and asset (lighting columns, signage, bollards etc) across the UK. Their technology enables customers to identify where the issues on their network are and manage their highways maintenance activity with a degree of effectiveness never seen before.

Future plans

Through integration of dynamic condition data from vehicles circulating on the road network, Gaist can provide further modelling to highlight the prevalence and impact of poor road surfaces across whole networks. This presents a significant opportunity for local authorities to prioritise repairs and proactive maintenance on active travel routes. John Swift, Gaist Head of Business Development in Scotland, said, “The amount of location data we are collecting is highly significant for the Scottish local authority market and the focus for Gaist is to turn this big data into big value for our clients, enabling them to maximise resources and gain a better understanding of their full network over long periods of time.”

How does Global Surface Intelligence use location data?

GSI uses satellite imagery to produce analysis ready data to support due diligence forest owners, assets managers and real estate agents who need to have accurate and verifiable forestry assets. GSI combines the satellite data with LiDAR and ground survey reference data to produce large scale accurate forest inventories.

What makes Global Surface Intelligence innovative?

By producing analysis ready data GIS can measure, map and monitor forestry, land use and cover. Landowners, investors and service providers can make better informed decisions about their assets to enable management of natural resources significantly contributing to a more sustainable future.

Future plans

There is a major opportunity to leverage the GIS technology and platform to understand and verify forest carbon to…

Discover unrealised carbon offset opportunities
Quantify carbon stock
Carbon credit aggregation
Monitor carbon and conservation protocol compliance

How does Topolytics use location data?

More than 60% of the world’s waste ends its life in a landfill, waste dump or leaks into the environment. The lack of transparency and trust across the waste system hampers resource recovery and value maximisation across the supply chain, that includes waste producers, the recycling industry and government.

Topolytics is a data aggregation and analytics business that is making the world’s waste visible, verifiable and valuable. Its WasteMap platform generates insights for waste producers, recyclers and government, that enable greater materials recovery, drive operational efficiencies, support investment strategies, enhance transparency and reduce carbon emissions through the WasteChain. Topolytics is acknowledged by IDC, Frost & Sullivan, Cleantech Group and SAP as a leading AI and analytics player in the $4.5Bn smart waste management sector.

What makes Topolytics innovative?

Companies are spending a considerable amount of money on managing waste, but have limited visibility and control over this material once it enters the waste and recycling supply chain. These companies are also setting corporate targets on NetZero and are subject to greater scrutiny on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Through a subscription to WasteMap they get a live view on waste types and amounts and can see what happens to waste and by-products. The resulting insights support target setting and generate resource and cost savings as well as reducing carbon impacts.

Recyclers and waste brokers also have complex supply bases and are under growing scrutiny on what they do to waste material. WasteMap is enabling them to clean and manage many complex data sets and drive efficiencies, compliance and reporting.

Future plans

Topolytics has launched WasteMap as a subscription product to waste producers, recyclers and brokers. The company is growing its customer base in the UK and internationally and will be launching new modules in 2022 and beyond.

If your organisation is working with location data in an innovative way, please add your profile to the Location Data Scotland Directory. We welcome organisations from industry, academia, 3rd sector, government agencies and projects. Here you will be able to:

Find Customers
Find Suppliers
Collaborate with new Partners
Find out about Funding Sources and Partners

Developing a decarbonised transport agenda for a sustainable future

November 2021

Decarbonising the transport network is a huge challenge!

We recently partnered with Scottish Space and University of Edinburgh as part of KTN Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion at #COP26 and brought together a wealth of speakers from across the space and geospatial communities to explore the future of transport.

Common themes that came through were:

Collaboration
Standardisation and Interoperability
Working together to create future roadmaps
Open data sharing

Dr Hina Khan from Spire Global opened the event and shared her insights into how industry is generating and using lots of satellite data but we need to consider how we use this better to improve our environmental footprint and make our transport networks more robust and greener. To enable this we need better connectivity, especially across rural communities and less developed countries. We also need to make our networks smarter by supplementing them with machine learning and artificial intelligence tools and plugging the gaps in our knowledge and systems. We can significantly improve our infrastructure by tracking geospatial data from satellites to monitor critical infrastructure and support innovation in transport. Satellites – and the data they generate – is growing exponentially. Space data can support decision making but can’t solve all our problems.

The airline industry is a great example of where significant change is happening. Modern airlines are collating lots of geospatial and satellite data to track safety, logistics and passenger experiences to manage their aims to create greener and more economical processes. Consequentially decisions are being made to no longer use larger aircraft such as the A380 and replacing this aircraft with greener and more efficient aircraft.

