Location data will drive the digital economy
With the global economy increasingly dependent on data, provision of geospatial education and training will become more important in 2020.
80 percent of data now has a location component. The ability to analyse data and think of it in terms of societal context is increasingly valuable.
Over 10 percent of the British economy is reliant on the use of geographic data, according to Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist at Google.
“Location data is a foundation for decision-making across sectors and geospatial skills offer a wealth of opportunities.”
— Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist, Google
AI will help us plan for natural disasters
Millions more people worldwide are being put at risk of flooding by Greenland ice melting faster than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections, according to a new study.
In 2019, Oxford University launched a Centre for Doctoral Training in the Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER) to address such challenges.
In 2020, AI and predictive analytics combined with location data will be used to model potential future vulnerabilities in planned infrastructure based on simulation, prevention and mitigation of natural disasters across entire regions before they happen.
Yorkshire experienced extreme flooding in November 2019, causing major disruption. Studies have consistently linked climate change to increased flooding risk to UK homes.
To provide climate modeling systems with the data needed to predict floods accurately requires a step-change in the way we generate, communicate and curate data across the country, says Miranda Sharp, Innovation Director at Ordnance Survey.
“Data silos between public and private infrastructure operators will need to be broken down and business and regulatory models based on economic competition will need to be replaced by ones based on cross-sector co-operation in 2020.”
— Miranda Sharp, Innovation Director, Ordnance Survey
Image by Derek Sewell from Pixabay
Autonomous vehicles will take on more complex urban environments
We are starting to see vehicles that can operate fully autonomously in specific domains with common features.
Autonomous vehicles operated on public roads in London in 2019 as part of the Driven project, with UK tech firm Oxbotica providing the technology.
Passenger trials of an autonomous taxi service in London are planned for June 2020, in a collaboration between Oxbotica and UK taxi firm Addison Lee.
Image credit: DRIVEN
Data exchange platforms will emerge
In 2020 we’ll see the rise of trusted data exchange platforms to transmit vast volumes of location-enabled data to support autonomous vehicles.
Ordnance Survey is leading a project, E-Cave, to build a national infrastructure capable of supporting a network of CAVs in the UK.
“The next step in enabling connected environments is building the cloud-based digital infrastructure to distribute location data safely and reliably to support autonomous vehicles across selected domains.”
— George Economides, Team Leader CAVs, Oxfordshire County Council
We will get closer to net-zero
The UK’s energy system is undergoing a rapid transformation – with much of the change targeted at decarbonisation.
2019 was a major milestone in reaching net-zero emissions, as zero-carbon electricity produced by renewables provided more than half of the UK's energy, overtaking fossil fuels for the first time.
All the main UK political parties set deadlines for achieving net-zero emissions in their manifestos released ahead of the 2019 general election.
Location data is a critical factor in maximising the potential of energy assets in urban areas, says Laura Sandys, Chair of the Energy Data Taskforce.
“Location will allow us to precisely deploy smart technologies, and base the acquisition of new assets on future needs.”
— Laura Sandys, Chair, Energy Data Taskforce
To reach peak efficiency in 2020, the UK will need to make the most of its energy infrastructure assets.
Location data is vital for the planning and development of a decentralised smart energy network, according to Sandys.
“Two factors will help us to achieve net-zero carbon emissions – digitalisation and decentralisation.”
— Laura Sandys, Chair, Energy Data Taskforce
Air pollution will influence decisions in real-time
What if air quality became a key factor in everything from town planning to public transport?
Instead of just choosing the fastest or cheapest route to work, people will choose the cleanest route; and instead of simply choosing a postcode with better schools, parents will choose postcodes with cleaner air.
In 2020 this will become a reality with hyper-local pollution mapping technology being developed seperately by EarthSense and Breathe London.
The Environmental Defense Fund Europe has partnered with the Mayor of London to provide granular, hyper-local air quality data through an extensive network of stationary and mobile pollution sensors as part of the Breathe London project.
Breathe London will provide data for sensitive locations like schools and hospitals via an online map. The project has seen success in 2019 and has been extended into 2020 as a result.
Making location-based air quality data accessible to the public will help provide insights that re-route people around air pollution hotspots in 2020, says Roland Leigh, Technical Director at EarthSense.
“At EarthSense, we have used air quality forecasts and location data as a tool to expose air pollution at peak times of the school run. Moving forward, location-based data will be used to identify the potential impact of air quality along routes on children’s health in real-time. This could be used to build a smart app that parents and schools can use to create a healthy school run.”
— Roland Leigh, Technical Director, EarthSense
Image credit: EarthSense.
Location data will take centre stage in the privacy debate
In 2020, we'll see new and better services enabled by location data, but we'll also see increasing scrutiny of the industry in the collection and sale of location data.
This will likely lead to growing awareness among the public about both the importance and the ethics of the use of location data.
To tackle this head-on, geolocation industry leaders in the UK are beginning to discuss these concerns. The Benchmark Initiative, hosted by Geovation, Ordnance Survey's geolocation start-up incubator, is hosting a number of panel discussions in 2020 to bring industry leaders together to try to establish best practice in the ethical use of location data.
“In 2020, location data will reach centre-stage in ethics and privacy debates. More users will challenge service providers to justify what they use that data for.”
— Ben Hawes, Programme Director, Benchmark Initiative
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