Drivers for growth in 2025

What do you think is going to be new in 2025?  

Economic growth, housing and health are going to be a big focus for the government and wider public sector in 2025 with a greater spotlight on the power of technology to drive growth. Without a doubt, demand for geospatial data and insights will increase as organisations seek to improve their services and efficiencies whilst managing more demanding budgets.

Increasingly, global organisations are seeking competitive advantage by using local data to target specific regions in order to protect and support the needs of local communities, such as with Ordnance Survey (OS)’s AddressBase products, which can be linked with other datasets to provide detailed insights. This will have an impact on both public sector and commercial markets. It will also likely increase the quality and number of competitive offerings customers have to choose from, as geospatial companies look to capitalise on the increased demand.

While the development and reach of AI will continue to accelerate, Machine Learning is becoming a real enabler in the creation of new geospatial data and is playing an increasing role in delivering valuable insights to organisations. Last March was the first time OS productionised the workflow to deliver a national dataset (OS Land) to the market. We will also be employing it in our next release under the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement.

What’s going to stay the same in 2025?

The importance of consistent geospatial data that you can trust is going to remain hugely significant, as will the insights that can be developed from that data. OS is currently working with the Geospatial Commission to further invest in our core data products as part of our future roadmap planning. The need for this data will assume an even greater importance in 2025.  Amongst other demands, both private and public sector organisations are under pressure to achieve net zero by 2050 and must use trusted and authoritative data to inform better planning and deliver transformation.

Geospatial data is the glue that makes other data interoperable. Organisations can combine geospatial with other sources of data to increase efficiencies and save money. There will be an ongoing drive and ambition to see UPRNs (unique identifiers associated with an address) used more regularly across the broader market and in government. Following key learnings from the pandemic, NHS England has continued its investment in UPRN integration with patient demographics in the NHS SPINE, using the OS Places API to verify patient address information and capture UPRNs through the GP registration process. The Office for National Statistics uses address data and UPRNs as they are integral to running an effective census and creating census geographies; and under Project Gigabit, UPRN sharing with the market is important to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport running Open Market Reviews, as well as being used extensively by Building Digital UK.

As a business, OS already works with more than 5,000 organisations, understanding that when partners work together, they can accomplish far more than on their own. One recent example is the signing of an agreement with Digital Task Force for Planning, which was initially supported by Geovation. In light of the government’s new and ambitious housing targets, this collaboration will drive forward digital planning innovation and promote transformative changes for the benefit of the public, in line with the government’s digital strategy.

In what changes will OS be involved in the coming year?

We need greater access and sharing of data to address and solve some of our national issues. The Government’s proposal for a National Data Library aims to improve access to public sector data, in a streamlined, trusted, secure and ethical way. This is an exciting initiative which will help to create the foundation for building a modern digital government. OS has been keen to support and has already contributed to a number of discussions and workstreams to deliver positive outcomes.

Nobody knows the detail of the nation’s landscape above ground better than OS, and now we are taking on the operation of the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), working with the Geospatial Commission to incorporate into our public task. It’s an exciting time as NUAR will improve the efficiency and safety of the way utility and telecoms companies install, maintain, and repair the pipes and cables underground. We have a team of experts who will support with the management of this operation, as well as improving collaboration in the sector. This will result in richer, more complete data, and its greater application in supporting streetworks and most importantly the modernisation of the sector itself.

NUAR will have a huge impact on economic growth of at least £400 million a year as the efficiency of excavations increases and the disruption for the public and businesses reduces. It will also contribute to the building of the infrastructure needed across the country, such as new roads, rail and houses. We are working hard towards the roll-out to eligible organisations in the spring of 2025 – it’s going to make a huge impact and deliver critical value.