One of the biggest challenges facing the industry is around standardisation. There is a desire and a defined need for transportation and environmental agencies to work together and create a common set of standards and uniformed processes so we can understand how we create consistency and ultimately become cleaner and greener. This data needs to be made open and accessible to all and used wisely to make the right choices.

Collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and Telespazio has resulted in some fantastic research and solutions being developed for transport networks utilising satellite data to monitor wide areas to enable data led decision making in areas such as tracking potential hazards in infrastructure movements and land-sliding. AIS and data from space is being used extensively across the maritime sector to track shipping behaviour, oil spills and maritime emissions. GIS is being used to model scenarios for transport planning and enable the construction sector to create infrastructure that addresses climate emergency across the full planning lifecycle.

There is a strong focus on reducing our carbon emissions and making us all better citizens. We need to utilise the data that is current and rich to understand where we are currently and predict what we will need in the future across all of society.

So, how we tackle transport poverty? Electric vehicles are not the only answer. We need to offer more choice and variety of transport options that are open and accessible to all. Electric vehicles are only open to people who can afford them. As an industry we need data and social scientists to work together to create public transport and electric options that work for everyone, designed around the concept of ‘mobility as a service’. There is also a massive opportunity for industry to create and support an open accessibility map utilising geospatial data to indicate where there are dropped curbs, disabled toilets, disabled friendly restaurants and shops etc.

If we want to develop a connected transport infrastructure there needs to be open sharing of data, providing options for more low carbon emission options and more access. As an industry, transport, energy and data experts need to come together and find solutions to make our world more sustainable. For Government agencies planning new cities – how do they plan the future of transport? There are big challenges around moving goods around the country and how to deliver this on a carbon neutral basis, adhering to our desire to have things delivered ‘next day’.

To achieve our objective of a decarbonising agenda for the future of transport, there are some key steps we need to take:

Collaboration across departments, organisations and sectors can really make great things happen! There is a massive opportunity to bring communities and innovators together
To work together as a nation to put roadmaps in place to address challenges
Access to more geospatial and GPS data
Create standardisation and strategies for interoperability

If you are working in the space, transport, location data or geospatial sector, why not join our Directory and put your organisation on the map!

The Future of Transport at COP26

November 2021

Geospatial intelligence is critical to solving the climate change challenge.

To influence changes at a global level, we need to understand the impact of climate change at a local level. The availability of geospatial data at scale is unlocking new ways to provide meaningful insights into complex global climate science that can be applied to virtually any sector of the economy.

As COP26 transcends in Glasgow this week Location Data Scotland in partnership with Space Scotland (Scottish Space Leadership Council) are delivering a virtual event at KTN’s Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion for COP26 on Wednesday 10^th November exploring The Future of Transport.

This webinar will consider how space and geospatial fits into the wider transport and mobility landscape and how various transport improvements are leading towards net zero targets. Exemplars of how space and geospatial data is being used to create transport efficiencies will be shared followed by a discussion on lessons that can be drawn from these use cases to inform the future of transport.

We will be joined by industry experts including our keynote Dr Hina Khan, Project Coordinator at the highly innovative Spire Global, and John Innes, CTO & VP Technology Innovation, Innovation & Technology Group of global leader, Leonardo.

Agenda

Wednesday 10^th November

12:30-12:35	Introduction	Speakers: Kristina Tamane, University of Edinburgh Ashley Stewart, Location Data Scotland Daniel Smith, Astro Agency
12:35-12:45	Keynote: How space data links with transport	Dr Hina Khan, Project Coordinator, Spire Global
12:45-12:55	What is transport?	Hayden Sutherland, Founder & Chair, Open Transport Initiative
12:55-13:00	Q and A
13:00-13:25	Panel 1: Exemplars of space & geospatial in transport	Chair: Deborah Paton, Group Manager: Connectivity Plan, Glasgow City Council Panel guests: Geraint Cooksley, Head of Geo Information, Telespazio Simon Mudd, Personal Chair in Earth Surface Processes Katie Chesworth, Principal Transport Planner, Transport Unit Sustainability & Climate Change Lead, Mott MacDonald Katherine Elsom, Head of Marketing, UK Intelligence, Connected Intelligence, Airbus Defence and Space
13:25-13:50	Panel 2: Future of Transport	Chair: Ken Gordon, ESA Ambassador Panel guests: Alejandro Gutierrez-Alcoba Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh Tim Embley, Group Research & Innovation Director Costain Dr Michelle Carter, Head of Transport, KTN
13:50-14:00	Closing remarks	John Innes, CTO & VP Technology Innovation, Innovation & Technology Group, Leonardo

Further information about KTN’s Space and Geospatial Virtual Pavilion for COP26 can be found here.

REGISTER

Geospatial Demystified

October 2021

As a term, geospatial is still relatively unknown. Perhaps terms like location data or location intelligence are more helpful? But beyond terminology, describing geospatial provides understanding of its huge potential.

Abigail Page, Head of Innovation and Skills at the Geospatial Commission describes what is meant by the ‘buzz word’ geospatial and where it is having impact in our everyday lives.

Firstly, geospatial data is a representation of the world around us in a digital form. That is the ability to represent those through data which can be captured in many different ways – from ground surveys, to images from space or sensors tracking our journeys. Bringing different sources and information together and being able to visualise it by its location enables us to understand and model it in new ways.

Secondly, being able to apply geospatial technology and data can enable integration and interrogation of information to create an understanding that is valuable for society. Tobler’s first law of geography states that “”everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things.” Understanding location is fundamental to being able to identify relationships and patterns in many types of data.

What inspires me most about geospatial is its ability to be deployed and have impact from local to global levels. For example, at an individual level ensuring my takeaway turns up or reminding me where I parked the car. For neighbourhoods forming the basis of local public services, such as city planning, school catchments or refuse collections. And at a global level addressing the most challenging of global issues, such as the recovery from a global pandemic or achieving net zero emissions.

I’m proud to have been part of developing the UK Geospatial Strategy, which sets out how we can unlock the value of location data, outlining nine key opportunity areas alongside helping to shape the Location Data Scotland programme. Geospatial Commission initiatives, such as the £5 million Transport Location Data Competition, are connecting geospatial innovators with public sector partners to fund new transport solutions and the National Underground Asset Programme will improve the way that national infrastructure is planned, built and managed.

In Scotland there is a vibrant geospatial community but also many opportunities and challenges where geospatial can be applied. Through Location Data Scotland there is a real opportunity to demystify geospatial and reach beyond specialists. It is time to move beyond worrying about terminology, and work to unlock value through innovation and partnerships.

DDK Positioning’s journey from idea to commercialisation

October 2021

Our recent event ‘Where’s the Value in Location Data’ told the journey of DDK Positioning, an Aberdeen based organisation who provide GNSS Precise Point Positioning Services globally to make position more accurate.

Simon Canning, Operations Director at DDK Positioning shared his insights at the event, highlighting how they developed the idea, secured several rounds of funding, built the solution and selected their route to market using Value Added Resellers as that provided them with a global sales team of around 1000 individuals and gave access to an already significant ecosystem of customers.

Simon also provided 3 key lessons learned from their journey so far:

It’s important to strike a balance. Your product doesn’t have to be 100% perfect before it is released, so strike a balance between the minimum viable product and polishing the diamond!
Stay Focused. Don’t get distracted by other opportunities that will take the business focus away from the key products/markets you want to focus on.
Make sure you leave a realistic amount of time for each stage in the process and build this into your development/delivery time

If you missed this event, catch up on Simon’s presentation on YouTube here.

We also had a really engaging networking session as part of the event. Anne Robertson, Head of Services and User Engagement, EDINA, The University of Edinburgh commented,

“Location Data Scotland’s recent event had a dedicated networking session where attendees had the opportunity to meet other individuals at the event in break-out rooms. This was a great opportunity to find out about what others in the sector are doing and to hear about some of the really interesting, innovative products and services utilising and/or generating location data. With the return of physical events still unsure, it is important to have virtual networking events such as these to build communities and help organisations collaborate.”

So, what do we really mean by Innovation in Geospatial?

Upcoming Innovation Challenge – Collaboration Opportunity

Edinburgh based GSI are soaring!

Geospatial Skills Survey

Geospatial solutions to solve ecological and environmental problems

From street and forestry mapping to waste transparency, Scotland is a hive of innovative businesses in the location data sector

How does Gaist use location data?

What makes Gaist innovative?

Future plans

How does Global Surface Intelligence use location data?

What makes Global Surface Intelligence innovative?

Future plans

How does Topolytics use location data?

What makes Topolytics innovative?

Future plans

Developing a decarbonised transport agenda for a sustainable future

The Future of Transport at COP26

Agenda

Wednesday 10th November

Geospatial Demystified

DDK Positioning’s journey from idea to commercialisation

Wednesday 10^th November